L'ELISIR D'AMORE
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Libretto: Felice Romani after 'Le philtre' by Eugene Scribe.
Premiere: 13th May, 1832, Milan. (Teatro della Canobbiana).

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Donizetti's prolific output owed a great deal to the speed at which he able to compose. He could compose operas at the rate of three or four a year.

He first began to study music at Bergamo, his birthplace, when he was 9 years old in 1806. In 1816, he wrote the opera 'Il pigmalione' and in 1818, he wrote 'Enrico di Borgogna' while he was serving in the Austrian army. In 1822, 'Zoraida di Granata' was premiered in Rome, which obtained his release from the Army and attracted the attention of impresario Domenico Barbaia who offered Donizetti a contract to write for the Naples Theatres. The result was a series of comic works, which though successful, were clearly influenced by the works of Rossini and Bellini.

In 1830, Donizetti wrote 'Anna Bolena'; a huge step forward, as it revealed his individual style for the first time. Its success brought him international fame which allowed him to branch out beyond the confines of Naples and write for other opera houses. One of the first fruits of Donizetti's new artistic freedom was 'L'Elisir D'Amore, a sentimental comedy, and his forty first opera in sixteen years. A phenomenal output and in this instance his rapid rate of composition excelled itself in the mere two weeks it took him to write the music.

In 1833, the 20 year old Giuseppe Verdi was studying in Milan and it is safe to say that Donizetti would certainly be an influence on him. He was an important forerunner of Verdi in pioneering greater dramatic impression, richer orchestration and new combinations of voices for ensemble singing - and all of it without losing the beautiful melodic lines and harmonies that were his hallmarks and which nowadays seem to be scorned, if not completely forgotten by the present generation of operatic composers.

Donizetti continued to produce operatic successes for the remainder of his life which was cut short by declining health due to Syphilis, in spite of which, he produced his comic masterpiece, 'Don Pasquale' in 1843. Eventually Syphilis paralysed him and he died aged 50 on the 8th April, 1848.

L'Elisir d'Amore
Is a 'bitter-sweet' opera ('bitter-sweet' actually translates as 'Dulcamara'). This rustic idyll which Romani set in the Basque country but which Donizetti's music displays no Basque influence and allows it to be set just about anywhere, assumes greater seriousness and one senses deeper significance in the village comedy. The characters may have their roots in opera-buffa but Donizetti's music rounds them out and gives them greater complexity. Nemorino (the 'little nobody') describes himself as a fool, but even at his most ridiculous and in a state of intoxication, he arouses sympathy. His famous aria "una furtiva lagrima" is a great tenor showpiece and expresses a new maturity and intensity. But Donizetti does not let even the lyrical moment pass without light relief; he alternates between the serious and comic, and the aria is introduced by the unusual combination of harp, bassoon (an instrument generally used for comic effects) and pizzicato strings.

Synopsis
The young peasant Nemorino is in love with the rich and beautiful Adina, who is also being courted by by the swaggering and pompous Sergeant Belcore. To alleviate his sufferings, Nemorino buys an 'elixir of love' (in fact only a bottle of nice Bordeaux wine) from the "miracle Doctor" Dulcamara. When Adina discovers that Nemorino has had to enlist in the Army as a soldier in order to buy the elixir, she is touched. She recognises Nemorino's true love for her, buys his freedom and the couple are happily united. It is something of a bonus for Nemorino to also discover that a rich uncle has died and left him a fortune!

With 'L'Elisir D'Amore', we find Donizetti at his most inspired. The score reveals the originality of his musical language, playing a decisive role in drawing the plot away from the realm of caricature and raising it to the ambitions and complex level of a comedy of character. The result is a brilliant comedy, the autograph score of which is extremely neatly written and also allows for numerous interpretations. The first Act is in the library of the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella, Naples, while the second is in the museo Donizettiano, Bergamo. Donizetti is an excellent orchestrator even if his concern to provided the singer with musical support leads to an undue tendency to double the vocal line. This type of orchestration tends to suffer under the weight of modern instruments, particularly the brass and the sins of 19th Century publishers have continued to the present day where a comparison with the autograph score and the editions currently in circulation shows differences in expressive markings which were intended to emphasise and exaggerate the extremely subtle markings in the original score. Editors altered the phrasing and changed the articulation markings, often substituting legato for staccato and vice versa. This, of course has not been an isolated practice but nonetheless, their sum total alters the tonal picture of the opera, transforming the orchestral fabric, and as with Rossini's scores, ultimately changing the very nature of the work. Perhaps it would be fair to say that all works belonging to the 19th Century Italian repertory, specifically those from the first half of the Century, are in need of a rigorous critical overhaul.

Notwithstanding all this, it is interesting to discover that a second version of this famous aria, for voice and piano, transposed to G Minor, is preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. The manuscript is of prime importance since it includes a secod vocal line, written immediately above the original melody which, its transposition notwithstanding, is identical in every way to the more familiar Bflat Minor version. This second melody however, written in 1843 when Donizetti was in the grip of Syphillis, is a profoundly modified version of the vocal line of the first standard, thereby showing that Donizetti himself was happy for reprises of all his arias and cabalettas to be ornamented in the same way that is regularly done with the opera of Rossini and other bel-canto composers.

