© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
L’Elisir d’Amore, melodramma giocoso in two acts. Music by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848). Libretto by Felice Romani, adapted from the French libretto by Eugene Scribe for the opera Le Philtre (1831) by Daniel François Auber, in its turn adapted from Silvio Malaperta’s Italian play Il Filtro. Premiered on May 12, 1832, at the Teatro alla Canobbiana, Milan, Italy.
Metropolitan Opera House, 2012-13 Season Opening Night on September 24, 2012. Sung in Italian, with Met titles in English and German.
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus – conductor Maurizio Benini, chorus master Donald Palumbo. New production by Bartlett Sher. Set Designer Michael Yeargan. Costume Designer Catherine Zuber. Lighting Designer Jennifer Tipton. The costumes are set to Italy, 1836.
Cast in order of vocal appearance:
Gianetta – Anne-Carolyn Bird
Nemorino – Matthew Polenzani
Adina – Anna Netrebko
Sergeant Belcore – Mariusz Kwiecien
Doctor Dulcamara – Ambrogio Maestri
-----------
Opera, contrary to what the naysayers pretend, still has star power. The opening night at the Met looks and feels like any other major red carpet event, complete with celebrities arriving by limousine, a press area with a line of photographers snapping multiple shots of the artists, and a crowd outside of the carpeted area cheering at their ultra-dressed-up favorites.
The Netrebko/Schrott couple of course gets the most attention, with Anna looking very beautiful in a black gown, arms-in-arms with an elegant and handsome tuxedo-clad Erwin.
The plaza is festive with a large screen showing the opera to those who couldn’t snap the sold-out tickets, and the same is true of Times Square with another direct broadcast over an even larger screen.
Inside the Met, ladies in gowns with long tails struggle to wrap the extra layers of fabric around themselves so that they can fit into the arms of the seats. See this one, and pardon me for the fuzzy image since I had to crop and use digital zoom to isolate this lady.
We all get to sing along the American anthem, a beautiful moment. Then the opera starts. Some of these people seem to be here for the glamour rather than for the music, as they tend to applaud at the wrong moments. But hey, opera needs those too, given their propensity for donating large sums to the program.
So, because we do care for the music here at Opera Lively, let’s start by talking about L’Elisir d’Amore. Here we have a Donizetti who had 15 years of experience under his belt, after his debut in Venice with Enrico di Borgogna at age 21, and a series of money-grabbing commissions culminating with his first big success with Anna Bolena in Milan in 1930. Then, the impresario Alessandro Lanari rents the Teatro Canobbiana for the 1832 spring season, but one of his composers fails to deliver an opera to him in time for his expected run. He then commissions Donizetti, some ten weeks before the scheduled opening night. Prolific Felice Romani pens the libretto in 8 days, and Donizetti, under pressure from the impresario, writes the music in two to four weeks (biographers differ on this).
Such a hastily written opera (although this kind of timeline wasn’t uncommon at the time) shouldn’t be that good, right? Well, it is Donizetti’s most performed opera, and today it ranks 13th as the most given opera world-wide. Its success started at the very opening night, in spite of a disastrous cast that featured a German soprano with diction difficulties, a stammering tenor, and in the words of Donizetti himself, a French baritone who “wasn’t worth much,” and a buffo “with the voice of a goat.” Given its unanimous good reception from critics and from the public alike, it enjoyed the status of most performed Italian opera for a good decade, and never stopped being popular ever since. Unlike other Bel Canto operas that focus on the soprano, L’Elisir highlights admirably the tenor voice, featuring in Una Furtiva Lagrima one of the most celebrated tenor arias of all time, which launched Caruso’s career in 1900 at La Scala, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
Why is it so good? Because of its admirable facility in switching from comedy to deep expression of emotions. The score is lively and light where it needs to be, and impassioned and pungent when this is what is called for. It goes from Rossini-inspired pater songs to the lyricism of the bassoon obbligato in its signature hit tune. By defining it as a melodramma giocoso instead of a plain buffo comedy, Donizetti impacts on it a range of emotions that is sure to please various segments of the public. There is enough pathos, but it is certainly very funny in many other moments. Its plot is simple and charming, and basically inspired by a form that is guaranteed to work: that of the Commedia dell’Arte, with its stock characters of a swaggering soldier, a cunning quack doctor, and the classic Pierrot (Nemorino) pining for the love of his fickle Colombina (Adina). The characters are aptly named: Adina is the Hebrew-derived name for “lovely,” Nemorino is a diminutive of the Latin Nemo, literally meaning “little nobody,” while Belcore is Italian for “handsome heart” and Dulcamara stands for “bittersweet” and is also the name of a traditional popular remedy of the time, used to treat all ailments.
Bartlett Sher in this new production for the Met adopted an approach that is certainly interesting. While Donizetti was mostly apolitical, at the time when this opera was being written, discontent was brewing in Italy with the Austrian invaders – something that would result twenty years later in the Risorgimento movement so dear to Verdi. Mr. Sher underlines the political landscape by making of the soldiers a very nasty bunch. They clearly mistreat the villagers, push women around, beat men up. Belcore doesn’t look like the bon vivant of some other productions, but rather engages in some oppressor behavior. His relationship to Adina verges on the abusive. He grabs and gropes her, and she seems unhappy and appeasing at times.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Just like Matthew Polenzani told us in his interview with us, this is a physical L’Elisir that escapes a bit the good-natured comedy. Still, it is funny enough. When we met backstage after the performance, I asked Matthew for an update on his statement. He said that in the last week and a half after we spoke, the production grew in the comedic sense.
