Opera "Love Drink": content, video, interesting facts

G. Donizetti opera "Love drink"

Gaetano Donizetti's "Love Potion" is one of the most brilliant comic operas of the composer, which is full of beautiful melodies and has an unusual and interesting plot. It is not by chance that she has been keeping the close attention of listeners for more than 150 years. Some arias from the opera form the basis of the golden fund of the opera classics.

Summary of the opera Donizetti "Love drink" and a lot of interesting facts about this piece read on our page.

Summary of "Love drink"

The action takes place in an Italian village in the outskirts of Rome, in the 30s of the XIX century. Adina is an incredibly attractive and rich young lady who owns several farms. She is passionate about books that describe beautiful love stories. It is one of them - "Tristan and Isolde," she reads to her friend Jannet. At this time, aside, Nemorino, who had overheard his ears with the help of a magic potion, was able to fall in love with the book’s heroes, watching them unrequitedly, watching them. Naturally, he is impressed and secretly wants to get such a mysterious drug. At this time his rival, Sergeant Belcore, is approaching Adina. He is bolder than Nemorino, so he immediately recognizes her feelings and makes an offer. But the girl refuses him flirtatiously, she didn’t want this, she needs a sublime love, like in books. This all prompted the other admirer Nemorino to open up and he expounds his feelings to Adina. The girl drives away the annoying young man and sends him into the city to the sick uncle.

At this time, the news rushes through the village that a rich guest has arrived. Dr. Dulkamar sells many things, including the magic drink from all diseases. Upon hearing this, Nemorino immediately goes to him and asks to get a drink that made Isolde love Tristan. Dr. Dulkamar removes the coveted bottle, which in fact is a regular container with cheap wine. He sells her Nemorino, taking from him the last money. Having taken a portion of the "magic" drink, the young man acquires extraordinary courage and very boldly turns to Adina, who is very offended by such behavior towards her. In retaliation, she immediately calls for Belcor, and invites the wedding party that evening.

Numerous guests are invited to the celebration in Adina’s garden. Nemorino also comes there. Dulkamar advises him to buy another bottle for himself, then the drug will definitely work. But the poor young man has no money. In order to get at least something, he enrolls himself in a regiment to his rival Belcore. He immediately buys the “elixir” with the money he receives and drinks it. Suddenly, a huge inheritance from his uncle falls on poor Nemorino’s head, though he still doesn’t know anything, but young ladies in the village sniff out about it and start spinning around him in every possible way. Seeing this, Adina notices that he is jealous of Nemorino. Seeing how indifferently he communicates with numerous beauties and even with her, she suddenly realizes that she loves him. Adina immediately goes to Belkoro and buys him a recruitment receipt, freeing the beloved Nemorino from his duties to the army.

The opera ends in a positive way. Happy lovers confess their feelings to each other, everyone around them will know that the poor young man has suddenly received an inheritance. The Belcore devotee is also not discouraged. But the charlatan Dulkamar rejoices more than anyone else, he is convinced that it is all the merit of his elixir and everyone present is immediately bought up a love drink from him.

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Interesting Facts

• Reception by the public of the opera "Love Drink" was so enthusiastic that even the composer himself was surprised
• This musical comedy pleased the Milanese audience so much that it was set 32 ​​times in one season.
• Just to create this masterpiece from Donizetti it took two weeks
• Donizetti is one of the few composers who wrote operas unusually quickly, and he created about 70 works in this genre. In the future, critics blamed him for this speed.
• Nemorino’s legendary romance “Una furtiva lagrima” was already composed by Donizetti and just waited for a suitable opera, the composer had to persuade the librettist to write suitable words for a long time to add it to the score. However, he initially assured that such a sublime work does not fit the simple village boy Nemorino.

