I am sorry you didn’t “get” opera, Jonah, having been given such a wonderful
opportunity so young. Don’t sweat it, though–the NRO readership includes a
huge corps of opera-haters. Every time I mention opera I get 120 e-mails
asking me angrily if I am some kind of pansy. Me! I should add (braving
that storm of e-mails) that you were in what has been called (where? in the
operatic glossary at the end of Fire from the Sun , that’s where) “one of the
happiest of all operas,” and a very pure example of the _bel canto_ style.
L’elisir d’amore was written, words and music both, in two weeks from a
standing start. They didn’t have e-mail to cope with in the 1830s.
Donizetti was a genius, and a great master of his art. (And P.S.: Except
for the first word, and proper names, the words in an Italian title don’t
get an initial capital letter.)