L'Elisir d' Amore -- The Elixir of Love

My husband and I went to the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center last evening to see L'Elisir d' Amore, by composer Gaetano Donizetti, which was the last opera in our subscription for this 08 - 09 season.

As you see from the photo above the year long renovation construction of Lincoln Center is still taking place, although it seems to be in its final stages. The beautiful fountain in the plaza is surrounded by a construction fence, as are other sections of the plaza, but we were still able to walk into the front entrance of the opera house.


A beautiful large translucent mural was hanging from the front of the building of another opera also being performed in April, "La Sonnambula," by composer Vincenzo Bellini.

L' Elisir d' Amore is a romantic comedic opera in two acts and last night's performance was the first of this season, and its 253rd performance at The Metropolitan Opera!

The entire synopsis of the opera can be read at this link, but it is basically the story of Adina, a beautiful, intelligent and wealthy woman living in a rural Italian village. She is adored by a bumbling, illiterate villager named Nemorino, who shyly professes his love to her only to receive her scorn.

The village they are living in becomes excited when the army marches into town, and when the suave Army Sargeant Belacore sees Adina he is smitten with her and asks for her hand in marriage. Adina tells him she will have to think about it and Nemorino falls into despair as he feels he will lose her forever.

Fortunately for him, Dr. Dulcamara, a traveling quack and charlatan, comes to town to sell his "cure all" health elixir. Nemorino asks him if he also has an "elixir of love" and Dulcamara sells him a bottle of Bordeaux wine instead, taking Nemorino's last penny.

As the opera progresses Nemorino character changes as he gains confidence in himself because he feels the elixir is making him attractive, and Adina slowly begins to realize she does love him for his good and honest qualities.

The famous aria "Una Furtiva Lagrima" is sung in act two of the opera when Nemorino realizes the possibility of obtaining Adina's love.

In last night's performance Adiana was played by the beautiful soprano Angela Gheorghiu. She gave a soaring performance that increased in crescendo until her arias in part two were unbelievable in their power and pitch. I was exhausted holding my breath as she hit every high note, and held it for many beats, as she remained light and airy coquettish in her demeanor.

The tenor Massimo Giordano played the role of Nemorino, and from his first aria of "Quanto e bella" the audience knew we were in for a treat as his voice was deep and commanding and remained so through the opera, almost drowning out the voices of Franco Vassallo who played the part of Sergeant Belcore, Adina's other love interest and Simone Alaimo who played the part of Dr. Dulcamara, the charlatan elixir seller.

There was a palpable anticipation in the opera house as Giordano walked out in Act 2 to begin the aria "Una Furtiva Lagrima," and he did not disappoint, although I do not believe his performance was not as powerful and poignant as Luciano Pavorotti who performed in the role of Nemorino at The Met 49 times between 1973 and 1998.

Enrico Caruso was the most legendary Nemorino before him, and he performed the role 32 times before his untimely death at age 48.

The Met always rotates in display famous costumes from it's archival collection outside certain levels of the opera hall, and these were two on display last evening.

I was excited to see this one -- the costume of Canio the clown worn by Enrico Caruso in the opera "Pagliacci."

The 1926 costume that Maria Jeritza wore in the Unites States premiere of Puccini's opera "Turandot."

The train of the dress was so long! Click on to enlarge the photo to see the exquisite quilting of the fabrics.

I am always fascinated by the Swarovski crystal chandeliers that hang like diamonds in the Met's lobby and since there was still some daylight as a backdrop I took some more photos of them, to contrast to the ones I've shown on prior opera blog posts that were taken when it was dark outside.

This view is from the upper lobby looking down at the main lobby entrance.

Looking up from the lobby.

A close up! So sparkly!

Information about the chandeliers from the Met's web site:

"The starburst chandeliers in the lobby have been synonymous with the opera house ever since the Met moved into its new home at Lincoln Center in 1966. Now, thanks to a generous donation from Swarovski, the chandeliers have been completely restored, including the installation of new crystals. In July, Johannes Rath, managing partner of J. & L. Lobmeyr in Vienna, whose grandfather Hans Harald Rath originally designed the chandeliers, traveled to New York to oversee their removal from the Met for refurbishment in Austria. Nearly 50,000 of the original hand-cut crystals, most of them made by Swarovski, have been replaced. Many of them had been lost or damaged over the past 42 years. The new Swarovski crystals are machine-cut and polished for a more brilliant and consistent look."

A view of the stage and orchestra pit from our "family circle" seats. We sat in a lower tier last year, and have decided to go back to those more expensive seats next year, if we can get them in our subscription. I always bring my small binoculars to see the stage and the acoustics are superb, but we did enjoy the closer view.

The lights are being raised! The house lights will dim, the orchestra will begin playing the overture and the curtain will rise....it is an exciting feeling everyone should experience at least once! Check out the upcoming 09 - 10 season of The Metropolitan Opera here.

There will be many new productions which you can see at this link along with some videos about a few of them.

Finally, because I couldn't resist, I'll leave you with this parting photo from the parking garage located under Lincoln Center, and one of the reasons I rarely drive into Manhattan......

And this is actually not the most expensive parking garage in Manhattan, either! We splurge on most opera nights and take our car into the city, but the subway or bus is where you'll usually find us when we travel most of the time in New York.

It's fast, efficient, and saves us money, that's for sure!