“The Elixir of Love”, Vienna State Opera
Andreas Rei in Austria
★★★★☆
8 May 2026
This past May 7, the Vienna Opera resumed its production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) in Otto Schenk’s staging, this time with the Italian conductor Gianluca Capuano.
© Wiener Staatsoper / Michael Pöhn.
This production is now in its 283rd revival. It is therefore far from new. Does it smell of formaldehyde with its pastel colours, and its postcard-perfect Italian village where not a single grain of straw or dust, not a single scratch on the costumes, and not a single muscle shows either wear and tear or the underlying supernatural aspect of this seemingly simple opera? If there is formaldehyde, it may indeed be precisely in this visual sterilization intended by the German set and costume designer Jürgen Rose …
To make this staging vivid, the Austrian director blends natural and caricature elements into the acting, producing results that are immediately appreciable. The Adina of South African soprano Pretty Yende, like the Giannetta of Serbian soprano Ana Garotić, is spontaneous and unpretentious here, in a word, refreshingly genuine. The Nemorino of American tenor Michael Spyres perfectly combines natural acting with his comic vice, presenting a peasant awkward in his naivety.
Comedy, always difficult to handle without falling into overly caricatured foolishness and vulgarity, is also very well utilized here by Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri who portrays a not-too-mean Dulcamara. On the other hand, the Belcore of Austrian baritone Clemens Unterreiner, forcing both his acting and vocal performance, is less successful and therefore stands out somewhat uncomfortably on the vocal stage.
We must acknowledge here the chorus, a true character in this opera, which remains flexible, clear, and lively throughout the entire production. Once again, outstanding work by chorus master Martin Schebesta.
© Wiener Staatsoper / Michael Pöhn.
Above all there should be praise for the conductor. He balances wind and strings well to create a pastoral atmosphere during the overture. The winds instruments make a dreamy and delicate mood floating there. And the strings maintain a beautiful legato throughout the production. The oboe during “Una furtiva lacrima” is particularly successful.
If a criticism can be made here, it might sound almost paradoxical. If Ana Garotić’s Giannetta is appreciable—both clear and amused, especially during the scene of the revelation of Nemorino’s inheritance to her friends—, if Ambrogio Maestri’s Dulcamara is always frank, lively, and delightful, never falling into the grotesque even during his “Udite, udite, o rustici” presentation, and if finally Clemens Unterreiner’s belcanto sometimes borders on caricature from his “Come Paride vezzoso,” Pretty Yenda’s voice as Adina is clear, splendid, flexible, worthy of Mirella Freni and Renata Scotto, so superb in fact that one hears more Aida or Violetta Valery than Adina. Her “Della crudele Isotta Il bel Tristano ardea” is example among many others. The same goes for that of Michael Spyres – as bright, flexible, and straightforward as Pavarotti’s was. It corresponds more to that of an Alfredo, Germont or a Radames, than to a Nemorino. His “Una furtiva lacrima,” splendid in every respect, is just one example among many of his excellence.
This also carries over to the duets. The Adina/Petty Yende and Nemorino/Michael Spyres duets thus have more of Verdi’s nobility than the peasant quality of Donizetti.
The duets between men, either between Dulcama/Ambrogio Maestri and Nemorino/Michael, thus have a strange aspect, one leaning towards commedia dell’arte and the other towards comedy in a noble art form, and this is even more accentuated with the duets between Belcore/Clemens Unterreiner and Nemorino/Michael Sypres.
The same goes for Petty Yenda, except during the duet with Dulcana “La Nina Gondoliera, e il Senator Tredenti. Barcarola a due voci,” during which the soprano lowers her brilliance to the comic. Perhaps it would have been good if she had slightly dimmed her radiance to more closely match her character during the production?
But enough of micro criticisms, one must let oneself be carried away by the joy of this production. It is very successful in many aspects. Donizetti composed this opera in joy; may it be appreciated in joy … while waiting for the Vienna opera to offer a production of Aida and La Traviata with Pretty Yende and Michael Spyres.
