L’elisir d’amore

Opera by Gaetano Donizetti

The emotional roller coaster of the humble Nemorino starts at rock bottom: He is in love with the learned Adina, but she has her nose so deep in one of her books that she barely notices Nemorino’s infatuation. Things only really pick up when the well-traveled quack Dulcamara touts his love potion. It’s supposed to not only give you butterflies in your stomach but also reliably ensure lasting feelings of love. For Nemorino, as for all those unhappily in love, it’s a stroke of luck. After drinking the love potion, things can only get better for Nemorino: from a nobody to a daredevil! Only Adina seems largely uninterested. When the soldier Belcore then proposes to her, Nemorino’s roller coaster suddenly turns upside down. His heart plummets into his pants as if on a freefall. Only after a few rapid, serendipitous twists and breakneck coloratura loops do the young lovers finally find their way back to each other.

Director Marlene Pawlak, who most recently staged*Le nozze di Figaro*and*Alice*at the Staatstheater Kassel, does justice to Donizetti’s *opera buffa* and brings to life the light-footed richness of its melodies, balancing comedy and tragedy. Full of surprising twists, tender euphoria, and charming wit,*Der Liebestrank*, under the musical direction of 1st Coordinated Conductor Kiril Stankow, tells of passionate emotional worlds in constant flux.

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