BY THOMAS MAY

The Elixir of Love:

MATTHEW STAVER, COURTESY OPERA COLORADO

Donizetti’s Altered States

W henever someone introduces The Elixir of Love

(L’Elisir d’Amore), you can be sure the discussion will
include mention of the jaw-dropping speed of its composition. I
find myself slightly bemused by the skepticism with which schol-
duce his score for The Barber of Seville: “Well, of course, I always
knew that Rossini was a lazy fellow.”
Even in a milieu that demanded rapid, assembly-line creative
habits, Donizetti’s workaholic hyper-productivity astonished his
ars approach Donizetti’s boast that he completed the work in contemporaries (and aroused their jealousy). A well-known cari-
about two weeks; some suggest that the more accurate figure cature of the composer from his Paris period in the early 1840s
might have been closer to… a whole month (as if that in itself shows a manic figure scoring two different operas simultaneously,
were not impressive enough)! one with each hand (not a bad image, in a way, for the ambidex-
All this parsing and hedging seems to indulge in an uninten- trous emotional pull of Elixir’s signature tune, “Una furtiva
tionally ironic echo of the composer’s own joke at the expense of lagrima”). But years of intense work and struggle to make it to
Rossini. Donizetti once famously quipped about the similar the top would also exact a terrible toll. In a letter from 1839 to
rapidity with which the slightly older master had claimed to pro- the composer Johann Simon Mayr, the generous mentor of his
impoverished youth in Bergamo (who arguably invented what is
familiarly known as “the Rossini crescendo”), Donizetti—only
forty-two at the time—bluntly calls attention to his frazzled con-
Thomas May writes frequently for San Francisco Opera. He is the
author of Decoding Wagner and The John Adams Reader.
 One of the true miracles behind Elixir is how Donizetti, together with his librettist Felice Romani,
distills his own artistic elixir, transforming an innocuously predictable romantic comedy
and a pattern of operatic expectations into a work of freshly stirring beauty.

dition: “How delighted I am to know you are always in good few years—helped shore up and expand Donizetti’s reputation so
spirits. Then you don’t feel your age. But I—who am always that by the end of the decade he had achieved international star-
sad—feel mine very much. I am grey and wearied of working.” dom and ruled Europe’s (and America’s) opera stages. Even after
That painful confession makes the celebration of unjaded youth- the vast majority of his prolific legacy had fallen out of fashion
fulness and love’s blossoming which Donizetti immortalized in (hibernating in operatic limbo until the twentieth-century bel canto
The Elixir of Love all the more touching. revival reclaimed these hidden treasures), Elixir retained its special
As it turns out, there was an additional motivation behind the appeal. Interestingly, unlike Rossini, with whose Barber of Seville this
hasty genesis of Elixir. Donizetti had recently enjoyed his first opera is often, if somewhat misleadingly, compared, Donizetti’s
tantalizing taste of success with his lyric tragedy Anna Bolena in image was not essentially overshadowed by his comic achievement
1830—after investing over a decade of constant toil in the highly thanks to the similarly enduring popularity of the tragic Lucia.
competitive opera world of the era. But the public and critics The lightning-flash speed of Elixir’s composition would be a
were fickle, and sustaining their favor was an ongoing struggle. good deal less impressive were the result simply another applica-
Donizetti faced a humiliating situation when another tragic tion of the formulas and conventions dominating Italian opera at
opera, Ugo, Conte di Parigi, failed upon its premiere at Milan’s La the time—much of which did in fact involve the musical equiva-
Scala. It closed after an embarrassingly scant four performances lent of painting by numbers. Yet by the time he came to Elixir,
in March 1832. The production actually boasted no less a cast we should recall, Donizetti had accrued the substantial musical
than the same principals who had given the prima of Bellini’s and theatrical experience that came with writing more than
Norma, also at La Scala, only a few months previously (including thirty previous operas. In this comic masterpiece, he clearly
the legendary first Norma, Giuditta Pasta). But that was precisely draws on every skill he has learned about musical characteriza-
part of the problem: the singers were apparently exhausted from tion and dramatically effective pacing. One of the true miracles
the effort expended in Bellini’s opera and thus not in a condition behind Elixir is how Donizetti, together with his librettist Felice
to present Donizetti’s music in the best light. Romani, distills his own artistic elixir, transforming an innocu-
It was during the same spring of 1832 that the manager of a ously predictable romantic comedy and a pattern of operatic
rival Milanese opera company, the Teatro alla Canobbiana, expectations into a work of freshly stirring beauty.
found himself in desperate straits when he was left with a hole in Even his orchestration is filled with delightful inventions and
his planned season (another composer had bailed on delivering details: the racing, helter-skelter jollity of the Act One finale, the
his promised score). The relentless demand for “new product” trumpeter who accompanies Dulcamara, the bassoon plaintively
allowed no wiggle room for hesitation. Donizetti was approached imitating the human voice in “Una furtiva lagrima” (yet another
with the prospect that he might simply retool one of his earlier twist on the bel canto convention of introducing an aria with an
works to help save the day. To which the composer, displaying an instrumental phrasing of the melody). It is all a far cry from Wag-
attitude of bravado, proudly countered that he planned to fur- ner’s notorious complaint that Italian opera was prone to using
nish an entirely new score within the limited time available. No the orchestra as little more than a “giant guitar” strumming away
doubt Donizetti was intent on vindicating his image and blotting simple accompaniments. Curiously enough, when Wagner was a
out the all-too-recent memory of his fiasco with Ugo. (Not that he down-and-out composer in his early years in Paris, barely able to
was averse to recycling prior material; when he did so for his get by on hackwork, he took on a number of assignments that
French opera of 1840, La Favorite, the result was a work that is involved making motley arrangements of popular opera scores,
nevertheless astonishing for what Donizetti expert William Ash- including those of Donizetti (for La Favorite, he prepared versions
brook terms “the innate coherence of its style.”) including for four hands, string quartet, and even cornet).
And vindicate himself he did—with a vengeance. Elixir And let’s not forget the crucial contribution of Romani. Far
opened on May 12, 1832 at the Canobbiana (which reigned in too often the hugely significant role this poet and librettist played
the nineteenth century as the second opera house in Milan to La in paving some of the most lasting successes of the bel canto era
Scala and is due to re-open next year in a renovated guise). It was is overlooked. He wrote the majority of Bellini’s librettos as well
an immediate smash. One critic observed that “to lavish greater as nine for Donizetti (including those for Anna Bolena and Lucrezia
praise on the Maestro would be unfair to the opera; his work Borgia). Romani was nearly a decade older than Donizetti and
does not need exaggerated compliments.” How immensely grati- could be a prickly piece of work to deal with—hardly surprising,
fying this triumph must have been for Donizetti, who had put up considering the tensions between creative egos inherent in
with years of harsh attacks from Milan’s critics. opera’s collaborative process. But the composer insisted on secur-
Beyond the initial success, Elixir—along with such works as ing Romani’s services as librettist for the new opera to be
Lucrezia Borgia and Lucia di Lammermoor, composed within the next whipped up on short notice, even though they had just partnered
 Right: Rod Gilfry

