Information encountering at the opera: What Donizetti and Romani’s opera buffa L’elisir d’amore can teach us about pseudo-serendipity in human information behaviour

This study connects two purportedly unrelated disciplines: information studies and opera, by examining what can be learned about information encountering, and in particular on pseudo-serendipity in human information behaviour, through analysing selected scenes of the nineteenth century opera buffa L’elisir d’amore (“Elixir of love”). As part of the emergent “information studies in the arts” framework, the study uses a hermeneutic interpretation of the libretto through informational perspective and analysis of the musical treatment of the text. All choices and sense-making are subjective. Analysis of L’elisir d’amore’s first six scenes uncovers valuable descriptions and insights regarding information encountering within a nineteenth century south-west Europe temporal culture. Findings augment the current knowledge on pseudo-serendipity in human information behaviour, and provide a more profound understanding of this nonlinear information behaviour. Operatic works have not yet served the development of information studies. This study establishes that opera can be a meaningful scholastic source for developing information research and discourse. It provides both valuable insight, from an operatic angle, into information encountering in the context of a bygone era, and an original information-behavioural layer of analysis to the Italian opera L’elisir d’amore.