"" (A tear) is the romanza from act 2, scene 8 of the Italian opera L'elisir d'amore by Gaetano Donizetti. It is sung by Nemorino (tenor) when it appears that the love potion he bought to win the heart of his dream lady, Adina, is working. He loves Adina, but she is not interested in an innocent, rustic man such as he. To win her heart, he buys a love potion with all the money he has in his pocket. It is actually a cheap red wine sold by a traveling quack doctorâÂÂbut when he sees Adina weeping, he assumes the "elixir" has worked and she has fallen in love with him.
<div style="float:right;clear:right;"></div> In an opera about fake potions and feigned emotions, Donizetti invests this aria with considerable pathos. It is set in B minor, a dark key with often tragic associations.
The aria's time signature is the compound metre of . It changes to B major on the words "Cielo! Si può morir!". Its vocal range is from F to A with a tessitura of B to A. The last occurrence of the word chiedo is a coloratura melisma of 24 notes covering F to G.
The Italian text is taken from a score and libretto at Indiana University. They do not include the last line, "", which is heard in most of the romanza's performances.