Il faut partir
The Marquise de Birkenfeld finds that Marie is actually her niece and requires Marie to live with her at the Marquise's castle. Marie tells the regiment that she must leave them but that she does not want them to be unhappy. She explains the sadness that she will feel when she is away from them.
Lyrics
Il faut partir mes bons compagnons d'armes,
Désormais, loin de vous m'enfuir!
Mais par pitié cachez-moi bien vos larmes,
Vos regrets pour mon coeur, hélas!
Ont trop de charmes!
Il faut partir!
Ah! par pitié cachez-moi votre souffrance,
Adieu!
Il faut partir! Adieu!
Vous que, dès mon enfance,
Sans peine, j'appris à chérir,
Vous, dont j'ai partagé le plaisir,
La souffrance, au lieu d'un vrai bonheur,
On m'offre l'opulence
Il faut partir!
Ah! par pitié cachez-moi votre souffrance,
Adieu!
Una furtiva lagrima
Synopsis
"Una furtiva lagrima" (A furtive 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 he finds that the love potion he bought to win the heart of his dream lady, Adina, works.
Nemorino is in love with Adina, but she is not interested in a relationship with an innocent, rustic man. To win her heart, Nemorino buys a love potion with all the money he has in his pocket. That love potion is actually a cheap red wine sold by a traveling quack doctor, but when he sees Adina weeping, he knows that she has fallen in love with him, and he is sure that the "elixir" has worked.
Lyrics
Una furtiva lagrima
Negli occhi suoi spunto
Quelle festosee giovani
Invidiar sembro
Che piu cercando io vo"
M'ama, lovedo
Un solo instante I palpiti
Del suo bel cor sentir!
I miei sospir, confondere
Per poco a' suoi sospir!
Cielo, si puo morir!
Di piu con chiedo
Volgon tre lune... Torna torna o caro oggetto…
Lyrics
Volgon tre lune, ahi! lassa! e il dì ricorre,
Il fatal dì, che in queste mura io gemo
Di rimorso...d'amor... Oh! Tristo giorno
Le mie lagrime accresce il tuo ritorno!
O padre, o patrii colli,
O mio dolce ritiro, ove tranquilla
E innocente io vivea,
Vi rivedrò più mai misera, e rea?
O Edegardo! Edegardo!
Se non tornassi più!... se i giuramenti
Obliar tu potessi!... Ah più discaccio
Quest'orrendo pensier, sempre più torna
Alla mente atterrita!...
Vieni, Edegardo mio, vieni, mia vita!
Perchè non ho del vento
L'infaticabil volo?
Lunge in estraneo suolo,
Ti seguirei, mio ben.
Dove tu sei... sen volino
I miei sospiri almen.
Torna, torna, o caro oggetto,
A bearmi d'un tuo sguardo:
Vieni, o tenero Edegardo,
I miei giorni a serenar.
Ch'io riposi sul tuo petto!
Ch'io ti parli ancor d'amore!
I rimorsi del mio core
Io potrò dimenticar...
Ah! non credea mirarti... Ah! non giunge
While sleepwalking, Amina prays for Elvino and then sings her sorrow. She remembers the engagement ring that he took from her when he believed she was unfaithful to him.
Lyrics
Ah,non credea mirarti
si presto estinto, o fiore;
passasti al par d'amore,
che un giorno sol(o) duro.
Potria novel vigore
il pianto mio recarti
ma ravvivar l'amore
il pianto mio, ah no, non puo.
Ah, non giunge uman pensiero
al contento ond'io son piena:
a miei sensi io credo appena;
tu m'affida o mio tesor.
Ah, mi abbraccia, e sempre insieme,
sempre uniti in una speme,
della terra, in cui viviamo
ci formiamo un ciel d'amor.
Caro Elisir sei mio
Lyrics
Nemorino
Caro elisir! Sei mio!
Sì tutto mio... Com'esser dêe possente
la tua virtù se, non bevuto ancora,
di tanta gioia già mi colmi il petto!
Ma perché mai l'effetto
non ne poss'io vedere
prima che un giorno intier non sia trascorso?
Bevasi. Oh, buono! Oh, caro! Un altro sorso.
Oh, qual di vena in vena
dolce calor mi scorre!... Ah! forse anch'essa...
