Is it a quiet village deep in the country – or a meeting place of high society? In any case, the world of this opera is a world grey and dead, a world that has forgotten how to love. The people within it are drained of all life and passion. And among them is Nemorino, who loves the seemingly unattainable Adina with an unquestioning and self-denying passion for which he is cynically mocked by the locals. And for her part, world-wise Adina does not seem to fit in either. A well-grounded woman of experience, she rejects Nemorino as unworthy of her. And then there is Belcore, a sergeant and the second admirer of Adina, for whom love means conquest and struggle.
Like a premature »deus ex machina« the itinerant quack doctor Dulcamara injects some life into the dreary village. His »love potion«, although in fact only Bordeaux, induces the locals to live out their dreams.
Upon first glance a comedy, »L’elisir d’amore« is in reality a drama narrated using the methods of comedy that encompasses love in all its complexity. And Donizetti, far from making a parody of seesawing emotions, instead reconciles them with his light and melodious music.
Melodramma in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Performed in Italian with German surtitles
Running time 2 hours 30 minutes
Premiere 28 Apr 2012
