tenor arias - Chandos Records

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Janez Lotric, Tenor
Yaroslava Poberezhna*, Soprano
Ruslan Tansky†, Tenor
Ukrainian National Opera Symphony Orchestra • Johannes Wildner
Kyiv Chamber Choir • Mykola Hobdych, Chorus master & Artistic Director
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Amore, sublime amore
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901): La Forza del destino (St Petersburg Version, 1862): Act III:
Recitative ed aria: Qual sangue sparsi (Alvaro)
4:44
Il Trovatore • Otello • Der Rosenkavalier • Turandot
VERDI: Il Trovatore: Act III:
Scena, aria, stretta: Di qual tetra luce… Ah sì, ben mio (Leonora*, Manrico, Ruiz†)
8:31
Janez Lotric, Tenor
VERDI: Otello: Act III, Scene 2:
Datemi ancor l’eburnea mano (Otello)
5:21
Ukrainian National Opera Symphony Orchestra • Johannes Wildner
VERDI: Otello: Act IV:
Othello’s Death: Niun mi tema (Otello)
6:04
VERDI: Un ballo in maschera:
Finale Terzo: Scena e Romanza: Forse la soglia attinse (Riccardo)
5:26
Mikhail Ivanovich GLINKA (1804-1857): Ivan Susanin (A Life for the Tsar): Act IV:
Bratsï! V metel’, v nevedomoy glushi (Brothers! Into the snowstorm!) (Sobinin)
5:49
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949): Der Rosenkavalier:
Aria of the Italian Singer: Di rigori armato il seno
2:16
Gioacchino ROSSINI (1792-1868): Guglielmo Tell: Act IV:
Preludio, Scena ed Aria: Ah, non mi lasciar, o speme di vendetta (Arnoldo)
13:17
Adolphe ADAM (1803-1856): Le postillon de Lonjumeau:
Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire (Chapelou)
4:27
Umberto GIORDANO (1867-1948): Andrea Chenier: Act IV:
Come un bel dì di maggio (Chenier)
3:03
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924): Turandot: Act III:
Nessun dorma (Calaf)
3:1 0
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TENOR ARIAS
DDD
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Tenor Opera Arias
Verdi • Glinka • R. Strauss • Rossini • Adam • Giordano • Puccini
It was at the initial request of the tenor Enrico
Tamberlick, the first Alvaro, that Giuseppe Verdi was
persuaded to return to work to write his opera La forza
del destino for the Russian Imperial Theatre. This was
given its first performance in St Petersburg in
November 1862, but is now generally heard in a revised
version that was first staged at La Scala, Milan, in 1869.
The plot, later modified, is one of some complexity,
derived from a play by the Duke of Rivas. Don Alvaro
is in love with Leonora, but accidentally kills her father,
leading to a long search for revenge by her brother, Don
Carlo. Leonora, believing her lover dead, retires to a
hermitage, and Don Alvaro to a neighbouring
monastery, the revelation of their final meeting
coinciding with the appearance of Don Carlo, his death
at the hands of a reluctant Don Alvaro and his final
murder of Leonora, as he dies. The Act III recitative and
aria, Qual sangue sparsi, from the first version of the
opera, is heard after Don Alvaro, on campaign with Don
Carlo, where the two have hitherto failed to recognise
each other, engages in a duel with the latter, apparently
killing him, an outcome that he can only bitterly regret.
The libretto of Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore was also
derived from a Spanish play, the work of Antonio
García Gutiérrez. It was first staged in Rome in January
1853. The plot again concerns love and revenge.
Manrico, the troubadour of the title, supposed son of the
gypsy Azucena and in the service of Count Urgel, is in
love with Leonora, who is also loved by the young
Count Di Luna, a supporter of the Prince of Aragon.