Forse la fiamma stessa
incomincia a sentir... Certo la sente...
Me l'annunzia la gioia e l'appetito
Che in me si risvegliò tutto in un tratto.
(siede sulla panca dell'osteria: si cava di saccoccia pane e frutta: mangia cantando a gola piena)
La ra, la ra, la ra.
Scena ottava
Adina e detto.
Adina
(Chi è quel matto?
Traveggo, o è Nemorino?
Così allegro! E perché?)
Nemorino
Diamine! È dessa...
(si alza per correre a lei, ma si arresta e siede di nuovo)
(Ma no... non ci appressiam. De' miei sospiri
non si stanchi per or. Tant'è... domani
adorar mi dovrà quel cor spietato.)
Adina
(Non mi guarda neppur!
Com'è cambiato!)
Nemorino
La ra, la ra, la lera!
La ra, la ra, la ra.
Adina
(Non so se è finta o vera
la sua giocondità.)
Nemorino
(Finora amor non sente.)
Adina
(Vuol far l'indifferente.)
Nemorino
(Esulti pur la barbara
per poco alle mie pene:
domani avranno termine,
domani mi amerà.)
Adina
(Spezzar vorria lo stolido,
gettar le sue catene,
ma gravi più del solito
pesar le sentirà.)
Nemorino
La ra, la ra...
Adina
(avvicinandosi a lui)
Bravissimo!
La lezion ti giova.
Nemorino
È ver: la metto in opera
così per una prova.
Adina
Dunque, il soffrir primiero?
Nemorino
Dimenticarlo io spero.
Adina
Dunque, l'antico foco?...
Nemorino
Si estinguerà fra poco.
Ancora un giorno solo,
e il core guarirà.
Adina
Davver? Me ne consolo...
Ma pure... si vedrà.
Nemorino
(Esulti pur la barbara
per poco alle mie pene:
domani avranno termine
domani mi amerà.)
Adina
(Spezzar vorria lo stolido
gettar le sue catene,
ma gravi più del solito
pesar le sentirà.)
Oh! quante volte, oh quante!
Giulietta worries because she does not know where Romeo has gone. She is in love with him and waits with ardor for him to come. She wishes to see his silhouette in the light of the day and hear his sigh which reminds her of the breeze.
Lyrics
Eccomi in lieta vesta...eccomi adorna...
Come vittima all'ara. Oh! almen potessi
Qual vittima cader dell'ara al piede!
O nuzïali tede,
Abborrite così, così fatali,
Siate, ah! siate per me faci ferali.
Ardo...una vampa, un foco
Tutta mi strugge.
Un refrigerio ai venti io chiedo invano.
Ove se'tu, Romeo?
In qual terra t'aggiri?
Dove, dove invïarti i miei sospiri?
Oh! quante volte,
Oh! quante ti chiedo
Al ciel piangendo
Con quale ardor t'attendo,
E inganno il mio desir!
Raggio del tuo sembiante
Parmi il brillar del giorno :
L'aura che spira intorno
Mi sembra un tuo respir.
En proie à la tristesse
Lyrics
LA COMTESSE ADELE
En proie à la tristesse,
Ne plus goûter d’ivresse, Au sein de la jeunesse, Souffrir, gémir sans cesse, Voilà quel este mon sort. Se flétrir en silence, N’espérer que la mort, Hélas, quelle souffrance. O peine horrible!
Vous que l’on dit sensible, Daignez, s’il est possible, Guérir le mal terrible Dont je me sens mourir! Soulagez ma douler, Rendez-moi le bonheur.
CHOEUR
Calmez tant de souffrance,
Calmez tant de douleur!
LA COMTESSE ADELE
Faut-il mourir de ma souffrance?
CHOEUR
Et que votre science
Lui rende le bonheur.
LA COMTESSE ADELE
Hélas, plus d’espérance!
CHOEUR
Calmez-tant de douleur!
ISOLIER (à part, au Comte)
Vous avez entendu sa touchante prière!
Voici le vrai momenta, soyez à moi, mon père! LE
COMTE ORY (à la Comtesse)
Si dans mon assistance
Vour avez confiance,
Je puis en conscience
Guérir votre douler.
Du mal qui vous dévore
La source est dans le coeur.
Aimez, aimez encore
Pour renaître au bonheur.