KEN FRIEDMAN
at Belcore in
the 2000–01
production.

Top center:
Reri Grist
as Adina and
Luciano Pavarotti
as Nemorino
in the 1969
production.

in the Ugo fiasco. Clearly Donizetti appreciated not only his poetic touch but Romani’s
flair for dramatic mood and character and consequent gift for providing the ideal vehicle
to stimulate his musical imagination.
These strengths are especially evident in Elixir. The fact that Romani adapted a pre-
existing libretto (as he did for a number of Donizetti operas) only highlights these, since
the changes he made to his source can be readily discerned. That source was written by
an even more legendary librettist and playwright of the era, the appropriately named,
enormously influential Eugène Scribe (his stage works were also adapted for such a vari-
ety of operas as La Sonnambula and Un Ballo in Maschera). It was titled Le Philtre, with a
score by frequent partner Daniel Auber; their best-known effort today is the opéra comique
Frau Diavolo. Le Philtre had itself only recently received its premiere to great success on
the Paris stage. Indeed, the original Belcore—baritone Henri-Bernard Dabadie, a cele-
brated Rossinian who also created two roles in Rossini’s French operas—had earlier
played his counterpart in Le Philtre (named Jolicoeur in the Auber-Scribe opera).
William Ashbrook points out that Romani added some of the most pivotal and memo-
rable scenes to his reworking of Scribe, including Nemorino’s parallel pleas near the ends of each act (“Adina, credimi” and “Una furtiva
lagrima”) and Adina’s admission of love (“Prendi”) in Act Two. As Ashbrook aptly points out, “It is precisely these three passages that add
a balance of human poignancy to the comic spirit of the work.” It should also be noted that Donizetti himself planted the idea for
Nemorino’s most-celebrated aria despite Romani’s reluctance, who nevertheless produced some of his finest lyrics to satisfy the composer.
These alterations are hardly merely passing ornaments. They form the emotional core that sets Elixir apart in a world of its own, tran-
scending the clichés of opera buffa to present a touching musical and dramatic story of the simultaneous vulnerability and strength that come
with being in love. The opera of course contains buffa elements galore—the sparkling vivacity of the crowd scenes, the head-spinning patter
of “Doctor” Dulcamara, the sudden twist of fate that makes a peasant a millionaire—but these lack the sniping mockery that you can find
 CAROLYN MASON JONES
Left: Ruth Ann

MARTY SOHL
Swenson as Adina
and Jerry Hadley as
Nemorino in the
1992 production.
Swenson also
performed the role
of Giannetta in the
1984 Company
production.

