L'Elisir d'Amore Scene
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC Ballroom A
Start Date
15-5-2014
End Date
15-5-2014
Keywords
Love, Inebriation, Comedy
Abstract
L'Elisir d'Amore premiered in Milan in 1832. The music was composed by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), who wrote more than 60 operas in addition to orchestral and chamber music. This piece is a perfect example of the bel canto tradition that dominated Italian opera in the early 19th century. Bel canto singing is based on ease, purity, and evenness of tone production and demands great vocal agility. This romantic comedy is one of Donizetti's most frequently performed operas. In the opera, Nemorino, a young villager, is in love with the beautiful farm owner Adina. Adina is not interested in Nemorino. Her philosophy is to change her affections every single day. Dulcamara, a traveling purveyor of patent medicines, arrives in the village, advertising a potion capable of curing anything. When the doctor has finished his routine, Nemorino shyly asks if he sells the elixir of love. Dulcamara claims he does and pulls out a bottle of Bordeaux wine. Though it costs him his last ducat, Nemorino buys it and immediately drinks it; Dulcamara explains that he has to wait until the next day for results (by which time Dulcamara will be gone). Our scene begins when Adina appears and Nemorino begins to feel the effect of the “potion.” Certain he will be irresistible to her the next day, he feigns cheerful indifference. She becomes increasingly annoyed and to punish him, Adina decides that she will flirt with the handsome Sergeant Belcore.
Recommended Citation
Sacchi, Joseph and Hemenway, Sarah, "L'Elisir d'Amore Scene" (2014). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 8.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2014/creativeexpression/8
Additional Mentoring Department
Music
Additional Mentoring Department
CWU Opera
L'Elisir d'Amore Scene
SURC Ballroom A
L'Elisir d'Amore premiered in Milan in 1832. The music was composed by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), who wrote more than 60 operas in addition to orchestral and chamber music. This piece is a perfect example of the bel canto tradition that dominated Italian opera in the early 19th century. Bel canto singing is based on ease, purity, and evenness of tone production and demands great vocal agility. This romantic comedy is one of Donizetti's most frequently performed operas. In the opera, Nemorino, a young villager, is in love with the beautiful farm owner Adina. Adina is not interested in Nemorino. Her philosophy is to change her affections every single day. Dulcamara, a traveling purveyor of patent medicines, arrives in the village, advertising a potion capable of curing anything. When the doctor has finished his routine, Nemorino shyly asks if he sells the elixir of love. Dulcamara claims he does and pulls out a bottle of Bordeaux wine. Though it costs him his last ducat, Nemorino buys it and immediately drinks it; Dulcamara explains that he has to wait until the next day for results (by which time Dulcamara will be gone). Our scene begins when Adina appears and Nemorino begins to feel the effect of the “potion.” Certain he will be irresistible to her the next day, he feigns cheerful indifference. She becomes increasingly annoyed and to punish him, Adina decides that she will flirt with the handsome Sergeant Belcore.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Blaisdell, Gayla