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Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore
Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:
Gaetano Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore (1832) is a classic of the bel canto era. Equally popular in the same period was a French comic opera by Auber, Le Philtre (1831), which parallels L'Elisir in every way: melodious and passionate music set to an almost identical libretto. Yet Le Philtre is forgotten today, while L'Elisir continues to hold the stage. If even for one glorious melody alone,"Una Furtiva Lagrima," the fame of Donizetti's opera would be forever ensured. Against the advice of his librettist Donizetti insisted on inserting this sad, sweet song into the second act.
Only once before have I featured the Donizetti "Love Potion" lyric comedy. That was on Sunday, July 7, 1996. After so long an absence from the airwaves of WWUH it finally gets your audition again today in a classic 1971 taping of the work for Decca/London. Richard Bonynge directs the English Chamber Orchestra and Ambrosian Opera Chorus. Bonynge's wife, soprano Joan Sutherland is heard as Adina, and joining the diva as the country bumpkin Nemorino is the late great tenor Luciano Pavarotti. Decca reissued the vintage recording on compact disc in 1985.