

Nemorino innocently asks Dulcamara if he has any of Isolde's love potion. Encyclopedia), arrives, selling his bottled cure-all to the townspeople. The traveling quack doctor, Dulcamara (the self-proclaimed Dr.


Nemorino declares that his feelings will never change. Adina rebuffs him, saying that she wants a different lover every day and that Nemorino would do well to follow her example. Nemorino becomes anxious (although Adina meanwhile secretly derides Belcore's complacency) and, alone with Adina, reveals his love for her. The self-important Sergeant Belcore appears with his regiment and immediately sets about courting Adina in front of everyone. When Nemorino hears Adina reading to her workers the story of Tristan and Isolde, he is convinced that a magic potion will help him to gain Adina's love. Nemorino, a poor peasant, is in love with Adina, a beautiful landowner, who torments him with her indifference. Title page of the libretto published by Ricordi Place: A small village in the Basque Country, Spain Time: The end of the 18th century Act 1 Nemorino, a simple peasant, in love with Adina 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). The audience reception caused Caruso and the orchestra to repeat "Una furtiva lagrima" three times. Enrico Caruso played in the role of Nemorino for the first time in February 1901 at La Scala with the conductor Arturo Toscanini. Today, the opera is part of the standard repertory. The premiere of L'elisir d'amore took place at the Teatro della Canobbiana, Milan, on. 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. There is also personal history in this opera. 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. 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 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". It contains the popular tenor aria " Una furtiva lagrima", a romanza that has a considerable performance history in the concert hall.ĭonizetti insisted on a number of changes from the original Scribe libretto. 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 20. Written in haste in a six-week period, L'elisir d'amore was the most often performed opera in Italy between 18 and has remained continually in the international opera repertory.
