With his L'elisir d'amore ('The Elixir of Love'), composed in 1832 to lyrics by Felice Romani, Donizetti wrote something far greater than a mere comic opera: this was perhaps the first example of a moving, middle-class genre of theatre where the characters lose their farcical stereotyped charactistics and, thanks to clever writing, become much more realistic. L'elisir d'amore was premiered at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan on the 12th of May, 1832 and was a huge success.