Concert preview: L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love)

Donizetti took only six weeks to write this piece and it was the most performed opera in Italy between 1838 and 1848.

Since then it has become one of the standard favourites in the operatic repertoire and there are two chances to see a performance by Scottish Opera this week.

It’s a chamber version with soloists and only five of a chorus taking the stage. Music will be supplied through a new arrangement for violin, viola, cello, horn and guitar. Derek Clark, Scottish Opera’s head of music, will conduct.

Elixir is billed as a comic opera but there are moments of passion, such as the famous tenor aria Una Furtiva Lagrima (A Furtive Tear), sung when Nemorino finds out that the dream potion he bought to win his dream lady, Adina, works.

Byre Theatre, St Andrews, October 22; Perth Concert Hall, October 25

www.horsecross.co.uk