Their rivalry ends in the defeat and capture of Manrico
by the Count. Leonora offers herself to the Count in
return for Manrico’s life, taking poison, in order to
outwit him. In the event she dies and Manrico is put to
death, leaving Azucena, from her prison, to reveal that
Manrico was in fact the Count’s brother. In the third act
Manrico is in possession of the fortress of Castellor,
where he plans to marry Leonora, although the place is
likely to be attacked by the Count Di Luna. Something
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of this threat is inherent in Leonora’s ominous Di qual
tetra luce, a light that is actually and figuratively
gloomy. Manrico assures her that if he must die, he will
die with her name on his lips.
A period of six years followed Verdi’s Egyptian
opera, Aida, and it was only then that he turned his
attention again to Shakespeare in Otello, first staged at
La Scala in February 1887. By Act III Iago has
succeeded in arousing Othello’s jealousy. In Datemi
ancor l’eburnea mano, Othello takes Desdemona’s
hand, anxious to find out whether Iago’s story of the
handkerchief that he had given her is true. His jealousy
can only increase and in Act IV he murders his wife in
her bed-chamber, only to learn that his suspicions of her
were groundless. When all is revealed, it is only left for
him to die by his own hand, sealing his love of his dead
wife with a kiss.
Set originally in Sweden and dealing with the
murder of Gustav III, Un ballo in maschera, first
performed in Rome in February 1859, was transferred,
thanks to the censors, to America. There Riccardo,
Governor of Boston, falls in love with Amelia, the wife
of his mulatto secretary, Renato, who kills him, in spite
of their friendship and his earlier unswerving loyalty
and unwillingness to conspire against him. The third
Finale opens in Riccardo’s study, where he drafts an
order for Renato, with Amelia, to return to England, a
paper that, ironically, he will show to Renato only after
the latter has stabbed him during the masked ball with
which the opera reaches a final climax.
Mikhail Glinka’s heroic tragedy A Life for the Tsar
was the first nationalist Russian opera, staged in St
Petersburg in 1836. Set in Russia and Poland in 1613, it
centres on the heroic exploits of Ivan Susanin in the
aftermath of the defeat of Boris Godunov by the socalled false Dmitry, with Polish support. The peasant
Susanin succeeds in diverting the Polish forces, who are
in pursuit of the newly elected Tsar, Mikhail Romanov,
leading them astray until the young Tsar has been able
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Mia strofe sia finita,
M’annuncerà il carnefice
La fine della vita.
Sia! Strofe, ultima Dea!
Ancor dona al tuo poeta
La sfolgorante idea,
La fiamma consueta;
Io, a te, mentre tu vivida
A me sgorghi dal cuore,
Darò per rima il gelido
Spiro d’un uom che muore.
Verse is finished
The executioner will declare
The end of my life.
Let it be! Verse, final Goddess!
Grant again to your poet
The brilliant idea,
The desired flame;
And as this vivid inspiration
pours from my heart,
I shall give forth in my rhyme the cold
Breath of a man who dies.
TURANDOT (Atto III)
TURANDOT (Act III)
! Nessun Dorma
CALAF
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza guardi le stelle
che tremano d’amore e di speranza...
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,
quando la luce splenderà…
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà
il silenzio che ti fa mia.
CALAF
Let none sleep! Let none sleep!
Yet you, O Princess,
In your cold room, look on the stars
That tremble with love and with hope.
But my secret I hold close,
None shall know my name!
No, no, on your mouth shall I pronounce it,
When the light shines …
And my kiss shall unloose
The silence that makes you mine.
CORO DI DONNE
Il nome suo nessun saprà…
E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!
CHORUS OF WOMEN
His name none shall know …
And we must, alas, die, die!
CALAF
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle!
All’alba vincerò! Vincerò!
CALAF
Vanish, O night! Set, stars!
At dawn I shall conquer! I shall conquer!
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Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
LE CHŒUR
Oh! qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHORUS
Oh, how handsome he was, how handsome, how
handsome,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
CHAPELOU
Mais pour conduire un équipage,
Voilà qu’un soir il est parti.
Depuis ce temps, dans le village,
On m’entend plus parler de lui.
