Il filtro d'amore -- NEMORINO

Speranza


Tenor's opera 'Elixir' gives the guys a role to love

Barry Banks, front, is among the tenors to play Nemorino, with bass Simone Alberghini in the Opera Colorado production of "The Elixir of Love."


When John Ken Nuzzo took on the role of Nemorino in "The Elixir of Love" at the Benedum Center Saturday, he was one of be the latest in a long line of singers who have made Donizetti's comic masterpiece a tenor's opera.

Most bel canto operas were vehicles for women, but the tenor shines in "Elixir."

The most memorable moments belong to him, including the famous aria "Una furtiva lagrima."

Almost every collection of tenor arias includes "Una furtiva lagrima."

Youtube.com contains more than 100 versions, including a violin transcription by Joshua Bell.

There is even a karaoke disc of the aria.

Tokyo-born Nuzzo took his first stab at Nemorino in the Pittsburgh Opera production.

He calls it "one of the roles we [tenors] all studied. I know what distinguished company I am in."



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"Una furtiva lagrima" was Donizetti's last-minute insertion to show off the expressive power of the first Nemorino, Giambattista Genero, at the opera's 1832 premiere in Milan.

In the manner of his time, Genero sang with a light voice.

The late Luciano Pavarotti spoke in interviews about the shift away from that technique in the 20th century to a modern dramatic tenor sound, espoused by Pavarotti himself.

The dramatic interpretation began with the legendary Enrico Caruso, who first recorded the aria in 1902 and introduced "Elixir" to American audiences at the Metropolitan Opera in 1904.

Yet even the stentorian Caruso shared the role, in that decade, with Alessandro Bonci, who was a tenore leggero.

In the next generation, the role was shared at the Met by the full-voiced Beniamino Gigli and the light-voiced Tito Schipa.

From Caruso's time on, there are recordings to document all the great interpreters of Nemorino and the way their diverse tenor sounds can be adapted to show different aspects of this likable character.

Gigli and Schipa recorded the aria in the 1920s and '30s.

Gigli in full voice, Schipa emphasizing lightness and legato line.

Cesare Valletti, a Schipa protege, made the first complete recording of the opera in 1952, arguably the most stylish interpretation of any on the market.

The "Three Tenors" -- Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras -- different as they were from each other, found common ground in this role.

Nuzzo's predecessors in Pittsburgh Opera performances have been Ferruccio Tagliavini, Jon Garrison (who did a cowboy version in 1975), Neil Shicoff and, most recently, Tito Beltran, a slender-voiced Chilean whose modest vocal talents were enhanced by the ability to sing while walking on his hands.

With all these icons to look back on, Nuzzo lists as his personal favorites Pavarotti, Ramon Vargas, Carlo Bergonzi, Francisco Araiza and Fritz Wunderlich.

Nuzzo says that in his performances he aims "to keep it lyric and ardent."

But it isn't just the famous aria that makes the role attractive.

Nemorino has a lovely entrance piece cavatina ("Quanto e bella"), and the Act 1 finale comes to a virtual halt for his extended solo, "Adina, credimi."

Adina, the female lead in "Elixir," can't compete.

Her character has two arias, virtually unknown outside of complete performances.

The second of her solos, "Prendi, per me se libero," is quite gorgeous, but because it comes immediately after "Una furtiva lagrima," its psychological effect is anticlimactic.

Nemorino's only rival for focus is Dr. Dulcamara, a basso buffo who peddles his wares in a great patter aria, "Udite, udite o rustici."

The story of the opera -- a simplistic adaptation of the Tristan and Isolde legend -- concerns an Italian peasant boy who loves a rich girl in the village.

When she scorns him he buys a fake love potion (actually Bordeaux wine) from Dulcamara.

Local girls flock around him and Adina realizes she loves him.

She sheds "a furtive tear," which is the spur for Nemorino's big moment.

It happens the girls had learned that Nemorino's uncle died and left him money, but Dulcamara gets credit for the happy ending.

In James Robinson's staging at Pittsburgh Opera this month, the opera took place in 1911 and not in an Italian village, but in the Iowa of a Grant Wood painting.

"Nemorino is a simple farmer guy," Nuzzo says. "It has to be totally sincere."

Nuzzo, an American citizen with an Italian-American father and a Japanese mother, says, "Nemorino brings out a very Japanese side of me. The young Japanese are quiet and submissive, but when they get drunk they come out and act foolishly."

His favorite moment, aside from the aria, is the scene in Act 1 in which Nemorino expresses his feelings to Adina. "The most difficult part for me comes in Act 2, when he has to play with her feelings, having to push her away when he wants to be close to her.
"Am I supposed to be good or awkward at playing the game of love?"
It's a tenor's opera -- Nuzzo can play it either way.