How do you blend a magical concoction to secure the affection of your beloved? Donizetti has a suggestion: mix bel canto with melodies of Italian folk dances, and you get eternal love... of the opera!
L’elisir d’amore earned Donizetti fame across Europe from its very first staging in Milan in 1832. The libretto takes us back to Italian landscapes of the early 19th century, focusing on the mediaeval motif of a love potion meant to bring lovers together. The composer illustrates it with music in which rustic, slightly coarse humour intertwines with delicate themes, emotions and a little bit of pathos (especially noticeable in the opera’s most famous aria, Una furtiva lagrima by Nemorino, the main character). This jewel of Italian opera buffa brings us joy, as well as a note of melancholy and longing. “By following these themes, the authors of this production take us on a crazy, sentimental journey to faraway times, still remembered and recalled, to show us that love and happiness are equally fascinating in all eras and under all skies,” the Kraków Opera explains.
Through operatic conventions, Nemorino’s adventures reveal the universal belief that true love conquers all. So when the beautiful Adina rejects his advances, even accepting another suitor’s marriage proposal, the desperate Nemorino resorts to magic. He approaches a travelling charlatan to buy an antidote to all ailments: rickets, baldness, fleas, and unrequited love. But the young man doesn’t realise that Dulcamara’s elixir is just a bottle of strong wine… And since there is no place for a dramatic ending in a light comedy, the young lovers go on to live happily ever after. Adina discovers that the heartbroken Nemorino has joined the army, and, touched by his sacrifice, stops hiding the love she’s been harbouring from the very beginning. Because we don’t really want to believe that her change of heart came after Nemorino received an inheritance from his uncle… It’s far nicer to think of L’elisir d’amore as an innocent tale of everlasting love, overcoming all adversity. (Barbara Skowrońska)
Performances held in the frames of The Opera at the Botanical Garden series.
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Direction: Henryk Baranowski
Musical direction: Evgeny Volynskiy
Premiere: 2 December 2012
The performance will be held at the Botanical Garden of the Jagiellonian University.
In case of bad weather, it will be transferred to the building of the Kraków Opera.
