L’elisir d’amore
The Plot
Act I
Scene one. The entrance to Adina’s farm.
The peasants of the farm are enjoying a break from harvest in the shade of a big tree, while Adina, a
tenant farmer, is busy reading something that seems to amuse her gready. Nemorino, a naive and
poor country boy, admires her from a distance: he is madly in love with her, but has no hope that
such a beautiful, rich and learned woman might possibly get interested in a simpleton like himself.
When his fellow villagers, made curious by Adinas laughter, gather round her urging her to read
aloud, Nemorino trepidly joins them. The passage she reads is from the legend of Tristan and Isolde
and tells how Tristan won the affection of the beautiful queen, thanks to a love elixir a wise
magician had given him.
At the head of a troop of soldiers garrisoned in the village, the self-assured Sergeant Belcore
appears. The newcomer instantly notices the beautiful Adina, throws himself into courting her and
promptly proposes marriage. Annoyed by his overconfidence, but flattered by all his attention, the
woman holds her own against him in the flirting game, and asks him to wait patiently. Nemorino
feels lost and, left alone with Adina, finds the courage to declare his love for her. She begs him to
stop thinking about her, capricious and inconstant as she is, and to turn his attention elsewhere.
Scene two. The village square.
Another stranger arrives at the village: it is ‘Doctor’ Dulcamara, a travelling quack, enthusiastically
singing the praises of his cure-all remedy. Steadily thinking of beautiful Adina, Nemorino asks him
if he happens to have Queen Isolde’s potion. Dulcamara promptly takes advantage of the
circumstance to sell him a bottle of love elixir (which is actually just wine) for a gold coin, but tells
him that he will have to wait a whole day to fully appreciate the results. So, by the time the fraud is
discovered, the swindler will be long gone.
Nemorino begins to drink the elixir expectantly. Alcohol has an immediate effect, making him
cheerful and self-assured. Confident that he will gain Adina’s love within the next day, the young
man decides to feign indifference towards her. Feeling irritated, the woman promises the sergeant
that she will marry him within six days. However, Nemorino does not worry, being cerrain about
the effectiveness of the prodigious liquor.
Nevertheless, when the sergeant, who has suddenly received orders to move on, asks Adina to
marry at once, Nemorino tries in vain to persuade her to wait just one more day.
Act II
Scene one. Inside Adina’s farmhouse.
The villagers, the soldiers of the garrison and Dulcamara are invited to the wedding feast at Adina’s
farm. Only Nemorino is not there: his absence upsets Adina, who takes her time and postpones the
signing of the wedding contract until later in the evening.
While puzzling over the brides strange behaviour, Belcore runs into Nemorino, who is in desperate
search for money: so the sergeant suggests that he enlist in his regiment for a bonus of twenty scudi.
Nemorino promptly agrees and signs the contract with an «X». Once he has the money, he rushes
up to Dulcamara to buy another dose of elixir, in the hope to enhance and accelerate its effect.
Scene two. Rustic courtyard open at the back.
Meanwhile the news is spreading among the village girls that Nemorino has received a considerable
inheritance. Blind drunk after his second bottle of elixir, the young man realizes that the girls are
treating him with unusual politeness and thinks that he has acquired irresistible appeal thanks to the
miraculous potion. Adina and Dulcamara are astonished at seeing a light-hearred Nemorino being
Ufficio Stampa
via Sant’Alenixedda, 09128 Cagliari - Italia
telefono +39 0704082 232-261-209 - fax +39 0704082216
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even wooed. The beautiful tenant farmer is disappointed but also worried about him, since she has
learned of his enlistment from Belcore: so she tries to talk to him, but Nemorino does not seem to
pay attention to her. Dulcamara convinces himself he has actually administered a magic filter to
him and boasts to Adina about it; she is touched realizing how deep Nemorino’s affection is for her.
When she eventually manages to talk to him, she tells him she has bought his back enlistment
papers, hands them to him and begs him to remain in the village, where everybody loves him.
However, Nemorino answers that he prefers to leave, if she does not love him: at this point, Adina
confesses his love for him. They both rejoice; Belcore resigns himself looking to his next conquest.
After learning the news of Nemorino’s inheritance, Dulcamara reveals it publicly and gives the
credit to his elixir, which allegedly brings not only love, but also wealth. After selling several
bottles of his wonderful potion, he leaves on his carriage amidst Adina and Nemorino’s thanks,
Belcore’s curses and the people’s cheering.
Ufficio Stampa
via Sant’Alenixedda, 09128 Cagliari - Italia
telefono +39 0704082 232-261-209 - fax +39 0704082216
[email protected]
www.teatroliricodicagliari.it