Classical Voice of North Carolina

Greensboro Opera Company's
Vibrant Performance of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore

by William Thomas Walker

November 9, 2008, Greensboro, NC: The only disappointing thing about the final performance of the Greensboro Opera Company's lively staging of L'Elisir d'Amore (1832) by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) was the sparse audience in War Memorial Auditorium. Audience rebuilding needs to catch up with the company's high artistic standard. The broad and diverse age range of these music lovers was heart warming. There was not a single weakness in the lead singers, and director Vernon Hartman showed admirable restraint in blocking the action. Artistic Director and conductor Valéry Ryvkin led a stylish performance and maintained close co-ordination between the pit and the stage. The fine musicians of the Greensboro Symphony were carefully balanced and played with accuracy and verve. The string sound was warm and the important woodwind and brass solos were well done.

L'Elisir is the fortieth of the composer's seventy-five operas. Felice Romani's finest comic libretto has what William Ashbrook, in Donizetti and His Operas, calls "a deep vein of sincere sentiment." The sharply realized characterization inspired the composer to create some of his finest melodies. The poor peasant lad, Nemorino, loves the beautiful, haughty, and wealthy Adina. Despite her hasty engagement to the bellicose recruiter, Sergeant Belcore, and the love potion of the quack Dulcamara, Nemorino wins her love when Adina realizes the depth of his affection and the true value of his constancy.

Soprano Kristen Plumley was outstanding in the role of Adina, tossing off her florid lines, such as "Chiedi all'aura lusinghiera" ("Go demand of yon light zephyr"), with aplomb. She had plenty of power when needed, clear articulation in fast passages, and superbly focused intonation. Her voice was evenly supported across its range and had a pleasing timbre. Tenor Robert McPherson turned in a terrific performance as the love-sick Nemorino. He has a wonderfully Italianate sound, a refined palette of tone, and excellent control of dynamics. There was some very fleeting coarseness near the end of his early aria "Quanto è bella" ("How beautiful"), but his voice quickly warmed and was glowing in his duet with Adina "Esulti pur la Barbara per poco alle mie pene" ("Tho'now th'exalting cruel one can thus deride my bitter pain"). "Una furtiva lagrima" ("A furtive tear") is a principal arrow in any lyric tenor's quiver and McPherson nailed this smoothly flowing romance perfectly.

Baritone Yungbae Yang brought a wonderful lyric quality to the role of the brazenly confident Sergeant Belcore. Without common exaggerations, he actually sang and vocally acted this role. His restrained manner conveyed the attitude of Dizzy Dean's quip, "It ain't bragging if you really done it." His beautiful, mellow, and well-rounded baritone was a constant pleasure. Another role that frequently suffers from over-the-top acting is itinerate Medicine Man, Dulcamara. What a pleasure it was to hear bass David Ward actually sing every bit of the role instead of employing some of the over-the-top touches too often heard in the role. His comic timing was perfect and his clearly articulated fast patter was amazing. His even, powerful, and warm voice was most welcome in the role. Elena DeAngelis's bright and accurate soprano was welcome in the role of the peasant girl Giannetta.

The chorus of peasants and soldiers was fine and well-prepared by Cory Alexander. Long time listeners to Metropolitan Opera broadcasts will recognize the name of stage director Vernon Hartman, a stalwart baritone of many productions. His non-fussy direction of L'Elisir was most welcome. At no time did too much stage business detract from soloists' arias. The GOC made good use of drop canvasses with trompe d'oeil paintings of architectural details as a major component of the sets. John Horner's lighting design was effective. The scenery and costumes came from the Stivanello Costume Co. Inc. The sets were fine except Dulcamara had a glorified wheelbarrow instead of an open landau or a balloon. The costumes for most of the leads and chorus were apt. However, poor Belcore and his troops were stuck in what looked like Soviet-era Young Pioneers uniforms. At least Belcore could have had a showy prize ribbon in his hat to indicate rank in the absence of campaign medals, epaulettes, or stripes. Belcore did have a sword but his motley unit had only a three foot long French baguette when called to present arms. Make love not war?

There were some amusing anachronisms in the harpsichord continuo part. When the love potion of Tristan and Isolde was mentioned, it was underlined by a brief quotation of the famous tone row that opens the Prelude to Tristan und Isolde (1865) by Richard Wagner (1813-1883). A snippet of the Wedding March from Midsummer Night's Dream (1842) by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) turned up in Act II. Supertitles were large enough for easy reading.