Lawrence Brownlee

Georgia Jarman

Markus Beam

Marco Nistico

JULY 18  DONIZETTI: L'ELISIR D'AMORE (THE ELIXIR OF LOVE)
Bel Canto at Caramoor
Saturday, 8:00pm ~ Venetian Theater

Orchestra of St. Luke's; Caramoor Opera Chorus; Will Crutchfield, conductor

Donizetti's heartwarming comedy is the latest of the familiar Bel Canto classics to get a fresh look at Caramoor. Star tenor Lawrence Brownlee takes on the classic role of Nemorino for the first time anywhere, with returning Caramoor favorites Georgia Jarman as Adina and Marco Nisticò as the quack doctor Dulcamara. As usual, our public can expect the unexpected, with alternative music the composer inserted into later revivals of the opera. 

Opera in concert, with English supertitles.

ABOUT THE MUSIC
Donizetti can scarcely have thought that he was up to anything out of the ordinary when he took on L’elisir d’amore early in 1832.  It was the young composer’s 37th opera (and 18th comedy), and he was just hitting his stride; Anna Bolena, the 31st in his long list, had been the first opera to win Donizetti fame and performances beyond Italy.  He had taken the commission for Elisir on short notice because he had some time free in Milan between his Ugo, conte di Parigi for La Scala in March and his return to his steady job in Naples.  

Legend has it that the opera was composed in a little over two weeks. There is no sure way to confirm this, but what is clear is that it was being finished at the last minute, because the censors had to visit the dress rehearsal to give their approval.  The libretto was served up quickly by the elegant poet Felice Romani, who simply adapted a French comic opera just a year old, Auber’s Le philtre.  To that libretto (by Eugène Scribe), Romani added just the change of emphasis that suited Donizetti’s talent, some tender and poignant verses to punctuate the hilarity of the story and show the softer feelings of the peasant lad Nemorino. 

Donizetti wrote with his usual facility and freshness – and, as usual, with a good deal of direct modelling on his great predecessor Rossini.  To take just two examples, the entrance aria of the swaggering sergeant Belcore is a very close paraphrase of the song sung by Dandini when he enters in the guise of the Prince in La Cenerentola, and the gossiping chorus of the girls when they discover Nemorino’s new identity as a wealthy heir is similarly derived from the sextet in Act Two of Cenerentola when the Prince’s true status is revealed.   This was not just a stopgap measure of a composer writing in a hurry; it was the way Italian composers for many generations made their novelties “novel” and “familiar” at the same time. Verdi raided L’elisir every bit as liberally as Donizetti had raided Cenerentola.

But the opening (at the Teatro Canobbiana on May 12) turned out to be a clamorous success, and it soon became apparent that Donizetti struck a deeper vein of gold here than he had yet found. L’elisir had a long run of performances and immediate circulation to other cities.  Within three years the role of Adina had been adopted by prima donnas including Donizetti’s future Mary Stuart (Maria Malibran), Lucy of Lammermoor (Fanny Tacchinardi-Persiani and Linda of Chamounix (Eugenia Tadolini).  The theatrical registers show that L’elisir was apparently the most-performed opera of all, serious or comic, in Italy between 1838 and 1848.  It yielded that title only as the works of Verdi established their claim, but L’elisir held its own throughout his era, and Puccini’s, and shows no signs of diminished appeal in ours; it is the first Donizetti opera never to need “revival” because it has never gone away. 

Unusually for Italy at the time, the premiere had a polyglot cast of singers. Donizetti’s letters home show that he was worried about the German soprano Sabine Heinefetter (“the prima donna has a lovely voice, but what she is saying, only she knows.”)  The audience, though (according to contemporaneous reviews) forgave garbled Italian for the charm of her voice and the spirit of her comic acting.  It seems that Henri-Bernard Dabadie, on the other hand, struck the Milanesi as too timid and reticent for the soldier’s role. The first-night critics were divided between those who assumed he would slink off home without further notice and those who offered friendly encouragement to a nervous debutant, judging that his qualities might emerge more fully as he gained confidence. This makes astonishing reading today; Dabadie was no debutant, but a 15-year veteran of the main Parisian stages, where he had originated such roles as Rossini’s Moses and William Tell and a long list of others – including the same Sergeant in Auber’s Philtre (where his name is “Jolicoeur”). 

The other leads were Italians. Giambattista Genero left no great mark on operatic history, but had a busy career from the late 1820s into the 1840s, was praised for his expressive singing and vivacious acting as Nemorino, and was well-enough regarded to be brought to Vienna for the work’s premiere there.  Giuseppe Frezzolini was one of the great buffo singers of the day and had been collaborating with Donizetti right from the beginning of the latter’s career (several observers thought it worth pointing out that he was hilarious without ever being “trivial,” “coarse” or “exaggerated”). Dulcamara became Frezzolini’s calling-card role all over Europe.  His daughter and pupil Erminia became one of Verdi’s favorite singers, appearing in the first performances of I Lombardi and Giovanna d’arco and introducing Il Trovatore to Paris.