Mais ne déplorez pas sa perte,
Car de l’hymen suivant la loi,
La reine d’une île déserte
De ses sujet l’a nommé roi.
Oh! oh! oh! qu’il était beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHAPELOU
But to drive a coach,
Now one evening he set out.
Since that time, in the village,
No-one has heard tell of him.
But do not mourn his loss,
For following the law of marriage
The queen of a desert island
Made him king of her subjects.
Oh, oh, oh! How handsome he was,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
LE CHŒUR
Oh! qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHORUS
Oh, how handsome he was, how handsome, how
handsome,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
ANDREA CHÉNIER (Atto IV)
ANDRÉ CHÉNIER (Act IV)
to escape. In the fourth act Sobinin, who is to marry
Susanin’s daughter, leads a band of peasants in the
forest at night, and encourages them in Brothers, into
the snow-storm. Susanin is finally successful in his
protection of the Tsar, but is killed for it, his heroism to
be remembered by the Tsar and by future generations.
The nostalgic Der Rosenkavalier by Richard
Strauss is set in the first years of the Empress Maria
Theresia. The opera was first performed in Dresden in
1911. The plot centres on the Feldmarschallin, her love
for the young Octavian, later the knight of the rose of
the title, and the sacrifice she makes when she allows
and encourages Octavian’s love for Sophie, daughter of
a rich parvenu, on whose money the Feldmarschallin’s
uncouth cousin, Baron Ochs, has set his heart. At her
levée the Princess is attended by a number of people,
including an Italian singer, whose song of love, Di
rigori armato il seno has a charm of its own and some
relevance to the plot.
Gioachino Rossini’s last opera was Guillaume Tell,
written for Paris, where he had settled, and also familiar
in an Italian version. It was first performed at the Paris
Opéra in August 1829. The action is set in thirteenthcentury Switzerland, where the young Swiss patriot
Arnold, in love with the Austrian noblewoman Matilde,
seeks revenge for the death of his father through a rising
against Austrian domination of his country. In Act IV
Arnold, standing outside his father’s house, laments his
father’s fate and realises that, with William Tell
captured by the enemy, it is he who must lead the
conspirators.
Adolphe Adam’s opera Le postillon de Lonjumeau
had its first performance at the Paris Opéra-Comique in
0 Come un bel dì di maggio
CHÉNIER
Come un bel dì di maggio
Che con bacio di vento
E carezza di raggio
Si spegne in firmamento,
Col bacio io d’una rima,
Carezza di poesia,
Salgo l’estrema cima
Dell’esistenza mia.
La sfera che cammina
Per ogni umana sorte
Ecco già mi avvicina
All’ora della morte,
E forse pria che l’ultima
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CHÉNIER
Like a fair day in May
That with the wind’s kiss
And the sun’s caress
Fades in the sky,
With the kiss of a verse,
The caress of poetry,
I rise to the last summit
Of my existence.
The sphere that travels
Through every human fate
Lo already draws me near
To the hour of death,
And perhaps before the last
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October 1836. The unlikely story deals with the rise of
the coachman, Chapelou, to the position of principal
tenor at the Paris Opéra, after the Marquis de Corcy,
director of the Opéra, has overheard his remarkable
song about the postilion of Lonjumeau, Mes amis,
écoutez l’histoire, with its top Ds in imitation of the
post-horn. Chapelou deserts his new wife, Madeleine,
on their wedding night to embark on his new career,
leading her to take her revenge ten years later, when she
inherits money and appears under a very different guise
in Paris.
Set in revolutionary Paris, Umberto Giordano’s
Andrea Chenier, first given at La Scala in March 1896,
centres on the poet of the title, his association before the
Revolution with the noble family of Madeleine de
Coigny and their love during the Terror, to which
Chénier falls victim through the actions of his rival in
love, Gérard, a former family servant. He sings his new
poem, Come un bel dì di maggio, in prison, as he awaits
execution.
