Pasquale Donizetti Glyndebourne

Don Pasquale, a wealthy elderly bachelor, grows weary of his nephew Ernesto's romantic entanglements and threatens to disinherit him. Determined to teach the young man a lesson, Pasquale decides to marry himself and produce an heir. His physician Dr. Malatesta, secretly allied with Ernesto, devises an elaborate scheme: he presents his "sister" Norina, a witty widow, as a demure and obedient bride-to-be. Pasquale, enchanted by her apparent virtue, agrees to marry her immediately. Following the wedding, Norina transforms into a spendthrift shrew, squandering his fortune and humiliating him at every turn. As Pasquale's patience crumbles and his pride shatters, the conspirators orchestrate a final confrontation that forces the old man to acknowledge his folly. Ultimately reconciled with his nephew and freed from his delusions of matrimony, Pasquale consents to Ernesto and Norina's union, having learned that youth and love cannot be controlled by wealth or authority.