So; in a nutshell: are there specific requirements as to how "Una furtiva lagrima" should be sung? Only one, it seems. With tenderness and beauty...

the tenors, the aria · audio

Tito Schipa Source: todotango.com

(01) Tito Schipa (1890-1965). He was born in Lecce, Southern Italy and his initial musical education was in Singing, composition and piano. He furthered his studies in Milan and and made his operatic debut as Alfredo in La Traviata, at the age of twenty. During the next three years, he gained a remarkable reputation throughout Italy, then visiting South America, then first appearing at La Scala in 1915 to tremendous acclaim. He was to remain at La Scala, on and off, until 1950, although in the meantime he triumphed also at the Metropolitan Opera, where he was first heard in 1932 and many, many times after. He was a truly international artist of impeccable reputation and he continued to sing until 1962, three years before his death, thus achieving a remarkable career of almost fifty-three years.
Schipa: Grandi-Tenori.com: Biography

(02) Cristy Solari (1888-1974). He was born in Smyrna of Italian parents and studied singing in Milan. I do not know when he made his debut, but he certainly sang 'Rigoletto' at La Scala in 1915. His career took him to the important theatres in Italy and while he visited South America in 1929, and also sang in Austria, his career was in the main in Italy successfully holding his own with singers such as Luigi Fort, Tito Schipa, Nino Ederle, Giovanni Malipiero. Interestingly,he led a double life, because as 'Franco Lary' he was also a singer of popular songs with more than fifty recordings of such for Columbia.

(03) Nino Ederle (1887-29.11.1951). Little seems to be known about Nino Ederle and we are lead to believe that he did not make his operatic debut until he was 35 years old, presumably in the Barber of Seville on the 11th May, 1922. In the following months he was to be seen in the lesser known theatres in Genoa but in 1925, he performed in some of Italy's most important theatres, also travelling to South America and his career took him for the first time in 1929, to La Scala at the age of forty. He also sang in Paris and at Covent Garden, London and he ended his career in 1944 at Turin, once again as Almaviva As a teacher, his favourite pupil was the distinguished soprano Rosanna Carteri.

(04) Giovanni Malipiero (20.4.1906-10.4.1970). Made his debut with Rigoletto at Lonigo in 1930. He quickly attained a good reputation as a lyrical tenor, gradually consolidating his fame on the most important stages and on radio, at that time a medium very much sought after. He had a bright and clear voice of typically tenor colour, a precise diction and noble phrasing but unfortunately for whatever reason and quite wrongly, he has almost fallen into the category of a 'forgotten' singer, but not with those who appreciate the little man from Padua.

(05) Ferruccio Tagliavini (1913-1995) This fine tenor really requires very little introduction. He made his debut as Rodolfo in La Boheme, in 1938 and career took a serious delay due to the second world war, wher work was anywhere he could find it. He made his La Scala debut in 1942 and US troops returning home after the war and talking about him, no doubt aided his career in the US, where he again sang Rodolfo in Chicago in 1946. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1946 and became a great favourite throughout America. He appeared in London in 1950 and became a great favourite of British TV audiences throughout the fifties. In his early career, Tagliavini's voice was a sweet, haunting sound with easy access to top notes but he succumbed to the lure of the heavier tenor repertory (and no doubt, to the cash associated with them) and his voice darkened and became less flexible as a result of an increasingly more dramatic approach to singing.

Leopold Simoneau Source: Sandy's Opera Gallery

(06) Leopold Simoneau (b. 1916) The French-Canadian singer, married to Soprano Pierrette Alarie, had a long and distinguished career which took him to every important opera house and festival venue in the world, retiring from the stage in 1973, when he took up a teaching chair in San Francisco. His voice was located somewhere between "tenore di grazia" and lyric tenor. To quote Jens Malte Fischer in 1993 it is devoutly to be hoped that Simoneau's unobtainable recordings will also be available soon for a new generation of vocal enthusiasts, because this kind of noble singing is not to heard from any tenor in the world at present.

· Audio ·
Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore: Una furtiva lagrima:

(01) Tito Schipa (n/a) » audio | 1.02 mb
(02) Cristy Solari (c.1932) » audio | 1.09 mb
(03) Nino Ederle (c.1935) » audio | 1.07 mb
(04) Giovanni Malipiero (c.1938) » audio | 1.04 mb
(05) Ferruccio Tagliavini (1941-42) » audio | 1.06 mb
(06) Leopold Simoneau (c.1955) » audio | 1.12 mb

Mystery Voice:
(07) The Mystery Voice » audio | 1.22 mb

Mystery Voice for January is: Salvatore Gioia, recorded 1959.

Note:
All audio compressed to Windows Media Audio 9.1, 32 kbps

· Lyrics ·

Nemorino
Una furtiva lagrima
A furtive tear
negl' occhi suoi spunto:
welled up in her eye:
quelle festose giovani
those carefree girls
invidiar sembro
she seemed to envy
che piu cercando io vo'?
why should I look any further?
M'ama, si, M'ama
She loves me, yes, she loves me.
lo vedo, lo vedo.
I can see it, l can see it.
Un solo istante: palpiti
To feel for just one moment
del suo bel core sentire
the beating of her dear heart
I miei sospire confondere
to blend my sighs
per poco, a suoi sospire!
for a little, with hers!
Cielo, si puo morir:
Heavens, I could die:
di piu non chiedo:
I ask for nothing more
si puo morir d'amor
I could die of love.

The Author's Acknowledgements:
- Alberto Zedda
- 'Opera' Andras Batta
- 'Encyclopaedia of Opera' Stanley Sadie
- Grandi-tenori editor Joern H. Anthonisen.
- Grandi-tenori assistant editor, M.T. Anthonisen.