Giacomo Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, unfinished
at the time of his death in 1924, had its first performance
at La Scala in 1926. The Chinese princess of the title
poses riddles to her suitors, who suffer death when they
fail to solve them. Calaf, son of the exiled King of
Tartary, answers Turandot’s riddles, but then offers to
stake his life on the discovery of his name. It is
proclaimed that none shall sleep, until the stranger’s
name be found, and in Nessun dorma Calaf expresses
his confidence in victory over the icy-hearted princess,
an outcome finally achieved.
Keith Anderson
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Janez Lotric̆
Born in Slovenia, Janez Lotric̆ studied at the music academy in Ljubljana, making his opera début at the Maribor
opera house as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. While growing into the dramatic tenor repertoire, Janez
Lotric̆ always kept his splendid easy top range. He has appeared at all the leading opera houses of Europe, including
the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Milan, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra-Bastille in Paris, Royal Opera of Covent
Garden and the opera houses of Madrid, Rome, Hamburg and Zurich. His huge stage repertoire includes rôles such
as Tonio in La fille du régiment, Calaf, Cavaradossi, Canio, Turiddu, Manrico, Arrigo in I vespri siciliani, Don
Alvaro, Radames, Don José, Hoffmann, Arnoldo in Guillaume Tell, Bacchus, Florestan, and Alfred in Die
Fledermaus.
Kiev Municipal Chamber Choir
Renderem di chi vili ne brama.
Gloria, onore, vendetta ci chiama,
E Guglielmo non morrà.
Of those that thought us cowards.
Glory, honour, revenge call us on,
And William shall not die.
CORO
Sì, vendetta, delusa la speme
D’ogni tristo per noi resterà.
CHORUS
Yes, revenge, their hopes
shall be thwarted.
ARNOLDO
All’armi!
ARNOLDO
To arms!
LE POSTILLON DE LONJUMEAU (Acte I)
THE POSTILION OF LONJUMEAU (Act I)
9 Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire
The Kiev Municipal Chamber Choir was founded in December 1990, with members that include professional
singers, and graduates of conservatories and musical institutes throughout Ukraine. The Musical Director, Mykola
Hobdych, studied at the Kiev Tchaikovsky Conservatory. The national and international repertoire of the choir
ranges from the medieval to the contemporary, and critically acclaimed performances have been given in major
concert halls in the United States and throughout Europe.
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CHAPELOU
Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire
D’un jeune et galant postillon.
C’est véridique, on peut m’en croire,
Et connu de tout le canton.
Quand il passait dans un village,
tout le beau sexe était ravi,
Et le cœur de la plus sauvage
Galopait en croupe avec lui.
Oh! oh! oh! qu’il était beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHAPELOU
My friends, hear the story
Of a gallant young postilion.
It is true, believe me,
And known through the whole district.
When he went through a village,
All the fair sex was enthralled,
And the heart of the wildest
Galloped with him.
Oh, oh, oh! How handsome he was,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
LE CHŒUR
Oh! qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau,
qu’il est beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHORUS
Oh, how handsome he was, how handsome,
how handsome,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
CHAPELOU
Mainte dame de haut parage,
En l’absence de son mari,
Parfois se mettait en voyage
Pour être conduire par lui,
Aux procédés toujour fidèle,
On savait qu’adroit postillon,
S’il versait parfois une belle,
Ce n’était que sur le gazon!
Oh! oh! oh! qu’il était beau,
CHAPELOU
Many a lady of high lineage,
With their husbands away,
Sometimes set out on journeys,
In order to be driven by him.
Always loyal to his trade,
It was known that the clever postilion,
If he overturned sometimes a fair girl,
It was only on the grass!
Oh, oh, oh! How handsome he was,
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ARNOLDO
Oh mia speranza!
D’allarme io sento i voti!
Son essi i miei più fidi;
Chi mai li guida a me?
ARNOLDO
Oh, my hope!
I hear the call to arms!
Here are my most loyal people;
But who led them to me?
