The MET Live in HD by Kathryn Bumpass

2102-13 MET Live in HD

The 2012-13 season of the Met Live in HD begins Saturday, October 13. A feast of Italian opera awaits viewers, with Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore  leading off.  Four Verdi operas, two by Donizetti, one by Zandonai, and two 18th century works by Mozart and Handel make up the largest serving of this season's fare. Not that other great opera traditions have been neglected: Berlioz's epic Les Troyens and Wagner's Parsifal are also scheduled, as is a new opera by the young British composer Thomas Ades, The Tempest.

Tickets for the series are still available. Admission for individual operas is $27, $12 for students with a valid ID. Those who buy the entire series of 12 operas will pay $270, a savings of $54. A series of 6 operas may be purchased for $135, a savings of $27. Order by visiting PAC-SLO or by calling 805-756-4849.

Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore

L'Elisir d'Amore is generally regarded as Donizetti's most popular opera. It belongs to the second great age of bel canto, dominated by the practice of Rossini and passed on to Bellini, Donizetti and subsequent Italian composers, not least of them Verdi. In this style the voice was the dominant force, and opportunities for "beautiful singing" (bel canto) were the basis of the libretto and score.

In Donizetti's gentle comedy L'Elisir d'Amore, we meet Nemorino, an innocent rustic who is madly in love with Adina, a wealthy landowner. To aid in his quest to secure her affections, he consults Dr. Dulcamara, an itinerant quack, who sells him a magic potion which will, supposedly, cause Adina to fall in love with him; this is the elixir of love. After a series of comic complications, he at last wins Adina for his wife.

Anna Netrebko, today's bel canto diva, sings the role of Adina; Matthew Polenzani, the role of Nemorino. Nemorino's chief rival, Sgt. Belcore, will be sung by Mariusz Kwiecien, and  Dulcamara by Ambrogio Maestri.  

On one level L'Elisir d'Amore is a light-hearted comedy about two mismatched lovers. But the mismatch has a larger significance. Nemorino, for most of the opera, is identified as a poor peasant. About three-quarters of the way through, however, it is revealed that his rich uncle has died and left him a fortune. Importantly, neither Nemorino nor Adina knows of this change in his circumstances. When Adina declares her love for him, they are united, and only afterwards is his new status revealed.

This is a favorite plot device among 18th and 19th century novelists — lovers from different social classes, their affections often stymied by the difference in their status, are united when it is revealed that the person of lower standing, usually the man, is actually a person of high status. This crossing of the boundaries between social classes is a theme that foreshadowed the later 19th century ideal that love should be based on mutual affection rather than social standing. It also undermined the class structure itself. From this point of view, L'Elisir d'Amore is a statement of a progressive social agenda, though Donizetti is likely never to have thought of it in that way.

Donizetti is obviously concerned with young love, and stands on the side of Nemormio, who believes he must resort to a magic potion to gain the affections of Adina. His rival is Sgt. Belcore, a man confident of his attractiveness to women and more than a little bit conceited. Adina agrees to marry him, but is she really in love with him? The intervention of Dr. Dulcamara and his elixir provides the instrument that unmasks the pretensions and illusions of all the characters – Adina, who resists Nemonino's declarations of love, Belcore, who believes any woman given his attentions will succumb to his charms, and Nemorino who believes only a magic potion can win the love of Adina.

This appealing story offers many opportunities for beautiful solo singing and engaging duets and trios. The chorus is often present to comment on and frame the action among the principals. It is a comedy with gentle spoofs and opportunities for broad humor.

Verdi's Otello

Verdi's Otello follows on Saturday, October 27, and a sharper contrast with L'Elisir d'Amore can hardly be imagined. Based closely on Shakespeare's tragedy, Arrigo Biotto's libretto nevertheless tightens the action and creates ample opportunities for Verdi's music to work its magic. Omitting Act I of the Shakespeare play, in which Desdemona is shown to be more headstrong and passionate than is apparent in the opera, the libretto focuses sharply on the destructive relationship between Iago and Otello.

Verdi has delineated the characters musically in masterful ways. In general, Otello's music is heroic, impassioned, and dominated by dramatic recitative, sometimes reaching extremes of vocal writing. Iago likewise has much dramatic recitative, though of a more subtle and insinuating kind, often marked by serpentine lines. Desdemona has the only really lyrical music of the opera, projecting Verdi's and Boito's conception of her character as one of simplicity and innocence.

Always involved in all aspects of the opera, Verdi was very particular about the singers for Otello. His Otello "possessed the most powerful tenor voice of his day." but lacked skill as an actor. So Verdi coached him personally and relentlessly. Iago should not be played as "a human demon." according to librettist Boito, but instead be "handsome and appear genial and open." Characteristically he changes his personality "according to the person to whom he is speaking." And Desdemona is not so much a real woman as a "type." "She's the type of goodness, of resignation, of sacrifice," according to Verdi.

By the time he composed Otello in 1887, Verdi had largely moved beyond the conventions of earlier bel canto, clear examples of which are still present in Aida of 1870. That said, Otello still contains some numbers cast in familiar-sounding forms, such as the drinking song ("Brindisi") of Act I, the beautiful quartet of Act II, and Desdemona's poignant "Willow Song" of Act IV.

The music of Otello and his last opera Falstaff is cast in larger musical and dramatic units, with fewer interruptions, than had been the case earlier, permitting a more continuous progress of the drama. Verdi denied – and hated – the charge that he had become a "Wagnerian." In fact, both he and Wagner were heavily influenced by French opera over the course of their careers, and its more nearly continuous unfolding of dramatic events was their common inheritance.

For this production of Otello, the title role will be sung by Johan Botha. Renee Fleming will lend her radiant voice to the role of Desdemona, and Falk Struckmann will portray the insidious Iago.