Part of Elisir’s lasting appeal is surely due to the sympathetic story, in which a quack doctor sells a “love potion” to a simple peasant hoping to win the village coquette. The potion works: or rather, the key to magical potions in opera is that they make people do what they were going to do anyway. Drinking them is a ritual purging of inhibitions to allow the release of primal impulses.  In the case of Tristan und Isolde this is symbolic. In L’elisir it is charmingly literal, since the “elixir” is cheap Bordeaux, and once Nemorino gets tipsy, he finds the confidence and self-sufficiency that make him appealing to Adina. No spirited girl wants a lovesick puppy fawning over her; Adina discovers her true feelings for Nemorino the moment he gives the impression he could do just as well without her.  

But of course the story alone never makes an opera, not even if the music is thoroughly adequate and charming (as Auber’s for the same story had been). There has to be a touch of something more, and Donizetti’s was perfect in this. One feels that he found all four prinicpal characters sympathetic, and smiled at them as he wrote for them; audiences have never stopped doing the same.

Adina’s final aria was in flux for the early years of the opera’s circulation. Perhaps because of the aria’s unenviable position (just after the celebrated romance “Una furtiva lagrima”), sopranos and the composer himself experimented with various possible pieces for this scene. Malibran sang one composed by her husband Charles de Beriot (which remained in circulation long enough for a rare recording to be made of it in 1901). Donizetti wrote a waltz-song for Tadolini to sing in the Vienna premiere, and later recycled it into the waltz-dominated score of Don Pasquale for the same city (it forms the conclusion of Norina’s duet with Pasquale). At least two other settings by the composer are known: one has “Prendi per me sei libero” as a simple ditty in six-eight time and a brilliant cabaletta borrowed from one of the composer’s apprentice works. The other, a more expansive setting for a higher soprano voice, was written for a Paris production with Giulia Grisi, Giovanni Mario, Antonio Tamburini and Luigi Lablache – the quartet of singers who later premiered Pasquale in Vienna and Paris. This is the version heard tonight (for the first time in the United States, as far as we know).

The paper trail suggests that still more pieces were added in Paris: a new aria for Tamburini as the soldier Belcore and a duet for him and Adina. The supposed aria has recently been discovered; it consists of nothing more than having Nemorino leave the stage after he signs the contract to become a soldier, leaving Belcore’s remaining part of the duet (slightly amplified) to be sung as a solo. The idea of Adina and the Sergeant facing off in a duet is intriguing; so far, not a trace of it has been found, but Donizetti research has a long way yet to go, and there may eventually be still more surprises to enliven future productions of this evergreen piece. 

Two other aspects of tonight’s performance that might be of interest, at least to aficionados of bel canto:  We have cadenzas and ornaments from several of the singers named above – especially Mario, Grisi and Tamburini – and we have variations for the famous “Furtiva lagrima” in Donizetti’s own hand.  Many of the unfamiliar notes you hear in amongst the familiar ones tonight come from these fascinating documents.                                                                                                                                   

- Will Crutchfield, Director of Opera

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor
Lawrence Brownlee has proven himself to be one of the most prominent bel canto tenors on the international scene.  He is lauded continually for the beauty of his voice, his seemingly effortless technical agility, and his dynamic and engaging dramatic skills. 

In 2008-09 Mr. Brownlee has found himself firmly ensconced in the bel canto music for which he is so admired, having added a trio of new characters to his repertoire: two by Rossini and one by Donizetti.  Among his operatic engagements this season have been: Almaviva/Il barbiere di Siviglia (Dresden, Berlin/Staatsoper, Baden-Baden, Vienna & Hamburg); Ramiro/La Cenerentola (Metropolitan Opera); Lindoro/L’italiana in Algeri (Philadelphia & Trieste); and Giannetto/La gazza ladra (Bologna).  He participated in Galas honoring two great tenors (Richard Tucker/Lincoln Center and Plácido Domingo/New Orleans); and offered recitals at Washington's Kennedy Center, in Atlanta, Ann Arbor and the Canary Islands. 

