Italian composer's masterpiece captivates opera enthusiasts

Gaetano Donizetti's opera "The Elixir of Love" has been shown in Baku.

The opera was staged by Ukrainian opera director Nikolay Tretyak at the Baku Music Academy Opera Studio, Azernews reports.

This opera was written by the composer in just two weeks. It was first staged in Milan in 1832 and then went around all the theatres in the world.

Soloists of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, including People's Artist Akram Poladov, Honoured Artists Ramil Gasimov and Inara Babayeva, laureate of international competitions Mahir Taghizade, as well as a choir of Honoured Artist Sevil Hajiyeva, captivated the hearts of opera lovers.

The performance was first presented under the baton of People's Artist Fakhraddin Karimov.

The production aroused great interest among opera fans. One of the most memorable moments of the show was Ramil Gasimov's performance of the aria Una furtiva lagrima.

The Elixir of Love is a melodramma giocoso in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Aubar's Le philtre (1831).

The opera premiered on May 12, 1832, at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan.

L'elisir d'amore was the most often performed opera in Italy between 1838 and 1848.

Today, it is one of the most frequently performed of all of Donizetti's operas.