L’Elisir d’Amore Is Feb. 10, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The Feb. 10, 2018, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is L’Elisir d’Amore by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti.

Matthew Polenzani as a poor villager whose chances with Pretty Yende as a wealthy beauty greatly improve via a fake love potion in Donizetti's comic opera with a happy ending, L'Elisir d'Amore: Matthew Polenzani @polenzanitenor, via Twitter Jan. 15, 2018

L’Elisir d’Amore, a two-act comic opera (melodrama giocoso) by Italian composer Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848) centering on a fake love potion that leads to a happy ending for an emboldened poor villager and a wealthy beauty, is the Feb. 10, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

Italian poet Felice Romani (Jan. 31, 1788-Jan. 28, 1865) wrote the opera’s Italian libretto. Romani’s libretto adapts a French libretto by French dramatist and librettist Augustin Eugène Scribe (Dec. 24, 1791-Feb. 20, 1861) for Le Philtre (“The Potion”), an opera by French composer Daniel Auber François Esprit Auber (Jan. 29, 1782-May 12, 1871). Auber’s opera premiered Wednesday, June 15, 1831, at Théâtre de L’Académie Royale de Musique, now known as Opéra National de Paris (National Opera of Paris).

Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore premiered Saturday, May 12, 1832, at Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan, Lombardy, northwestern Italy. A little over one year earlier, the opera house had hosted the April 20, 1831, premiere of Donizetti’s dramma giocoso (“joyous drama”), Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali.

Ten performances of L’Elisir d’Amore are scheduled for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. Opening night, which marks Met Opera’s 293rd performance of the opera, is Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The month’s four additional performances take place Saturday, Jan. 20, at 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m.

February hosts five performances. The opera’s Saturday matinee broadcast takes place Feb. 10 at 12 p.m. The month’s other performances are scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m.; Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 7:30 p.m.; closing night, Saturday, Feb. 17, at 8:30 p.m. Closing night marks performance number 302 of L’Elisir d’Amore at the Metropolitan Opera.

Estimated run time for L’Elisir d’Amore is 2 hours 39 minutes. Act I lasts 72 minutes. An intermission of 32 minutes follows the first act. The second and final act spans 55 minutes.

Domingo Hindoyan conducts all performances. His birthplace is Caracas, north central Venezuela. L’Elisir d’Amore’s opening night Tuesday, Jan. 16, marks the Venezuelan-Swiss conductor’s Metropolitan Opera debut. His wife, Bulgarian operatic soprano Sonya Yoncheva, appeared in the title role for the Jan. 27, 2018, Saturday matinee broadcast of Tosca by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Pretty Yende appears in all performances as Adina, the wealthy beauty whose heart is won by Nemorino, a poor villager who is encouraged by a fake love potion to declare his love.  Her birthplace is Piet Retief, Mpumalanga province, eastern South Africa. The South African operatic soprano debuted Jan. 17, 2013, at the Metropolitan Opera as Countess Adèle in Le Comte Ory by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera, Pretty Yende also appears in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

Matthew Polenzani appears in all performances as Nemorino, a poor villager whose naïve belief that a fake love potion of wine is a real elixir brings him a happy ending of true love with Adina, a seemingly inaccessible, wealthy beauty. His birthplace is Evanston, Cook County, northeastern Illinois. The American lyric tenor debuted Dec. 19, 1997, at the Metropolitan Opera as Khrushchov in Boris Godunov by Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (March 21, 1839-March 28, 1881).

Davide Luciano appears in all performances as Sergeant Belcore, Nemorino’s rival who gracefully bows out of the rivalry when Adina chooses Nemorino. His birthplace is Benevento, central Southern Italy. The Italian baritone’s appearances as Belcore mark his Metropolitan Opera debut.

Ildebrando D’Arcangelo appears in all performances as Dr. Dulcamara, who ascribes Nemorino’s success in love with Adina and in money as a rich uncle's heir to the fake potions purveyed by the itinerant medicine man. His birthplace is Pescara, Abruzzo, east coastal Southern Italy. The Italian bass-baritone debuted Nov. 17, 1994, at the Metropolitan Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791).

Met Opera’s 2017-2018 staging of L’Elisir d’Amore is under the direction of Bartlett Sher. The American theater director’s staging of L’Elisir d’Amore debuted Sept. 24, 2012, as a new Metropolitan Opera production. His production team comprises Michael Yeargan, set designer; Catherine Zuber, costume designer; Jennifer Tipton, lighting designer.

