L’elisir d’amore

[The Elixir of Love]

Gaetano Donizetti (1797 – 1848)

Melodramma giocoso in two acts
Libretto by Felice Romani, based on Eugène Scribes „Le Philtre“
First performance on 12. May, 1832 at the Teatro della Cannobiana in Milan
Premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 25 April, 2014

In Italian with German and English surtitles

 Information

Gaetano Donizetti himself described his ELIXIR OF LOVE, which premiered in 1832, as an “opera buffa”, yet there is little to laugh about in this supposedly comic opera. No different from his DON PASQUALE, composed a decade later, ELIXIR OF LOVE is a work whose mirth is rooted in gentle melancholy. Despite the happy end, the chance that things might have taken a turn for the worse is ever-present, as is the threat that the misunderstandings and coincidences that pepper the narrative of ELIXIR OF LOVE do not always turn out all right in real life.

 The story recounted by Donizetti and his librettist Felice Romani is a simple one: Adina and Nemorino are in love, yet neither can pluck up the courage to confess their love for the other person. Not until he recalls a single tear in Adina’s eye, the famous “furtiva lagrima”, does Nemorino realise that his love is requited, triggering one of the most famous tenor arias in the history of opera.

This production of ELIXIR OF LOVE at the Deutsche Oper Berlin is in the capable hands of a director who has repeatedly served notice of her proficiency in mounting operatic and theatrical works based on more lightweight material. Irina Brook has staged works such as Rossini’s LA CENERENTOLA and Händel’s GIULIO CESARE for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and was recently contracted for the Salzburg Festival with a new production of Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt” and Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”.