LA COMTESSE ADELE
D’un éternel veuvage
Un serment fut le gage.
Et j’irais le trahir?
Plutôt, plutôt mourir.
LE COMTE ORY
Le ciel vous en dégage.
Il ordonne que de vous jours
La flamme se ranime
Au flambeau des amour.
LA COMTESSE ADELE
Céleste providence,
Je te bénis de ta clémence!
O bon ermite - Votre mérite
En mes beaux jours - Vivra toujours. ISOLIER et LE
COMTE ORY
Toujours, toujours.
LA COMTESSE ADELE
Votre mérite
A mon secours - viendra toujours.
Isolier, que ta présence
Me fait naître un doux émoi.
Cher Isolier, je veux t’aimer,
Je ne veux aimer que toi.
Déjà je sens - Les feux brûlants
De la jeunesse - par la tendresse - Se rallumer.
Pourquoi me réveiller…
Synopsis
Werther has come back to see Charlotte, his love who is married to another man. She shows him some of the books that they used to read together. One book in particular, a collection of Ossain's verses, sparks Werther to ask spring to cease its gentle caresses upon him, for sadness and grief is now his fate.
Lyrics
Pourquoi me réveiller, ô souffle du printemps? "W
Pourquoi me réveiller?
Sur mon front, je sens tes caresses
Et pourtant bien proche est le temps
des orages et des tristesses!
Pourquoi me réveiller, ô souffle du printemps?
Demain dans le vallon viendra le voyageur,
Se souvenant de ma gloire première.
Et ses yeux vainement chercheront ma splendor,
Ils ne trouveront plus que deuil et que misère!
Hélas!
Pourquoi me réveiller, ô souffle du printemps?
Lucia perdona… Verranno a te sull’aure
Lyrics
EDGARDO
Lucia, perdona se ad ora inusitata
io vederti chiedea: ragion possente
a ciò mi trasse. Prìa che in ciel biancheggi
l'alba novella dalle patrie sponde
lungi sarò.
LUCIA
Che dici?
EDGARDO
Pe' Franchi lidi amici
sciolgo le vele; ivi trattar m'è dato
le sorti della Scozia.
LUCIA
E me nel pianto
abbandoni così?
EDGARDO
Prìa di lasciarti
Ashton mi vegga...io stenderò placato
a lui la destra e la tua destra, pegno
fra noi di pace, chiederò.
LUCIA
Che ascolto!
Ah, no...rimanga nel silenzio sepolto
per or l'arcano affetto.
EDGARDO
Intendo! Di mia stirpe
il reo persecutor, dei mali miei
ancor pago non è! Mi tolse il padre,
il mio retaggio avito. Né basta?
Che brama ancor quel cor feroce e rio?
La mia perdita intera?
Il sangue mio?
Egli m'odia...
LUCIA
Ah, no...
EDGARDO
M'aborre.
LUCIA
Calma, oh ciel, quell'ira estrema.
EDGARDO
Fiamma ardente in sen mi corre!
M'odi.
LUCIA
Edgardo!
EDGARDO
M'odi e trema!
Sulla tomba che rinserra
il tradito genitore
al tuo sangue eterna guerra
io giurai nel mio furore.
LUCIA
Ah!
EDGARDO
Ma ti vidi, e in cor mi nacque
altro affetto, e l'ira tacque.
Pur quel voto non è infranto,
io potrei, sì potrei compirlo ancor!
LUCIA
Deh! Ti placa. Deh, ti frena.
EDGARDO
Ah, Lucia!
LUCIA
Può tradirne un solo accento!
Non ti basta la mia pena?
Vuoi ch'io mora di spavento?
EDGARDO
Ah, no!
LUCIA
Ceda, ceda ogn'altro affetto,
solo amor t'infiammi il petto;
un più nobile, più santo,
d'ogni voto è un puro amor,
ah, solo amore,
ecc.
Cedi, cedi a me, cedi, cedi all'amor.
EDGARDO
Pur quel voto non è infranto,
ecc.
Io potrei compirlo ancor.
(con subita risoluzione)
Qui di sposa eterna fede,
qui mi giura al cielo innante.
Dio ci ascolta, Dio ci vede;
tempio ed ara è un core amante;
(ponendo un anello in dito a Lucia)
al tuo fato unisco il mio,
son tuo sposo.
