L’elisir d’amore

L’elisir d’amore is a melodramma giocoso (comic melodrama, opera buffa) in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848). Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's Le philtre.

The original text

The opera premiered on 12 May 1832 at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1965: Presented by the EOAN Group.

1975: Presented by CAPAB Opera.

1976: Presented by PACOFS Opera.

1977: Presented by CAPAB Opera.

1990: Presented by CAPAB Opera (10–24 October)

1999: Presented by Cape Town Opera (12–17 July)

2006: Extracts from Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Don Pasquale and L’elisir d’amore presented as Four Opera Vignettes by Black Tie Ensemble in the Drama Theatre at the State Theatre (21-28 May 2006). Conductor (Donizetti operas): Graham Scott; Conductor (Puccini operas): Alexander Fokkens; Director: Michael Gieleta; Assistant to the director: Madeleen Engelbrecht; Technical co-ordinator: Vanessa Nicolau; Set design: James Macnamara Design; Costumes design & co-ordinator: Lindy Grindlay, assisted by Bronwen Lovegrove; Lighting: Simon King; Repetitors: Susan Steenkamp-Swanepoel, Louis Botha; Stage manager: Mariette Buys; Props master: Michael Mokwena; Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra South Africa; Concert master: Denise Sutton; Chorus: Black Tie Opera Chorus; Chorus master: Mathilda Hornsveld. With Louette Johnston/Yollandi Nortjie (Adina), Khotso Tsekeletsa (Nemorino), Dikgang Mantoro (Belcore), Obakeng Molepe (Dulcamara), Yollandi Nortjie/Louette Johnston (Gianetta).

2009: Presented by Cape Town Opera (23 – 29 August)

Sources

Wayne Muller. 2018. A reception history of opera in Cape Town: Tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985–2015). Unpublished PhD thesis.

Alexandra Xenia Sabina Mossolow. 2003. The career of South African soprano Nellie du Toit, born 1929. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Stellenbosch.

Antoinette Johanna Olivier. 2014. 'Exploring contributions to opera by The Black Tie Ensemble: a historical case study'. Mini-dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master‟s in Music at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University.