The sets are those of a traditional Italian village in the first half of the 19th century – no Basque landscape like in some renditions of the piece. They are pretty enough and realistic-looking but are not the best feature of this show – although the scene with Adina’s final admission of love is done in a beautiful rural field that has the most enticing looks of the various sets.
The costumes on the other hand are delightful. Anna looks positively charming with her hat.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
When she comes out in a white gown for the failed wedding ceremony, the public gasps.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Dulcamara’s outfit is appropriately over-the-top and very funny.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
The soldiers look good, and the villagers are sexy, with some of the gorgeous Met chorus ladies showing some generous cleavage.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
The sexy approach is also underlined by some slightly risqué action between Adina and Nemorino, especially when she pulls him to the ground on top of her, at the very end in the scene when the two lovers are surprised by Belcore, who then gives up on the prospective bride.
Acting is very good by all involved. Matthew indeed *can* be funny – a point he stressed in his first interview with us, when he invited us back to check it out, and I concede the point. He also showed great delicacy of acting in the more pungent moments. Anna was her usual self as a great performer. Some of the moments when Adina really eats the food in the wedding banquet – overeats a little and gets her wrist slapped by her friend Giannetta – are precious. Kudos to Ambrogio Maestri who is spectacular as Dulcamara - the scene when he is eating spaghetti is great.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Mariusz Kwiecien is entirely convincing as the arrogant Belcore.
Musically, the evening couldn’t be better. We get a veteran Italian conductor who really knows his trade in Maurizio Benini, who gets a wonderful performance from the Met Orchestra.
Anne-Carolyn Bird in the comprimario role of Giannetta is correct with her light voice. Kwiecien doesn’t disappoint either as Belcore.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
The three stars of the night, however, are a flawless, seasoned Maestri, and a principal pair of singers who pass all possible evaluations with flying colors.
One word about Matthew Polenzani: I can’t understand why he is underestimated at times. Some blogs call him a “generic” tenor. I think he has very fine technique and a beautiful voice. So seems to believe the Met casting department and musical director, since Matthew, a still young tenor, by now is clocking in more than 250 Met performances in 29 different roles. Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, Vienna State Opera and La Scala seem to agree, as confirmed by his numerous appearances in these fine houses. It is not for nothing that he won the 2008 Beverly Sills Award. Appropriate credit is overdue for this great tenor. His Una Furtiva Lagrima is a very fine one, in which he goes for delicacy rather than for power, a very good choice that had the 4,000 members of the audience mesmerized in religious silence during his elegant Italianate phrasing, erupting in long applause afterwards. It is a very satisfying Nemorino.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Backstage, I talked to Matthew about the idea expressed by our Schigolch that it would be interesting at some point to feature a Nemorino that seems triumphant during Una Furtiva Lagrima, rather than emotional and a bit on the sad side, since after all at this point he believes that the elixir is working, and he sees in Adina’s tear proof that he loves him – which leads to his ecstatic affirmation “M’ama!” (she loves me). Matthew disagrees. He tells me that in his opinion, the sadness is given by the finality of this accomplishment, when Nemorino says he could die, from this point on, and wouldn’t care. It is like reaching the peak of one’s existence and being a bit shaken by how to proceed, from this point on. Nothing else seems to matter. Good point, I concede. Matthew says he hasn’t ever seen anybody taking this aria with a triumphal twist, but adds that this is why opera is so enticing: that different people can read different nuances in these moments.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
And then, well, we get Anna Netrebko. I may be a bit biased when talking about her, since as you all know, I’m a big fan. But hey, where is the lady who some believed, couldn’t trill, and didn’t have enough diction or voice agility for Bel Canto? If these objections could arguably be sustained a few years back, she has certainly learned all that there is to learn. I thought that her vocal performance in this opening night was simply perfect. Trill? Check. Agility? Check – even though this is certainly not the most notable characteristic of her voice, she can do it. Diction? Crystalline. Great projection? Check. Acting? Like I said, fine as always. Looks? Well, I personally think they’re the best in the business, these days. And then, we get that gorgeous timbre. Adina doesn’t get much better than this.
© Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Overall, I give an A to opening night – not an A+, given the relatively unimaginative sets – but everything else works, with a great cast that treats us to fabulous acting and singing. A good start for the 2012-13 season! And the pomp and luxury of gala night, with the crowds gathering to see live opera inside the sold-out house and outside the theater (at Times Square and the Lincoln Center plaza) reassure me that the art form is doing just fine, thank you.
----------------
Don't miss Opera Lively's exclusive interviews with the two principal artists: Anna Netrebko's is [here], and Matthew Polenzani's is [here]. If you came to this page from another site, do explore our content with many great interviews by clicking on Articles, and don't miss our discussion Forum. Please consider registering as a member in order to post your own comments, it's for free. Thank you for visiting Opera Lively.
Disclaimer: all production pictures above were used with authorization of the Met Press Department.
Section Widget
vBulletin Message