Kärleksdrycken by Donizetti, Från (2022/2022), Regisserad av Percy Adlon, Dirigent Speranza Scappucci, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, Tyskland

Love potions are booming in literature: Just think of the medieval story of Tristan and Isolde, which - more than 30 years before Wagner's musical drama - found its way into Donizetti's opera. This legend leads the somewhat simple-minded Nemorino to want to speed up his approach to the adored Adina by means of a magic potion offered to him by the charlatan Dulcamara. But similar to Tristan and Isolde, taking it does not lead to the intended goal. Because when Nemorino meets Adina drunk - the intoxicating effect of the drink is due to its high percentage - she turns away angrily and decides to marry the dashing soldier Belcore. You need a second bottle of "love potion" and extensive help from Gevatter Zufall so that Nemorino and Adina can still find each other and, in the end, the whole village community is completely convinced of the effectiveness of the elixir. With the delicious naivete of the characters, Donizetti and his librettist Felice Romani play with superstition and gullibility in a loving, affectionate way. The music, which is said to have been created within just three weeks, also confesses to the protagonists touching, intimate moments, not only in the famous aria "Una furtiva lagrima". The inexhaustible wealth of melodies makes "L'elisir d'amore" one of Donizetti's most popular works for the stage, which is now returning to the state opera repertoire after a long break.