Bottom center:
Paolo Montarsolo
(left) as Dulcamara
and José Carreras
(right) as Nemorino
in the 1975
production.
GREG PETERSON

in Rossini. Donizetti shows his own characters having cruel fun at the expense of each
other, but he ensures that we know what Adina and Nemorino are feeling from within.
Much of the opera’s enjoyment comes from the tension between artifice and honesty,
between role-playing and revelation—a result of Elixir’s romantic preoccupation with
emotional sincerity. In the wedding party at the top of Act Two, for example, Adina and
Dulcamara (somewhat inexplicably having stayed around to enjoy the celebration) enact
a Venetian gondola song/charade about a dirty old man (the stereotype behind “Sena-
tor Three Teeth”) courting a beautiful woman: a story framed within the story of
Adina’s own intentional deception aimed at Nemorino. One of the striking paradoxes
Elixir dramatizes is that bel canto style, so often perceived as the epitome of surface
beauty and high artifice, comes to the aid of plain truth-telling as Donizetti’s lovers dis-
arm and unmask their real feelings at different stages in the opera.
How fitting that one of the threads running through the opera—the basis for its title in
fact—is a parody of the “bizzarra aventura” of the Tristan and Isolde legend. This legend
serves in fact as another illusion to cast in relief Elixir’s Arcadian depiction of love as
guileless innocence. Early in Act One Adina reads the story to her workers, with Nemorino hovering about her. The scene underlines the
education that separates Adina, in her relative privilege, from Nemorino and the illiterate peasants as a whole (Nemorino’s unlettered
state is also brought home when Belcore assumes he can sign his conscription papers only by jotting an “X”; in contrast, Belcore comes
wooing with flowery references to Homer’s Paris and Aphrodite). But the version Adina gives out is a blatant “misreading”—refitted
with a happy ending—of what had long been known as a tragic tale in which love and death are intertwined. She might be literate, but
Adina shares with Nemorino a similar gullibility in believing what she wants to. The opera itself likewise acts out the distortedly happy
version of the love potion, in which the only loser is Belcore—and even his loss is a nominal one, painlessly shrugged away.
The joke of the fictional elixir turns out to be that it is, as far as matters turn out, true—in vino veritas. While Nemorino gets drunk and
 KEN FRIEDMAN
Nmon Ford as Belcore and Anna Netrebko as Adina in the 2000–01 production.

thus plucks up his nerve to play indifferent to Adina, he goads her (“Quanto amore”—again, a scene of advice seeking), Dulcamara
into a sequence that leads from injured vanity to honest recogni- is forced to give up his con-artistry for a moment and finds himself
tion that she loves him. The unornamented directness of “Una amazed by the force of Adina’s personality.
furtiva lagrima” is answered by Adina’s confession “Tu me sei That duet immediately precedes Nemorino’s “Una furtiva
caro.” The moment forms an exquisitely mirrored counterpart to lagrima,” Donizetti’s celebrated romanza which seems to encapsu-
their first duet, in Act One, when both were also addressing each late the humanity of Elixir, with its bittersweet chiaroscuro of
other with frankness: Nemorino asking what to do about his love emotions from melancholy into hopefulness. Not by coincidence,
and Adina telling him (a la Cher in Moonstruck) simply to “snap “Dulcamara”—Romani renamed all of the characters from
out of it.” By the opera’s finale, there is no more need for posing Scribe’s original text—means “sweet and bitter.” In real life, sweet
and counterposing, and role-playing can be set aside. and then bitter is closer to the actual order of experience, of inno-
Much of Elixir (and opera for that matter) is about giving and cence lost, but the world of Elixir reverses this. (Incidentally, a
getting advice—all with ulterior motives that are apparent to us if decade later Donizetti revisited this aria and recast it for baritone,
not the characters on the receiving end. Adina first tells Nemorino down from B-flat minor to G minor, giving it a slightly brighter,
to move on (the very fact that he is asking for advice instead of less lugubrious demeanor.)
demanding her attention as Belcore does is the clue Nemorino is At the end of his career, Donizetti makes a similar gambit by
missing as to what she finds lacking); Dulcamara offers his “rem- enlisting the tragic pathos of Ernesto’s two arias before he’s let in
edy” for the young man’s problem; Belcore has a suggestion about on the secret and knows he will win his love in Don Pasquale, that
where to get some fast cash. Donizetti’s talent goes beyond merely swan song of the opera buffa tradition. The composer, almost
delineating characters to portray their interactions with theatrical anticipating the experiment of Strauss and Hofmannstahl in Ari-
acumen. When he first appears, for example, Dulcamara is given adne auf Naxos, seems to show the tenor straying from an opera seria
a show-stopper aria, sputtering on as incessantly as a late-night into the world of buffa. Both in Don Pasquale and Elixir, Donizetti
infomercial about his wide range of gifts (we even find out, at the tweaks the formulas of his time to give profile and humanity to
wedding party, that he’s a composer and are treated to “his” what are essentially cut-out caricatures. The alterations retain
music). But in his duet with Adina near the climax of Act Two their alluring freshness.