A scene from L'Elisir d'Amore at Metropolitan Opera Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Sunday 18 March at 6.00pm on RNZ Concert
Metropolitan Opera 2018 Season
DONIZETTI: L’Elisir d’Amore
A popular comic opera that combines a light-hearted story with beautiful melodies and four great leading roles. It’s set in a small village in rural Italy where everyone knows everyone and where travelling salesmen provide a major form of public entertainment.
Adina........................... Pretty Yende
Nemorino.................... Matthew Polenzani
Belcore........................ Davide Luciano
Doctor Dulcamara....... Ildebrando D’Arcangelo
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Domingo Hindoyan (EBU)
A scene from L'Elisir d'Amore at Metropolitan Opera Photo: Karen Almond/Metropolitan Opera
The opera is set in a small village in rural Italy. Some early editions indicate a location in Basque country. The important fact is that it’s a place where everyone knows everyone and where traveling salesmen provide a major form of public entertainment. The Met’s production sets the action in 1836, when the Risorgimento, the movement for Italian independence, was beginning to gather momentum.
A scene from L'Elisir d'Amore at Metropolitan Opera Photo: Karen Almond/Metropolitan Opera
What separates L’Elisir d’Amore from dozens of charming comedies composed around the same time is not only the superiority of its hit numbers, but the overall consistency of its music. It represents the best of the bel canto tradition that reigned in Italian opera in the early 19th century—from funny patter songs to rich ensembles to wrenching melody in the solos, most notably the tenor’s showstopping aria “Una furtiva lagrima” in Act II. Its variations between major and minor keys in the climaxes are one of opera’s savviest depictions of a character’s dawning consciousness.
