Gaetano Donizetti
The Elixir of Love
Conductor: Benjamin Pionnier, Simon Robinson
Director: Pier Francesco Maestrini
In 1832, the Italian bel canto composer Gaetano Donizetti delighted audiences with his new opera L'elisir d'amore, written for Milan’s Teatro della Cannobiana. L'elisir d'amore was written in a fraction of the time he normally spent on his compositions. The composer, a true ladies' man, dedicated his opera to "The Fair Sex of Milan”. Donizetti and his librettist Felice Romani based their work on Eugene Scribe’s French libretto Le Philtre (1831). Like most comic libretti from the nineteenth century, it recycled stock characters from the Italian commedia dell'arte. The fact, that some of the opera’s main characters, such as ingenious and self-proclaimed Dr Encyclopaedia (Dulcamara) or the naive peasant Nemorino, who is in love with the emotionally distracted Adina, follow the spirit of light comedy, as well as the sensuous tradition of the Italian bel canto, contributed to the opera’s tremendous success at its 1832 premiere. Since this is the closing opera of the season 2011/2012, we are hoping to continue the success story and bring a joyful and fulfilling musical experience to our loyal public.
