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MUSICAL HIGHLIGHT
A Tiny Clue: A Close Look at
Nemorino’s Aria “Una furtiva lagrima”
MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS ARE
BRIEF OPPORTUNITIES TO
Only moments after Adina tells Dulcamara about the boy-catching power of “Una
• help students make sense of opera
Nemorino sings of another small ocular event: a single tear he saw in Adina’s eyes
• whet their interest in upcoming
Live in HD transmissions
that tells him that she cares for him. He expresses his feelings in the aria “Una furtiva
Each focuses on audio selections
tenera occhiatina”—“A tender little glance” (see Classroom Activity, Track 25)—
lagrima”—“A surreptitious tear”—a piece as rich in psychology as it is in melody.
Two instruments introduce the aria—a harp, which will continue throughout
from L’Elisir d’Amore available
online at metopera.org/education
playing soft arpeggios, and a single, lonesome bassoon (Track 39). They hardly
or the accompanying CD. Texts and
translations are available in the back
not downright sadness. But Donizetti uses this key because Nemorino’s feelings are
of this guide.
mixed: After all, the augury of his happiness was a tear (Track 40), a sign of sadness
These “mini-lessons” will in practice
take up no more than a few minutes
of class time. They’re designed to help
you bring opera into your classroom
while minimizing interruption of your
ongoing curriculum. Feel free to use
as many as you like.
in his beloved: her jealousy upon seeing other girls’ interest in him (Track 41).
sound like the heralds of a young lover’s joy. The minor key conveys solemnity, if
Nonetheless, Nemorino knows he couldn’t ask for more (Track 42), and so in
Track 43, Donizetti brings him out of the pensive minor into a bright major key, with
the affirmation that “She loves me. I see it!” This is still not an exuberant exclamation; the slow tempo makes that clear. But it’s movement in a very positive direction.
The harp arpeggios prepare Nemorino’s return to the minor key as, in Track 44,
he dreams of holding Adina at last. Here Romani’s text is especially important: it
connects “Una furtiva lagrima” back to “Quanto è bella,” the aria Nemorino sang
when he despaired of ever winning Adina’s love (see Classroom Activity, Tracks
12–18). He imagines Adina’s sighs blending with his own—precisely the sighs he felt
unable to produce in “Quanto è bella.”
Nemorino’s thoughts about holding Adina recur in Track 45, but as he comes
to those significant sighs, Donizetti brings him out of the minor key again to a
different, even brighter major key than before. Ironically, and in the same spirit of
mixed feelings, Nemorino’s melody brightens just as he sings “Heavens! You could
die!” The darkness is gone for good, as Nemorino all but bursts with happiness in
bringing the aria to a close (Track 46).
“Una furtiva lagrima” can be heard in its entirety on Track 47.
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MUSICAL HIGHLIGHT
Mini-Opera: A Close Look at
the Barcarolle in Act II
As if L’Elisir d’Amore weren’t comedy enough for its 19th-century audience,
Donizetti and Romani slipped another miniature comic opera into the second act.
The occasion is the party for a wedding that won’t happen: the marriage to Belcore
that Adina has arranged, mostly to annoy Nemorino. A grateful guest, Dulcamara
leaps up, pulls out a handful of sheet music, and invites the putative bride to join
him in a barcarolle—a song in the time-honored style of Venetian gondoliers. (Some
students may remember the famous example in Act III of Offenbach’s Les Contes
d’Hoffmann, seen live in HD in 2009.) Here, there are distinct parallels between the
tale heard in the duet and Adina’s true situation.
Dulcamara announces the title on Track 48—“The Gondolier Girl and Senator
Three-teeth.” He begins on Track 49 in broad imitation of an old man—toothless
but, as he points out, rich. Instead of the gently bouncing 6/8 meter usually heard
in a barcarolle, Donizetti sets the piece in a more straightforward 2/4 to underline
the old man’s clumsiness. Adina joins in on Track 50 with the gondolier girl’s simple,
honest refusal. Dulcamara, as the senator, sweeps it away.
Things get interesting in Track 51. The gondolier girl, not so different from Adina
herself, responds with flirtatious irony (“Troppo onor”—“It’s too high an honor”).
In Track 52, the crowd roars its approval, and Dulcamara falls out of character to
quiet them down. (Could this be an ironic comment by Donizetti on the behavior of
audiences in his day?)
The banter resumes in Track 53. At last the crowd pipes up again in Track 54, but
this time Dulcamara can’t disapprove: they’re praising him to the strains of the same
catchy melody. He can’t help but add to his own praise in Track 55. The whole event
comes to an elaborate close in Track 56—a finish so hysterically fast and enthusiastic that it might go on forever if Belcore, would-be bridegroom left out of the
hilarity, did not reclaim the spotlight: “Silenzio!”—Silence!
The entire Barcarolle can be heard on Track 57.
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MUSICAL HIGHLIGHT
Sound vs. Sense:
A Close Look at “Adina, credimi” in Act I
Though composers often use music to delineate character (see Classroom Activity),
there are occasions when, for one reason or another, there’s a discrepancy between
the sound of a piece and the meaning of its text. Such turns out to be the case with
“Adina, credimi” (“Adina, believe me”), the quartet heard at the end of Act I.
As the piece opens, its melody unquestionably matches its words: Nemorino,
having swallowed Dulcamara’s elixir, is pleading with Adina to wait just one day
before marrying Belcore—the day Dulcamara said it would take for the elixir to
take effect. As silly as Nemorino’s belief might be, he’s sincere, as displayed by his
FUN FACT: Encores
of popular arias are a
controversial fashion in
the opera house. For years
they were not done at the
Met. But Nemorino’s “Una
furtiva lagrima” has long
been encore bait—repeated
mid-opera in recent years
by such stars as Rolando
Villazón, Juan Diego Flórez,
and Luciano Pavarotti.
compatibly lush music and heartfelt words, starting in a minor key and shifting to its
relative major (Track 58).
In Track 59, Belcore leaps in to mock Nemorino, piling insult upon insult in pulsing
rhythms that will underpin the approaching quartet. On Track 60, after a short
exclamation by Nemorino, Adina joins in, her melody suffused with compassion. But
her words ridicule Nemorino’s lovesickness! She’s upset because in an earlier scene,
confident in Dulcamara’s elixir, Nemorino made a novice flirter’s mistake: he pointedly ignored her, leaving Adina feeling somewhat vengeful. Yet Donizetti floats her
derision on angels’ wings.
Belcore starts huffing and puffing along with Adina, providing a counter-melody,
in Track 61. Nemorino, still pleading, joins in Track 62. The three weave an intricate
musical braid, irrespective of their personal agendas, and come to rest together on
the syllable “me.” On Track 63, the townspeople pile on, rhyming that “me” with
“te”—the singular, informal “you”—a dart aimed straight at Nemorino.
By this time, four separate viewpoints—those of Adina, Belcore, Nemorino and
their neighbors—are all expressed distinctly in both words and music. The result,
heard on Track 64, is a complex four-part ensemble that arrives at a lovely, harmonic
ending. A look at the text, however, demonstrates that the harmony is only musical:
The four separate viewpoints remain separate. No one has changed his mind about
Nemorino’s predicament.
The scene can be heard in its entirety on Track 65.
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