He sings both Nemorino/L'elisir d’amore and Idreno/Semiramide for the first time on any stage in this, his debut at the Caramoor Festival.  On August 8 he performs Carmina Burana with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood under the baton of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

In 2009-10 he continues to mine the riches of the early nineteenth century repertoire, both familiar and unusual, including two new roles, both falling firmly among the rarities.  At the Metropolitan Opera he sings Rinaldo in Rossini's Armida alongside Renée Fleming for the opera's first production by the Company.  For his debut in St. Gallen he performs Egeo in Johann Simon Mayr's seldom-heard Medea in Corinto.  Barbiere once again is featured prominently, serving as his debut vehicle at the Washington National Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as marking returns to the Met and La Scala.  On the concert stage, he takes part in the German AIDS Foundation’s Gala in Berlin, performs Carmina Burana with the Cincinnati Symphony and appears at the Casals Festival.  Recital dates are scheduled for Kansas City, Dayton and London. 

The Teatro alla Scala was the 2002 site of his first international triumph and he has since returned to the famed Milan theater frequently in Barbiere, L'italiana, Cenerentola, as well as Carmina Burana.  He created the role of Syme in the world premiere of Lorin Maazel's 1984 at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.  His highly acclaimed Met debut took place in 2007, also in Barbiere.

Elsewhere in the tri-state area he was heard with the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel in the music of Gershwin ("Live From Lincoln Center" telecast) and in recital under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, both in 2002.

The Fall of 2009 will see the release of two of Mr. Brownlee's most recently completed CDs, both on labels new for the tenor and centered around the works of Rossini: on Naxos, L’italiana in Algeri conducted by Alberto Zedda, taken from live performances at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival; and, on Opera Rara, an exploration of the composer’s song output, where he is joined by Mireille Delunsch, Jennifer Larmore, Catharine Wyn-Rogers, Mark Wilde and Brindley Sherratt, with Malcolm Martineau at the piano.  Among Mr. Brownlee’s earlier CD releases is a live EMI recording of Carmina Burana with Sir Simon Rattle leading the Berliner Philharmoniker.  EMI also issued his first solo disc featuring Italian songs by Schubert, Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini, accompanied by pianist Martin Katz.  A live Il barbiere di Siviglia co-starring Elina Garanca and Nathan Gunn, with Miguel Gómez-Martínez leading the musical forces of the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, appeared on Sony.  The summer of 2008 saw the DVD release by Decca of a performance from the Covent Garden world premiere run of Lorin Maazel’s 1984. 

A product of the Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program (2000-2002), Mr. Brownlee was most recently named the Company’s 2008 Artist of the Year and received the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s 2007 Alter Award for Artistic Excellence, as well as being the winners of both the 2006 Marian Anderson and Richard Tucker Awards, a feat never before achieved by any artist in the same year. 

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Georgia Jarman, soprano
Hailed by the New York Times for her “luminous, appealing, and agile voice,” and crystalline coloratura, Georgia Jarman (soprano) returns to New Orleans Opera for Violetta in La traviata, Opera de Colombia for Mimi in La bohème, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Carmina Burana, and the Caramoor Music Festival for Adina in L’elisir d’amore in the 2008-09 season.  She also sings the Three Heroines in Les contes d’Hoffmann with Boston Lyric Opera and in a return to Polish National Opera, Rozenn in Lalo’s Le roi d’Ys with the American Symphony Orchestra in her Avery Fisher Hall debut, as well as joins the Metropolitan Opera roster.  Her engagements in coming seasons include Gilda in Rigoletto with Florentine Opera and returns for Cincinnati Opera to reprise her celebrated characterization of Musetta in La bohème, Dallas Opera for Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Portland Opera for Eurydice in Philip Glass’ Orphée.

In the 2007-08 season, she returned to the Polish National Opera for Mathilde in Guillaume Tell and the Three Heroines in Les contes d'Hoffmann, Florentine Opera as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Palm Beach Opera for Violetta in La traviata.  She also made her debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Robert Spano in performances of Musetta in La bohème that were released on the Telarc label and sang Elisetta in a new production of Il matrimonio segreto directed by Jonathan Miller at Brooklyn Academy of Music.

A sought-after artist in bel canto repertoire, she has appeared numerous times at Caramoor Music Festival with Will Crutchfield and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s including most recently, as Amenaide in Tancredi alongside Ewa Podles.  Her previous engagements at the Caramoor Music Festival include her first performances of La traviata as well as the title role in Handel’s Deidamia, Norina in Don Pasquale, and Amina in La sonnambula.  She joined Crutchfield again in her debut with Opera de Colombia for Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, a role she has also sung with New York City Opera along with Adina in L’elisir d’amore, and Portland Opera and has sung Marie in La fille du regiment with Florentine Opera and Indianapolis Opera.  She made her European debut as Amelia in Gustave III Ou Le Bal Masque at L'Opéra de Metz in France, following which Opéra International exclaimed, "Georgia Jarman, impeccable singing, velvet timbre, is the most seductive and the most touching Amelie that one could dream of.” 

