Pretty Yende debuts a new role at the Met with her first Adina opposite Matthew Polenzani, who enthralled Met audiences as Nemorino in 2013 with his ravishing “Una furtiva lagrima.” Bartlett Sher’s production is charming, with deft comedic timing, but also emotionally revealing. Domingo Hindoyan conducts.
Dates Jan 16 – 17 Feb 2018
World premiere: Teatro Cannobiana, Milan, 1832. Met premiere: January 23, 1904. L’Elisir d’Amore has been among the most consistently popular operatic comedies for almost two centuries. The story deftly combines comic archetypes with a degree of genuine character development rare in works of this type. Its ending is as much a foregone conclusion as it would be in a romantic comedy film today—the joy is in the journey, and Donizetti created one of his most instantly appealing scores for this ride.
Creators
Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) composed about 75 operas in a career abbreviated by mental illness and premature death. Most of his works disappeared from the public eye after his death, but critical and popular opinion of his huge opus has grown considerably over the past 50 years. Felice Romani (1788–1865) was the official librettist of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and worked with Donizetti on several other operas.
Production Bartlett Sher
Costume Designer – Catherine Zuber
Set Designer – Michael Yeargan
Lighting Designed – Jennifer Tipton
Cast
Domingo Hindoyan – Conductor
Pretty Yende – Adina
Matthew Polenzani – Nemorino
Davide Luciano – Belcore
Ildebrando D’Arcangelo
Setting
The opera is set in a small village in rural Italy. Some early editions indicate a location in Basque country. The important fact is that it’s a place where everyone knows everyone and where traveling salesmen provide a major form of public entertainment. The Met’s production sets the action in 1836, when the Risorgimento, the movement for Italian independence, was beginning to gather momentum.
Music
What separates L’Elisir d’Amore from dozens of charming comedies composed around the same time is not only the superiority of its hit numbers, but the overall consistency of its music. It represents the best of the bel canto tradition that reigned in Italian opera in the early 19th century—from funny patter songs to rich ensembles to wrenching melody in the solos, most notably the tenor’s showstopping aria “Una furtiva lagrima” in Act II. Its variations between major and minor keys in the climaxes are one of opera’s savviest depictions of a character’s dawning consciousness.
More Opera’s
On Stage 2017–18
La Boheme
Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci
Cendrillon
Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Cosi fan tutte
Elektra
L’Elisir d’Amore
The Exterminating Angel
Hansel and Gretel
Lucia di Lammermoor
Luisa Miller
Madama Butterfly
The Magic Flute
The Merry Widow
National Council Grand Finals Concert
Norma
Le Nozze di Figaro
Parsifal
Requiem
Romeo et Juliette
Semiramide
Thais
Tosca
Il Trovatore
Turnandot
Die Zauberflote
