Nemorino-Tristano -- e Silvio Malaperta, "Il Filtro"

Speranza

Le Philtre,

an opera in two acts with libretto by Eugène Scribe, was premiered at

the Académie Royale de Musique (Salle de la rue Le Peletier) on 20 June 1831.

The

opera was an immediate success and remained in the repertoire of the Opéra until

1862.

Scribe's libretto was based on an Italian story, Silvio Malaperta's

II Filtro,

published in a French adaptation in the

Revue de Paris by Stendhal in 1830.

The story is set in Mauléon, in the eighteenth century.

Guillaume ("Nemorino"), a young

farmhand, is in love with Thérèsine ("Adina"), the beautiful but aloof lady of the manor.

Guillaume ("Nemorino") and

his rival, the swaggering Sergeant Jolicoeur ("Belcore"), both try in vain to persuade Thérèsine ("Adina") to

marry them.

In despair, Guillaume ("Nemorino") buys what he thinks is a love potion ("filtro", "elisir d'amore") from Doctor

Fontanarose ("Dulcamara"), a travelling vendor of patent medicines, and a charlatan.

The potion he

sells to Guillaume ("Nemorino") is in fact a bottle of wine.

Fontanarose ("Dulcamara") tells the young man that it

will not take effect for twenty-four hours—so giving the doctor enough time to leave

town.

As Guillaume drinks the wine he starts to feel more confident—so much so that

he appears almost indifferent to Thérèsine, who is infuriated at this change in her

formerly doting young lover.

Hoping to make him jealous, she agrees to marry

Jolicoeur.

Still Guillaume seems untroubled, for he is certain Thérèsine will be in love

with him at the end of twenty-four hours.

Act 2 takes place some hours later.

The villagers are celebrating the approaching

marriage of Thérèsine and Jolicoeur.

Thérèsine, however, is unhappy that Guillaume

is not there, since her revenge will have no effect if he does not see it.

Guillaume asks

Fontanarose for a love potion that will work at once.

In order to pay for it, he has to

join Jolicoeur's regiment, for which he receives twenty

écus.

Meanwhile the villagers

find out that Guillaume's uncle has died and left the young man all his money.

Guillaume becomes instantly popular with all the girls, and is convinced that the

potion is working.

Thérèsine then discovers Guillaume has enlisted in order to gain

enough money to buy a love potion.


She realizes how much he must love her and

buys back his enlistment papers. (Oddly, this happened to Donizetti in real life).

When Jolicoeur returns, Thérèsine explains to him

that she is going to marry Guillaume.

Thérèsine and Guillaume then learn that the

latter is rich.

As the couple rejoice over their good fortune, Fontanarose leaves town

with honour and gratitude from all sides.

This is a light canvas, and hardly offered situations worthy of the grand lyric

resources of the Opéra.

The deployment of the chorus and more substantial orchestra

of the big theatre really demanded a stronger plotline.

Many critics considered the

work to be little more than an

opéra-comique in which recitative replaced the usual

spoken dialogue, although the transference of Scribe’s

opéra-comique techniques to

the comic opera genre is not that simple.

There is less action and a simpler plot than in

most of the

opéras-comiques despite a similarity of structural elements.

Hence there is

less need for recitative, with more of the action incorporated into the musical numbers

which are in turn able to unfold at a more leisurely pace.

This situation is underlined

by the prevalence of arioso writing in the course of these longer musical numbers.

These necessitate more complex musical forms.

While none of these would be out of

place in an

opéra-comique, there are fewer strophic forms, less couplets, more arias

and ensembles, and ensembles involving the chorus.

Both librettist and composer have subtly but formally demonstrated their

 

awareness of generic distinction.

They are promoting the same message, but this time

as a comic opera not an

opéra-comique.

In matters of overall dramatic structure and musical style,

Le Philtre is similar to

Scribe-Auber

opéras-comiques.

The work is constructed along the same general lines.

The music has distinguishing qualities.

The overture focuses on the love triangle at

the centre of the story, with themes from the act 1 trio for Thérèsine, Jolicoeur and

Guillaume predominating: Jolicoeur’s strutting military dotted rhythms, Guillaume’s

assertion of his faith in the efficacy of the philtre with its characteristic leaping fifths,

the conclusion of the trio in thirds—a proleptic suggestion of the union of Thérèsine

and Guillaume.

The pastoral atmosphere is developed and sustained from the very beginning, with

the gentle 12/8 opening chorus with its chiming bell over the rich string writing,

which returns to frame the first scene.

The melodies are graceful and fresh, none more

so than those written for the star tenor.

Adolphe Nourrit played the role of the naive

villager with a perfect naturalness, appearing in the smock of the farm boy Guillaume.

His aria “Philtre divin” has a pathetic charm and diffident but serene character all its

own—perfectly captured by the ritornello, with its four-part harmony for two flutes

and two oboes, and the mysterious, recurring music of the philtre and its ingestion—a

pedal note in octaves of E-flat, sustaining a rising sequence of chromatic triads in first

inversion over eight bars.

Julie Dorus-Gras and Laure Cinti-Damoreau took turns in playing the role of

Thérèsine, singing of the loves of “la belle Yseult aux blanches mains”. The proud

and successful Thérèsine also has a

grand air (“La coquetterie fait mon bonheur”),

her independence and wilfulness illustrated with well-crafted coloratura.

Other

striking pieces are Jolicoeur’s

couplets militaires “Je suis sergent”; Doctor

Fontanarose’s

rondo-boniment “Vous me connaissez”; the finale of act 1; the

barcarolle for two voices (“Je suis riche, vous êtes belle”) both graceful and original;

and the ensemble of the second act where the village girls press Guillaume to dance

with them. Fontanarose is a particularly amusing comic creation, and his irresistible

vending

couplets burlesques a comic tour de force.

The original cast was: Adolphe Nourrit (Guillaume); Julie Dorus-Gras and Laure

Cinti-Damoreau (Thérésine); Henri-Bernard Dabadie (Jolicoeur); Nicholas Prosper

Levasseur (Fontanarose); Elie (Fontanarose’s valet); and Constance Jaruwek (Jeannette,

a villager). The décor by Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri was much applauded. Had the

work been transported to the Opéra-Comique, it would probably have had a longer

career. It nonetheless enjoyed great success, and was given uninterruptedly from 1831

until 1849, with two further revivals, in 1852-59 and 1861-62. There were 243

performances altogether.

The opera was translated into Italian, and produced

in Milano.

The subject became the basis of Felice Romani's libretto for Gaetano

Donizetti, resulting in one of his best scores,

L’Elisir d’amore; ossia il Tristano italiano (1832).

After the latter

became very popular, music from the two operas was mixed in a

pasticcio which was

sung at St. Petersburg in 1836