The opera’s original setting is a small village in the Basque Country, in the western Pyrenees, at the end of the 18th century. Barlett Sher’s production moves to rural Italy and fast forwards to 1836. The historical background becomes the Risorgimento (“resurgence, revival”), the 19th century movement for unification of the Italian peninsula’s different states into a single state as the Kingdom of Italy (Regno d’Italia).

L’Elisir d’Amore appears as the 11th of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 23 Saturday matinee broadcasts. Verdi’s Il Trovatore was the season’s 10th Saturday matinee broadcast. Il Trovatore aired Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018, at 1 p.m.

The season’s 12th Saturday matinee broadcast is Wagner’s Parsifal. Parsifal is scheduled for Feb. 17, 2018, at 11:30 a.m.

Online database Operabase places Gaetano Donizetti in sixth place in a worldwide ranking of 1,281 composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/2016. Fifth and seventh places are occupied by German composer Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883) and French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875), respectively. L’Elisir d’Amore holds place 14 in the worldwide list of 2,658 most popular operas. Places 13 and 15 are held by German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart’s Così fan tutte, respectively.

L’Elisir d’Amore’s Metropolitan Opera debut took place Jan. 23, 1904. Prior to the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, L’Elisir d’Amore’s most recent Met Opera performances occurred during the 2015-2016 season. Arias from L’Elisir d’Amore have been performed during The Met’s Summer Recital Series in 2016 and in 2017.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Repertory Report provides statistics for the opera house’s operatic performances. L’Elisir d’Amore occupies place 28. Place 27 is held by German composer Richard Wagner’s Parsifal. Place 29 is occupied by La Gioconda.

L’Elisir d’Amore appears as the first of two Donizetti operas offered as Saturday matinee broadcasts during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor begins at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time as the April 7, 2018, Saturday matinee broadcast.

The takeaway for L’Elisir d’Amore as the Feb. 10, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 11th Saturday matinee broadcast is a happy comic opera about a poor villager who finds love and riches while believing in the powers of a fake elixir.

Matthew Polenzani and Pretty Yende in rehearsal for the Metropolitan Opera’s 2017-2018 season staging of L’Elisir d’Amore by 19th century Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti: Matthew Polenzani @polenzanitenor, via Twitter Jan. 8, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Matthew Polenzani as a poor villager whose chances with Pretty Yende as a wealthy beauty greatly improve via a fake love potion in Donizetti’s comic opera with a happy ending, L’Elisir: Matthew Polenzani @polenzanitenor, via Twitter Jan. 15, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/polenzanitenor/status/952934002888986626

Matthew Polenzani and Pretty Yende in rehearsal for the Metropolitan Opera’s 2017-2018 season staging of L’Elisir d’Amore by 19th-century Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti: Matthew Polenzani @polenzanitenor, via Twitter Jan. 8, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/polenzanitenor/status/950474281942683650

For further information:

"Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16." Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en

“Debut: Ildebrando D’Arcangelo.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 318510 Don Giovanni {425} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/17/1994.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=318510

“Debuts: Domingo Hindoyan, Davide Luciano.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356855 L’Elisir d’Amore {290} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/16/2018.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356855

“Debuts: Constantin Pluzhnikov . . . Matthew Polenzani.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 330264 Boris Godunov {251} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/19/1997.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=330264

“Debuts: Pretty Yende, Nicola Ulivieri.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 354792 Le Comte Ory {9} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/17/2013.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=354792

Marriner, Derdriu. “Il Trovatore Is Feb. 3, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Jan. 29, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/il-trovatore-is-feb-3-2018-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conducts Strauss and Wagner in 2017-2018 Season.” Earth and Space News. Monday, July 10, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/07/yannick-nezet-seguin-conducts-strauss.html

Matthew Polenzani ‏@polenzanitenor. "Rehearsing with @PrettyYende for @MetOpera #ElisirDAmore 🎶 we open on 1/16!!" Twitter. Jan. 8, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/polenzanitenor/status/950474281942683650

Matthew Polenzani @polenzanitenor. "Tomorrow is #OpeningNight! #ElisirDAmore @metopera @PrettyYende." Twitter. Jan. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/polenzanitenor/status/952934002888986626

“New Production: L’Elisir d’Amore.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 35444 L’Elisir d’Amore {268} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/24/2012.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=35444

"Performances Statistics Through October 31, 2016.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Repertory Report.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Database%20Opera%20Statistics.xml

“Le Philtre, Opéra en Deux Actes, Paroles de M. Scribe, Musique de M. Auber.” Paris, France: Bezou, 1831.
Available via Gallica -- The BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) Digital Library @ http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k74122z.r=Auber+.langFR