The soprano recently joined Polish National Opera, reprising her celebrated performances of Amenaide in Tancredi, again with Ewa Podles.  Her previous performances with Opera de Colombia also include Three Heroines in Les contes d'Hoffmann and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. She has been a frequent presence on the stage of New York City Opera for numerous other roles that include Cunegonde in Candide, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and Mélisande in Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-Bleue.  Among her other recent engagements are her first performances of Madame Mao in Nixon in China with Cincinnati Opera, the title role in Thais with Palm Beach Opera, and Mimi in La bohème with New Orleans Opera.  She has also joined Dallas Opera for Antonia and Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Opera Grand Rapids for Violetta in La Traviata, and Gotham Chamber Opera for Fortuna in Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione.

She received a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and her Bachelor of Music from Boston University.

Markus Beam, baritone
American baritone Markus Beam is rapidly establishing himself as an up and coming force on the international operatic scene. In 2009, he will make his debut at Theater St. Gallen for performances of Guglielmo in a new production of Così fan tutte, sing Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore at Carnegie Hall, join Lyric Opera of Kansas City to sing the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, and sing Belcore in L’elisir d’amore at the Caramoor Festival.

Spring 2008 found Mr. Beam as Schaunard in La bohème in a new Andreas Homoki production with the Komische Oper Berlin, followed by performances of Schaunard with Oper Leipzig. He was until recently a member the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he sang such roles as Silvio in I Pagliacci with José Cura, the Baritone Soloist in a staged version of Orff’s Carmina Burana, Donner in Wagner’s Das Rheingold as part of the entire Ring cycle, the leading role in a Deutsche Oper premiere: Crisogono in Franchetti’s Germania, as well as Jake Wallace in La fanciulla del West, and Graf Dominik in Arabella.

In the summer of 2007, he sang Schaunard in La bohème with Santa Fe Opera, and has appeared as Russell Paxton in Lady in the Dark with Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and with Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Happy in La Fanciulla del West in Concert in his Carnegie Hall debut with Eve Queler and Opera Orchestra of New York, where he also covered Prince Ottakar in Der Freischütz, Ping in Turandot with Virginia Opera, Junius in The Rape of Lucretia with Chicago Opera Theater; Schaunard in La bohème and Antenor in Rameau’s Dardanus with Wolf Trap Opera and Pallante in Handel’s Agrippina with Glimmerglass Opera.

Mr. Beam trained at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, and with the young artist programs of San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera.

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Marco Nisticò, baritone
Baritone Marco Nisticò’s career has extended to many theaters throughout Europe and across the United States. Career highlights for Mr. Nisticò have included Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Pallante in Handel’s Agrippina, Prudenzio in Il viaggio a Reims, Schaunard in La Bohème, and Dancairo in Carmen with New York City Opera; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rodrigue in the French version of Don Carlos, and Francesco Foscari in Verdi’s I due Foscari with Sarasota Opera; Antonio in Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix with the Caramoor Festival; Buffo in Mozart’s The Impresario with L’Opéra de Monte Carlo; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Toledo Opera, in Bologna, in Amsterdam, and on tour throughout the Netherlands with Eurostage Productions; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and both Durozeau and Renaud in Auber’s Manon Lescaut with Ireland’s Wexford Festival; Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Connecticut Grand Opera; Ford in Falstaff with Opera Roanoke; Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri at Milan’s AsLiCo; Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia and Marcello in La Bohème with Tel Aviv’s International Vocal Arts Institute; Marcello in La Bohème with Connecticut Grand Opera, Opera Naples, and Western Plains Opera; Bruschino in Rossini’s Il signor Bruschino with Gotham Chamber Opera; Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Teatro di San Carlo; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre; Somarone in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict with the European Union Opera at Germany’s Baden-Baden Theater and in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Sir John Gotch and the Curato Mendham in Rota’s La vista meravigliosa in Fermo, Italy; Ben in Menotti’s The Telephone at New York’s Florence Gould Hall; and Enrico in Donizetti’s Il campanello at New York’s Symphony Space. Concert highlights have included Fra Melitone in La forza del destino with the Caramoor Festival; Schaunard in La Bohème with the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra; and a Carnegie Hall debut as baritone soloist in the Fauré Requiem and Schubert’s Mass in C with Mid America Productions.

Mr. Nisticò has also served as diction coach in the remount of Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Chicago Opera Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He received his B.A. in Theater Studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, and studied voice with his father (Maestro Benito Nisticò of the Avellino Conservatory in Italy) and at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv.

Upcoming engagements during the 2009-10 season will include Germont in La traviata with Sarasota Opera and Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore with Toledo Opera.

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