GAETANO DONIZETTI

 

L’elisir d’amore

 

Melodrama in two acts

Libretto by Felice Romani

Designed and Directed by Franco Zeffirelli

 

Cast includes

Mirella Freni, soprano......Adina

Luigi Alva, tenor......Nemorino

Emily Maire, soprano......Giannetta

Enzo Sordello, baritone......Sergeant Belcore

Sesto Bruscantini, baritone......Dulcamara

 

The Glyndebourne Chorus

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Carlo Felice Cillario

 

The 2CD set is packaged as a hard bound book containing a full libretto translated into English, French and German along with a commissioned article about the opera, and synopsis in English, French and German.

 

Glyndebourne Opera has a history of trend setting and pioneering opera productions and Donizetti’s opera L’elisir d’amore is no exception. Popular in Donizetti’s own lifetime, L’elisir faded into relative obscurity until the 1890s when Caruso championed the role of Nemorino his dedication and conviction such that Covent Garden, in 1902, arranged a production of the opera. L’elisir was a personal favourite of Caruso’s, so much so that in 1920 Caruso in his last appearance with the Metropolitan Opera played Nemorino. In 1961 almost 60 years later it was Glyndebourne who staged a production of L’elisir d’amore designed and directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Such was the success and acclaim for this production, that Glyndebourne revived it in 1962 enhancing the production with the addition of the lively and capricious Mirella Freni. As the press noted: ‘Her [Freni] looks and her cantabile singing melt, so to speak, on the tongue, and she acts her teasing charades with Sergeant Belcore as if nothing were farther from her mind than cruelty.’ The Times (August 1962) and ‘Mirella Freni, the sparkling new Adina, rightly allowed real tenderness to shine through vanity and caprice.’ The Sunday Times (August 1962)

 

In this recording, Freni has a cast of equals around her. Luigi Alva as the besotted Nemorino vividly portrays the wounded innocent with The Daily Telegraph noting in August 1962 that ‘Alva’s Nemorino is a wonderful combination of rustic clowning and exquisitely finished bel canto’, with Enzo Sordello a baritone voice big enough to fill a stadium, providing a fresh virile and bold Belcore. Conductor Carlo Felice Cillario enjoyed a 60 plus year career and is remembered for his masterful interpretations of Puccini, Verdi and Donizetti operas and stands as one of the most singer-friendly conductors of all time.

 

Glyndebourne 2cds GFOCD00562