CORO DI SVIZZERI
Guglielmo è prigioniero
E ognun di ferro è privo.
Di farlo salvo
È in noi desir.
Armi vogliamo,
Per lui morir.
CHORUS OF SWISS CONSPIRATORS
William is a prisoner
And each of us is without weapons.
To save him
Is our desire.
We want weapons,
to die for him.
ARNOLDO
Da gran tempo Guglielmo è mio padre
Questa speme nutrivano intera.
Dove sta la deserta riviera
Lancie e spade nascose vi son.
ARNOLDO
For long William and my father
Fostered this inner hope.
On the deserted shore
Are hidden lances and swords.
CORO
Ad armarci, su, corriam,
Ad armarci, su, voliam.
CHORUS
To arms, let us hasten!
Let us take up arms!
ARNOLDO
Dal pianto omai si resti;
L’ira al pensier si desti
Di mia fatalità.
Su chi mio padre ha spento,
E del mio ben mi priva,
La morte scenderà.
ARNOLDO
The time for tears is gone;
Let anger waken at the thought
Of my great loss.
On the one who killed my father
And deprived me of my love
Death will fall.
CORO
Non temere, no, t’affida,
Già sul reo la morte sta.
CHORUS
Do not fear, no, trust us,
Already death falls on the guilty man.
ARNOLDO
Corriam, voliam, s’affretti
Lo scempio di quel vile
Che su noi trionfò.
Sì, vendetta dell’empio facciamo:
Il sentiero additarvi saprò.
Ah! venite; delusa la speme
ARNOLDO
Let us hurry, let us hasten, quickly
Bring the slaughter of that base man
Who triumphed over us.
Yes, let us take revenge on the villain:
I can show you the way.
Ah! Come, false shall we make the hopes
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National Opera Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
The National Opera Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine was established in 1834 as the Symphony Orchestra of the
Kiev City Theatre and has a long history and deep cultural traditions. Tchaikovsky visited Kiev specially for the
performances of his operas The Oprichnik, Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, and in 1891 he also
conducted a concert of his own works. The orchestra was also conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov,
Glazunov and Gliere, while there was collaboration with well-known musicians such as Shalyapin, David
Oistrakh, and Emil Gilels. During the 1960s the orchestra took part in a performance of the opera Katerina
Ismailova under the composer Dmitry Shostakovich, who described the performance as one of the best ever. From
1967 to 1973 and 1977 to 1988, the orchestra was headed by the famous Ukrainian conductor Stephan Turchak,
who was responsible for some of the great successes of those years. Since Ukrainian independence in 1991, the
orchestra has reached a new peak of artistic development under Volodymyr Kozhukhar, a pupil of Rozhdestvensky
in Moscow and Artistic Director of Moscow City Opera from 1977 to 1988. As chief conductor of the National
Opera Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, he has appeared with distinction in performances of opera, ballet and the
symphonic repertoire throughout Europe and as far afield as Japan.
Johannes Wildner
Born in Austria, Johannes Wildner studied conducting, violin and musicology. In 1994-95 he served as Chief
Conductor of Prague State Opera, and from 1996 to 1998 was First Permanent Conductor of Leipzig Opera. Since
1997 he has been Generalmusikdirektor of the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia. He has appeared as a
guest conductor of major opera houses, festivals and orchestras, including the opera houses of Graz and Leipzig, the
opera festival Mozart in Schönbrunn in Vienna, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the St Petersburg
Philharmonic, the MDR-Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the Vienna Radio Symphony, the Bruckner Orchestra
in Linz, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the New Zealand Symphony, the Taipei National Symphony and the
China Philharmonic Orchestra. Johannes Wildner has recorded more than forty CDs and videos, including
complete versions of Die Fledermaus and Così fan tutte, as well as Bruckner’s Third and Ninth Symphonies with
the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia for Naxos.
