Katana VentraIP

L'elisir d'amore

L'elisir d'amore (pronounced [leliˈzir daˈmoːre]; The Elixir of Love) is a melodramma giocoso (comic melodrama, opera buffa) in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's Le philtre (1831). The opera premiered on 12 May 1832 at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan.

L'elisir d'amore

Italian

Eugène Scribe's libretto for Auber's Le philtre

12 May 1832 (1832-05-12)

Background[edit]

Written in haste in a six-week period,[1] L'elisir d'amore was the most often performed opera in Italy between 1838 and 1848[1] and has remained continually in the international opera repertory. Today it is one of the most frequently performed of all Donizetti's operas: it appears as number 13 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide in the five seasons between 2008 and 2013.[2] There are a large number of recordings. It contains the popular tenor aria "Una furtiva lagrima", a romanza that has a considerable performance history in the concert hall.


Donizetti insisted on a number of changes from the original libretto by Scribe. The best known of these was the insertion of "Una furtiva lagrima" and the duet between Adina and Nemorino in the first act, "Chiedi all'aura lusinghiera". The melody to the duet "Io son ricco e tu sei bella" in act 2, scene 1 recurs in the final scene of the opera sung by Dulcamara as a solo aria with new scabrous lyrics.


The central narrative theme, the triumph of sincerity, is essential to the Romantic outlook; musically, in Donizetti's hands, the treatment became more romantic than in the Auber version: L'elisir d'amore features three big duets between the tenor and soprano. There is also personal history in this opera. Donizetti's military service was bought by a rich woman, so that, unlike his brother Giuseppe (also a well known composer), he did not have to serve in the Austrian army.

Performance history[edit]

The premiere of L'elisir d'amore took place at the Teatro della Canobbiana, Milan, on 12 May 1832. Today, the opera is part of the standard repertory. Enrico Caruso played in the role of Nemorino for the first time in February 1901 at La Scala with the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The audience reception caused Caruso and the orchestra to repeat "Una furtiva lagrima" three times. Toscanini stated after the performance that: "Per dio! Se questo Napoletano continua a cantare così, farà parlare di sè il mondo intero" (Heavens! If this Neapolitan continues to sing like this, he will be talked about all over the world).[3]

"Quanto è bella, quanto è cara" (How beautiful she is) – Nemorino, scene 1

"Della crudele Isotta" (Of the cruel Isolda) – Adina, scene 1

"Come Paride vezzoso" (Just as the charming ) – Belcore, scene 1

Paris

"Udite, udite, o rustici" (Listen, listen, o peasants) – Doctor Dulcamara, scene 2

Act 1


Act 2

Arrangements and adaptations[edit]

In 1840, Richard Wagner arranged the work for solo piano.[5] W. S. Gilbert wrote a burlesque adaptation of the opera, Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack, in 1866.[6]

Allitt, John Stewart (1991), Donizetti: in the light of Romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr, Shaftesbury: Element Books, Ltd (UK); Rockport, MA: Element, Inc.

(1982), Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052123526X

Ashbrook, William

Ashbrook, William (1998). "L'elisir d'amore". In (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Vol. 2. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-73432-7. ISBN 1561592285

Stanley Sadie

Ashbrook, William; Sarah Hibberd (2001), in (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0140293124

Holden, Amanda

Black, John (1982), Donizetti's Operas in Naples, 1822–1848. London: The Donizetti Society.

Loewenberg, Alfred (1970). Annals of Opera, 1597–1940, 2nd edition. Rowman and Littlefield

(1994), The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340713

Osborne, Charles

(Ed.); John Tyrell (Exec. Ed.) (2004), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0195170672 (hardcover). ISBN 0195170679 OCLC 419285866 (eBook).

Sadie, Stanley

Schirmer, G. (1990/91), L'elisir d'amore in Collection of Opera Librettos

Weinstock, Herbert (1963), Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Octagon, 1963 and 1979.  978-0374983376 OCLC 5219645

ISBN

Notes


Sources

Donizetti Society (London) website

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

L'elisir d'amore

Vocal score with English translation

(Italian)

Stanford.edu | Libretto

Essay by Thomas May for San Francisco Opera

on YouTube, by Rolando Villazón

Animation

An opera portrait with synopsis, commentary, music analysis, anecdotes

Online opera guide on Donizetti’s ELISIR D’AMORE