"The Elixir of Love" by Gaetano Donizetti at the Gran Teatre del Liceu

Love, Italy and 'bel canto' in Mario Gas's famous opera production. You can see it from November 22nd to December 15th at the Gran Teatre del Liceu,

Valor and epic surround the creation of this masterpiece of the buffo genre. In Donizetti's instructions to his librettist, Felice Romani, he said: "I am obliged to put music to a libretto within a period of fourteen days. I give you a week to prepare it for me. We'll see which of us has more courage."  

Love potions have been widely used elements in romantic tales for thousands of years, but in L'elisir there's an unexpected and intelligent twist on tradition: in this case, the happy ending is not brought about by a love potion (which is nothing more than black wine!), but by a story about a love potion. When the opera begins, the heroine is reading Tristan and Isolde, the medieval legend where love arises after drinking a magic elixir.  

L'elisir d'amore is a perfect comedy where the main characters manage to be together through their actions, and not by a potion. In an unpredictable turn, Nemorino inadvertently conquers Adina: the real magic lies not in a bottle, but in the sincerity, friendship, and respect that can unite two hearts. 
 
Donizetti's comedy is one of the most beloved operas of bel canto, like the landlord and the peasant in search of love. The brilliant sopranos Pretty Yende, Serena Sáenz and Marina Monzó alternate as the astute and intelligent Adina, alongside the innocence and shyness of Nemorino in the voices of the tenors Javier Camarena, Michael Spyres (in his debut in this role) and Filipe Manu, winner of the 2024 Viñas Contest. Maestro Diego Matheuz returns to the Gran Teatre del Liceu after a successful Don Pasquale in the 2014-2015 season. Completing the cast are Huw Montague-Rendall and Carles Pachon as the banal and pompous sergeant Belcore, and Ambrogio Maestri, Fabio Capitanucci and Simon Orfila embody the talkative and charismatic Dottore Dulcamara: their potions can cure everything, even a broken heart. 
 
Mario Gas's beautiful and bright production (premiered at the Teatre Grec and at the Castell de Peralada International Festival in 1983 and present at the Liceu since the 1997-1998 season) transposes this melodramma giocoso to Italy in the early years of Mussolini's fascism. The staging is a combination of fantasy and poetry, from the arrival of Dulcamara to Nemorino's legendary courtship of Adina: a comedic work that also contains a serious sensitivity. A fresh production and a classic that breathes with Donizetti's music, which gives prominence to the emotion of bel canto. 

L'elisir d'amore is a "Melodramma giocoso" in two acts with a libretto by Felice Romani based on the libretto "Le philtre" by Eugène Scribe. It premiered at the Teatro della Cannobianda in Milan on May 12, 1832. In Barcelona, on La Rambla, it premiered a year later at the Teatre de la Santa Creu. It has been performed 103 times at the Liceu.