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Tenor-Opernarien
DER ROSENKAVALIER (Atto I)
Verdi • Glinka • R. Strauss • Rossini • Adam • Giordano • Puccini
Die Anregung zu La forza del destino (Die Macht des
Schicksals) kam aus St. Petersburg von dem Tenor
Enrico Tamberlick (dem ersten Alvaro), der dem
Direktor der Kaiserlich-Russischen Oper vorgeschlagen
hatte, bei Verdi eine italienische Oper in Auftrag zu
geben. Die Uraufführung fand im November 1862 statt;
heute wird gewöhnlich die revidierte Fassung gespielt,
die 1869 an der Mailänder Scala über die Bühne ging.
Die verworrene Handlung hat ihren Ursprung in einem
Schauspiel des spanischen Autors Angelo Perez de
Saavedra. Alvaro liebt Leonora und will mit ihr fliehen,
tötet aber durch einen verhängnisvollen Zufall ihren
Vater und wird in einem jahrelangen Rachefeldzug von
ihrem Bruder Don Carlo verfolgt. Leonora glaubt ihren
Liebhaber tot und geht ins Kloster; sie findet Zuflucht in
den Bergen, wo sie verkleidet als Mönch unerkannt in
einer einsamen Klause ihr Leben fristet. Auch Alvaro
sucht nach Jahren der Flucht in derselben Gegend als
Mönch seinen Seelenfrieden. Dort entdeckt ihn Don
Carlo und fordert ihn in den Bergen zum Duell. Alvaro
verwundet ihn tödlich. In dem herbeigerufenen
Geistlichen erkennt der sterbende Don Carlo seine
Schwester und tötet sie. Qual sangue sparsi, Alvaros
Rezitativ und Arie aus dem dritten Akt der ersten
Fassung, erklingt, nachdem Alvaro sich nach einer Zeit
der Soldatenfreundschaft mit Don Carlo, in der sie ihre
Identität voreinander verborgen halten, auf ein Duell
mit seinem Todfeind einlässt, dessen Ausgang er bitter
bereuen wird.
Das Libretto von Verdis Il Trovatore (Der
Troubadour) geht ebenfalls auf ein spanisches
Schauspiel zurück, dessen Autor Antonio García
Gutiérrez war. Die Uraufführung der Oper fand im
Januar 1853 in Rom statt. Auch hier stehen Liebe und
Rache im Zentrum der Handlung. Der Troubadour
Manrico, der vermeintliche Sohn der Zigeunerin
Azucena, liebt Leonora, die jedoch auch von dem
jungen Grafen Luna verehrt wird. Die Rivalität der
beiden Männer endet mit der Gefangennahme Manricos
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durch Luna. Leonora bietet sich dem Grafen, um
Manrico zu retten, nimmt aber heimlich Gift, um Lunas
Absichten auf sie durch ihren Tod zu vereiteln. Der
Graf lässt Manrico zum Scheiterhaufen führen und
Azucena Zeugin seines Todes werden. Als Manrico von
den Flammen erfasst wird, schreit die Zigeunerin Luna
ins Gesicht, dass Manrico sein Bruder war. Im dritten
Akt hat der Troubadour die Festung Castellor
eingenommen, wo er Leonora heiraten will, obwohl der
Ort von Lunas Soldaten beschattet wird. Ein Gefühl der
Angst spricht aus Leonoras Di qual tetra luce. Manrico
verspricht ihr, nur mit ihrem Namen auf seinen Lippen
sterben zu wollen.
Nahezu zehn Jahre waren nach seiner ägyptischen
Oper Aida vergangen, bevor sich Verdi mit Otello (nach
Shakespeares gleichnamiger Tragödie) erneut einem
Opernstoff zuwandte. Die Vorarbeiten begannen 1881,
und 1887 fand schließlich die Uraufführung an der
Mailänder Scala statt. Im dritten Akt der Oper hat Jago
sein Ziel fast erreicht, Othello von der Untreue
Desdemonas zu überzeugen. In Datemi anco l’eburna
mano ergreift Othello ihre Hand; er will wissen, ob
Jagos Geschichte von ihrem angeblich bei Cassio
gefundenen Taschentuch, einem Geschenk Othellos,
wahr ist. Immer stärker verfällt der Mohr seiner
Eifersucht, bis er im vierten Akt Desdemona in ihrem
Schlafgemach erwürgt – nur um zu erfahren, dass sein
Verdacht unbegründet war. Es bleibt ihm nur, seine
Liebe zu ihr mit einem letzten Kuss zu besiegeln und
sich selbst den Tod zu geben.