LUCIA
(porgendo a sua volta il proprio anello ad Edgardo)
E tua son io.
EDGARDO e LUCIA
Ah, soltanto il nostro foco
spegnerà di morte il gel.
LUCIA
Ai miei voti amore invoco,
ai miei voti invoco il ciel,
ecc.
EDGARDO
Ai miei voti invoco il cielo,
ecc.
Separarci omai conviene.
LUCIA
Oh, parola a me funesta!
Il mio cor con te ne viene.
EDGARDO
Il mio cor con te qui resta,
ecc.
LUCIA
Ah, Edgardo, ah! Edgardo!
EDGARDO
Separarci omai convien.
LUCIA
Ah, talor del tuo pensiero
venga un foglio messaggero,
e la vita fuggitiva
di speranze nutrirò.
EDGARDO
Io di te memoria viva
sempre, o cara, serberò.
LUCIA
Ah!
Verranno a te sull'aure
i miei sospiri ardenti,
udrai nel mar che mormora
l'eco dei miei lamenti.
Pensando ch'io di gemiti
mi pasco e di dolor,
spargi un'amara lagrima
su questo pegno allor,
ah, su questo pegno,
ecc.
EDGARDO
Verranno a te sull'aure,
ecc.
EDGARDO e LUCIA
Ah! Verranno a te sull'aure,
ecc.
EDGARDO
Rammentati, ne stringe il ciel!
EDGARDO e LUCIA
Addio!
Ami alfine? E chi non ama?
Lyrics
Ami alfine? E chi non ama?
Ama l'aura, l'onda, il fiore.
Se di te trionfa Amore
Non ti devi vergognar.
Agli affanni suoi segreti
Son soggetti anche i guerrieri,
Anche i medici e i poeti
Son costretti a sospirar.
Non è vero?
Edoardo, Corradino, Ginardo, Aliprando e Raimondo
Anzi è verissimo.
Isidoro
Ancor io dovetti amar,
E sette anni singhiozzar,
E fu cosa da crepar.
Coro ed Egoldo
Dunque al castel talora
Verrem da voi, signora,
E niun ci scaccierà?
Eguale avete l'anima
Del volto alla beltà.
Matilde
Tace la tromba altera,
Spira tranquillità.
Amor la sua bandiera
Intorno spiegherà.
Femmine mie, guardate:
L'ho fatto delirar.
Femmine, siamo nate
Per vincere e regnar.
IL Coro e gli Altri
Le femmine son nate
Per vincere e regnar.
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, was a leading composer of the bel canto opera style during the first half of the nineteenth century.
Born in Bergamo in Lombardy, was taken, at an early age, under the wing of composer Simon Mayr who had enrolled him by means of a full scholarship. Mayr was also instrumental in obtaining a place for the young man at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy Il Pigmalione.
Over the course of his career, Donizetti wrote almost 70 operas. An offer in 1822 from Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, which followed the composer's ninth opera, led to his move to that city and his residency there which lasted until the production of Caterina Cornaro in January 1844. In all, Naples presented 51 of Donizetti's operas.
Before 1830, success came primarily with his comic operas, the serious ones failing to attract significant audiences. However, his first notable success came with an opera seria, Zoraida di Granata, which was presented in 1822 in Rome. In 1830, when Anna Bolena was premiered, Donizetti made a major impact on the Italian and international opera scene and this shifted the balance of success away from primarily comedic operas, although even after that date, his best-known works included comedies such as L'elisir d'amore (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843). Significant historical dramas did appear and became successful; they included Lucia di Lammermoor (the first to have a libretto written by Salvatore Cammarano) given in Naples in 1835, and one of the most successful Neapolitan operas, Roberto Devereux in 1837. Up to that point, all of his operas had been set to Italian libretti.
Donizetti found himself increasingly chafing against the censorial limitations which existed in Italy (and especially in Naples). From about 1836, he became interested in working in Paris, where he saw much greater freedom to choose subject matter, in addition to receiving larger fees and greater prestige. From 1838 onward, with an offer from the Paris Opéra for two new works, he spent a considerable period of the following ten years in that city, and set several operas to French texts as well as overseeing staging of his Italian works. The first opera was a French version of the then-unperformed Poliuto which, in April 1840, was revised to become Les martyrs. Two new operas were also given in Paris at that time.
