L’ELISIR D’AMORE

Composer Gaetano Donizetti. Libretto by Felice Romani after Eugène Scribe.
Melodrama in two acts (1832)

recommended for ages 8 and up

In Italian language. With surtitles in German and English.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

The dreary life in the small Anacreontian village depicted by composer Gaetano Donizetti and his librettist Felice Romani does not offer much variety - the only perspective outside this small world seems to be the illusion of a heroic soldier's life, even if this could mean death.

But what a difference a bottle of Bordeaux can make: The intimidated Nemorino really turns up the heat in his courtship of Adina when he drinks the wine sold as an elixir of love by the miracle doctor Dulcamara. The potion promptly takes effect, Nemorino becomes a daredevil and would rather die in war than have his beloved Adina in the hands of the soldier Belcore. The ambitious Adina cannot resist the charm of the daring Nemorino - and even Dulcamara is amazed at the energy and art of transformation his deception unleashes: The sad world full of wistful longing is suddenly full of color and fantasy.