Wines in opera: dithyrambs, brindisi and mischief

Musical lecture in English by Matteo Sansone and Tanya Di Rienzo

Toasts are a time-honoured ingredient in opera. Wines may have varied functions in a farcical or tragic plot. Mozart’s Don Giovanni drinks an ‘eccellente Marzemino’ in the final Act. In Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, guests are offered poisoned ‘vin di Siracusa’. Rossini’s Don Magnifico boasts of his Montefiascone ‘vino amabile’. The ‘elisir d’amore’ turning the shy Nemorino into a spirited suitor is just Bordeaux. The wines mentioned in this talk – by the musicologist Matteo Sansone and the sommelière Tanya Di Rienzo – will be on display and can later be tasted.