As the 1840s progressed, Donizetti moved regularly between Naples, Rome, Paris, and Vienna continuing to compose and stage his own operas as well as those of other composers. But from around 1843, severe illness began to take hold and to limit his activities. Eventually, by early 1846 he was obliged to be confined to an institution for the mentally ill and, by late 1847, friends had him moved back to Bergamo, where he died in April 1848.
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was an Italian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Giuseppe Verdi "praised the broad curves of Bellini's melody: 'there are extremely long melodies as no-one else had ever made before' "
A large amount of what is known about Bellini's life and his activities comes from surviving letters—except for a short period—which were written over his lifetime to his friend Francesco Florimo, whom he had met as a fellow student in Naples and with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. Other sources of information come from correspondence saved by other friends and business acquaintances.
Bellini was the quintessential composer of the Italian bel canto era of the early 19th century, and his work has been summed up by the London critic Tim Ashley as:
... also hugely influential, as much admired by other composers as he was by the public. Verdi raved about his "long, long, long melodies ..." Wagner, who rarely liked anyone but himself, was spellbound by Bellini's almost uncanny ability to match music with text and psychology. Liszt and Chopin professed themselves fans. Of the 19th-century giants, only Berlioz demurred. Those musicologists who consider Bellini to be merely a melancholic tunesmith are now in the minority.
In considering which of his operas can be seen to be his greatest successes over the almost two hundred years since his death, Il pirata laid much of the groundwork in 1827, achieving very early recognition in comparison to Donizetti's having written thirty operas before his major 1830 triumph with Anna Bolena. Both I Capuleti ed i Montecchi at La Fenice in 1830 and La sonnambula in Milan in 1831 reached new triumphal heights, although initially Norma, given at La Scala in 1831 did not fare as well until later performances elsewhere. "The genuine triumph" of I puritani in January 1835 in Paris capped a significant career. Certainly, Capuleti, La sonnambula, Norma, and I puritani are regularly performed today.
After his initial success in Naples, most of the rest of his short life was spent outside of both Sicily and Naples, those years being followed with his living and composing in Milan and Northern Italy, and—after a visit to London—then came his final masterpiece in Paris, I puritani. Only nine months later, Bellini died in Puteaux, France at the age of 33.
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces.
His best-known operas include the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola (Cinderella), and the French-language epics Moïse et Pharaon and Guillaume Tell (William Tell). A tendency for inspired, song-like melodies is evident throughout his scores, which led to the nickname "The Italian Mozart".
Until his retirement in 1829, Rossini had been the most popular opera composer in history. He is quoted as joking, "Give me the laundress' bill and I will even set that to music."
Jules Massenet
"Massenet" redirects here. For the fashion entrepreneur, see Natalie Massenet.
Middle-aged man, receding hair, moustached, looking at camera
Massenet photographed by Eugène Pirou, 1895
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (French: [?yl emil f?ede?ik masn?]; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are Manon (1884) and Werther (1892). He also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music.
While still a schoolboy, Massenet was admitted to France's principal music college, the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied under Ambroise Thomas, whom he greatly admired. After winning the country's top musical prize, the Prix de Rome, in 1863, he composed prolifically in many genres, but quickly became best known for his operas. Between 1867 and his death forty-five years later he wrote more than forty stage works in a wide variety of styles, from opéra-comique to grand-scale depictions of classical myths, romantic comedies, lyric dramas, as well as oratorios, cantatas and ballets. Massenet had a good sense of the theatre and of what would succeed with the Parisian public. Despite some miscalculations, he produced a series of successes that made him the leading composer of opera in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Like many prominent French composers of the period, Massenet became a professor at the Conservatoire. He taught composition there from 1878 until 1896, when he resigned after the death of the director, Ambroise Thomas. Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Pierné.
By the time of his death, Massenet was regarded by many critics as old-fashioned and unadventurous although his two best-known operas remained popular in France and abroad. After a few decades of neglect, his works began to be favourably reassessed during the mid-20th century, and many of them have since been staged and recorded. Although critics do not rank him among the handful of outstanding operatic geniuses such as Mozart, Verdi and Wagner, his operas are now widely accepted as well-crafted and intelligent products of the Belle Époque.