Opera Daily š¶ ā The Elixir of Love
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(LāElisir dāAmore premiered at The Metropolitan Opera in 1904 starring this legend, Enrico Caruso, in the role of Nemorino)
Today weāre listening to āUna furtiva lagrimaā from Act II of the Italian opera LāElisir dāAmore by Gaetano Donizetti. Written in the bel canto style, LāElisir d'Amore (translated from Italian as āThe Elixir of Loveā) is the most popular of Donizetti's works and was first performed in 1832 in Milan.
The Peruvian tenor, Juan Diego FlĆ³rez, is singing the role of Nemorino (neh-mohr-EEN-oh) here. The aria is oozing bel canto (delicate shading of the phrases, tons of high notes, and elaborate ornamentation of the melody). Beauty is the word that comes to mind when I think bel canto. As I mentioned in the first post in the series, unlike our modern understanding that a composer includes all the notes a singer is supposed to sing, singers were expected to add to the written music. One place a singer can showcase their voice is during the cadenzas (short passages for the voice in an improvised-like style) and they are everywhere in this opera.
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And yes! The Elixir of Love gives us a happy ending! Nemorino is in love with Adina, but Adina wonāt give him the time of day. After hearing the legend of Tristan and Isolde, Nemorino wonders if a love potion might do the trick to get Adina (ah-DEE-nah) to love him and he finds a man who sells him a āpotionā (thatās just wine). Nemorino thinks the potion has made him more desirable to Adina, but she has had feelings for him all along.
Nemorino hopes for love and sings āUna furtiva lagrimaā when he discovers that Adina cares for him after all. He sees what he thinks is a tear in her eye (the aria's name translates to "a secret tear").
A single secret tear from her eye did spring:
as if she envied all the youths that laughingly passed her by.
What more searching need I do?
She loves me! Yes, she loves me, I see it. I see it.
For just an instant the beating of her beautiful heart I could feel!
As if my sighs were hers, and her sighs were mine!
Heavens! Yes, I could die!
I could ask for nothing more, nothing more.
Yes, I could die! Yes, I could die of love.
Still interested? Want more?
The name Nemorino means āthe little nobodyā and comes from the Latin word for nobody (nemo).
In the opera, Adina buys Nemorinoās military service contract so he does not have to go to war. I read that this happened to Donizetti, too and he didnāt have to serve in the Austrian army.
What is opera buffa? Itās Italian for comic opera and originated in Naples in the early 18th century.
L'Elisir d'Amore premiered at The Metropolitan Opera in 1904 starring Enrico Caruso. Caruso singing this aria is not to be missed.
Thank you for listening,
Michele
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Juan Diego FlĆ³rez delivered a sweet rendition of "Una furtiva lagrima" from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore". Pavarottiās version was very impressive, though Iām not sure that his muscular singing really matched the character of Nemorino, a humble ānobodyā. Of three artists I explored, I liked Enrico Carusoās performance best. It was musically interesting, had more emotional depth, was credible in light of the story, and had the creativity and decorative qualities characteristic, I gather, of bel canto singers.
I now know that āopera buffaā is the term used for two comic operas I enjoyed in my youth - "The Barber of Seville" and "The Marriage of Figaro". I imagine opera composers and fans alike welcomed a respite, from time to time, from the heaving bosoms and tragic laments that dot the operatic landscape.
Finally, I checked out this amazing website by Tom FrĆøkjƦr, http://www.enricocaruso.dk (English). Itās an extraordinary labor of love with all of Carusoās recordings and incredible photos. Iām hooked on Caruso now. (YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t936rzOt3Zc )
George Jellinek the Hungarian/New York music historian hosted The Vocal Scene on WQXR in the 1970's-1980's. His programs are a gold mine of Classical Music and Operatic Singers History,