Donizetti received his early musical training as a chorister under Simon Mayr, the maestro di cappella at S Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, who also arranged for him to study counterpoint.
Recording & Production
This recording was made by ALPHA-LINE Studio at the Italian Institute in Budapest from July 1st to 18th, 1995, with Jeno Simon as Recording Supervision and Istvan Zakarias as Balance Engineer.
Composition History
L'elisir d'amore was written in a remarkably short time, at the request of the impresario of the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan, who needed a new opera for his spring season.
Critical Reception
L'elisir d'amore was an immediate success and maintains its position in the international operatic repertoire, comparable to Donizetti's other comic masterpiece, Don Pasquale.
Composer Biography
Gaetano Donizetti was considered the leading Italian opera composer after Rossini's retirement and Bellini's death, until Verdi's rise in the 1840s.
Composition History
The libretto for L'elisir d'amore, written by Felice Romani, was based on an existing French libretto by Eugène Scribe, which had been set by Auber a year earlier.
Performer Biography
Vincenzo La Scola, the tenor singing Nemorino, made his operatic debut in 1983 and his international debut as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore in Brussels two years later.