• His librettist Donizetti warned that the opera was specifically written for the stuttering tenor. In his letter to Romani, the composer wrote to him that he only gives one week to work, plus he should take into account that the opera should be written for a goat-voice buff.
• Gaetano Donizetti was expelled from the Charity School of Music only because he had weak vocal abilities, and in the other subjects he was the best student. Thanks to the intervention of the head of the school, he was reinstated.
• One of the operas by Donizetti is written about Peter I and is called "Peter the Great, Russian Tsar, or Livonian Carpenter."
• Donizetti's main rival in the theater - Bellini gave a very high appreciation of his work, calling the music of the composer wonderful, magnificent and amazing.
• Aria Nemorino received wide popularity, especially among young people. This is the famous romance "Una furtiva lagrima", which was performed in the TV series "Real Guys" on the TNT rope by a real, albeit a former opera singer from the Mariinsky Theater.
• Nemorino's aria was also used in N. Mikhalkov’s film “The Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano,” where she is the leitmotif of the film.

Popular arias from the opera Love Drink

Nemorino's romance "Una furtiva lagrima" - listen

Cavatina Dulkamara "Udite, udite o rustici" - to listen

Aria Belcore "Come Paride" - to listen

Nemorino's aria "Quanto e bella" - listen

Creation and first productions of the opera "Love drink"

In the spring of 1832, Donizetti began to write an opera that glorified him to the whole world. The plot was quite comical and uncomplicated. No dramas or tragedies, just a light comedy, seasoned with flashing humor and love story. The libretto was entrusted to Felice Romani, with whom he collaborated repeatedly. In the process of writing, Romani used vaudeville of E. Scribe, as well as a ready-made libretto for D. Auber's opera Love Potion.

The premiere of the play took place on May 12, 1832 in the Teatro della Canobubani (Milan). In Russia, for the first time, the public met her only in 1841 in St. Petersburg, and a little later, in 1844, viewers heard her performed by the Italian troupe. Among the more modern productions one can distinguish the performance of the opera at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1961, as well as the Metropolitan Opera in 1991, where the legendary L. Pavarotti performed the Nemorino part. In 1948, the opera-film was released, where the role of Belcore was performed by T. Gobbi.

Donizetti

Gaetano Donizetti born 11/29/1979 in a very poor family, his parents were from ordinary people. Mother worked as a weaver and father worked as a watchman. At the age of nine, the future composer was fortunate enough to get into Simon Mayr's "Charity Music School", where he immediately showed his talent. After a few months he is already becoming the best student on the course. After graduation, he entered the famous Bologna Music Lyceum, at that time he was 14 years old. At the age of 20, his first operas in Venice are staged: "Enrico, Count Bungursky". It was the success of this work that determined the composer’s further creative direction. Donizetti decided to devote himself to operas. There are legends about how he composed his masterpieces with lightning speed, so in a year he could produce 2-4 pieces, or even more. The composer wrote his opera "The Night Bell" in 9 days.

Gaetano Donizetti had to compete with Bellini himself, and it was this that made him take a serious plot for his operas and writing music. Due to this, one of his best works appears - the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor", written after the work of Walter Scott. The aria from this work is widely known not only to professionals, but also to uninitiated listeners, because it was used in the movie The Fifth Element by Luke Besson (1997). It was performed there by an alien opera diva Plava Laguna. This is an aria “O guisto cielo!" From the scene of the madness of the heroine Lucia. Interestingly, during the composer's lifetime, this aria was considered impossible to perform. At first, Luc Besson wanted to use Maria Call's voice, whose voice was admired. However, the recorded recordings were of poor quality and to voice Plava Laguna was suggested by the Albanian singer Inve Mula. By the way, many still doubt that the person was voiced by the diva and prefer to lean toward the idea that this is only a computer recording.

In 1835, the composer planned to take off his career and he gained extraordinary popularity, many theaters bought operas, and he was invited to join the Neapolitan Conservatory as a professor. In addition, he received the title of Austrian court composer. He had to give up creativity in 1844 because of aggravated mental illness.

We are pleased to offer opera singers and a symphony orchestra to perform arias and excerpts from the opera. "Love drink" at your event.