The Pleasant Peasant

Last week, as you’ll recall, our Unnatural Opera was Die Frau Ohne Schatten, one of the most grandiose and over-the-top works ever to grace the stage. La Cieca thought her public’s palate could stand a little cleansing, so this time around we will hear a more intimate work, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. This performance is from the Maggio Musicale in Florence in 1967, and it stars the definitive Nemorino and Adina of the era, Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Scotto. Now, you wouldn’t believe what hoops this unpretentious opera has sent La Cieca jumping though in her never-ending quest to enhance your your listening enjoyment. The first act of L’elisir is very long, as you know, something like 72 minutes, and so La Cieca thought it would be a good idea to break the act into two parts for the podcast. Great, fine, but where to put the admittedly artificial intermission? The logical place is just before Dulcamara’s entrance, but then the first part of the podcast is like twelve minutes of music. Well, eventually, after lots of agonizing and second thoughts and sleepless nights, La cieca decided to break after Dulcamara’s aria. Well, now that you know that, maybe we should just listen to Unnatural Acts of Opera.