Die Handlung von Verdis ursprünglich in
Schweden angesiedelter Oper vom Attentat auf König
Gustav III., Un ballo in maschera (Ein Maskenball),
wurde auf Einspruch der Zensur ins ferne Nordamerika
verlegt. Dort verliebt sich Riccardo, der Gouverneur
von Boston, in Amelia, die Gattin seines Sekretärs
Renato. Trotz der Freundschaft der beiden verbündet
sich Renato mit einer Verschwörergruppe und ermordet
Riccardo auf einem Maskenball. Das zweite Bild des
6
THE KNIGHT OF THE ROSE (Act I)
7 Aria of the Italian singer:
Di rigori armato il seno
EIN SÄNGER
Di rigori armato il seno
Contro amor mi ribellai
Ma fui vinto in un baleno
In mirar due vaghi rai.
Ahi! che resiste poco
A stral di fuoco cor di gelo.
SINGER
My bosom strongly armed
Against love I rebelled
But was conquered in a flash
Looking at your lovely eyes.
Ah! How little can resist
A heart of ice against an arrow of fire.
GUGLIELMO TELL (Atto IV)
WILLIAM TELL (Act IV)
8 Preludio, scena ed aria:
Ah, non mi lasciare, o speme di vendetta
ARNOLDO
Non mi lasciare, o speme di vendetta.
Guglielmo è fra catene, ed impaziente
Io di pugnar ora l’istante affretto.
In questo dolce asilo... qual silenzio!
Andiamo... io non ascolto
Che il suono de’ miei passi... Oh! vada in bando
Il segreto terror... entriam...
Oh Dio!
Sul limitar malgrado mio m’arresto...
Fu spento il padre mio e in vita io resto!
ARNOLDO
Do not abandon me, O hope of revenge.
William is in chains, and impatiently
I await the moment of battle.
In this sweet refuge … what silence!
Let us go … I hear nothing
But the sound of my own footsteps … Oh, away
Secret fear … Let me enter …
O God!
On the threshold I stop, in spite of myself …
My father was killed and I am still alive!
O muto asil del pianto
Dov’io sortiva il dì:
Ieri felice... ahi, quanto!
Oggi fatal così!
Invano il padre io chiamo:
Egli non m’ode più.
Fuggir quel tetto io bramo
Che caro un dì mi fu.
O unspeaking refuge of tears,
Where I first saw the light of day:
Yesterday happy .. alas, how happy!
Today so ill-fated!
In vain I call on my father:
He no longer hears me.
I would fly from this house
That once was dear to me.
VOCI DI DENTRO
Vendetta!
VOICES WITHIN
Revenge!
15
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Shto nam metel’, lesnaya glubina,
besput’ye, trud, i khlad nochnoy?
Nye unïvaytye, bratsï!
Nye ustupaytye v’yugye,
i trudnomu besput’yu.
Svoyo voz’myom.
Mï stoykost’yu russkoy
i nepreklonnïm dukhom
vsyu trudnost’ perelomim.
Ottsa naydyom!
Zhdyot nevesta krasnaya,
svetik dlya tebya,
mï naydyom ottsa, dostavim domoy.
Ot tebya ya, dorogaya,
zhdu nagradï,
i lyubovnoy laski zhdu.
Vzglyanesh’ krasnïm solnïshkom,
k pamyati sletit v’yuga,
trud i boy proglyanet lyubov’,
Bratsï, poydyom!
Dokonchim chestnïy trud
i lyakhu nye dadim nad nami smekh tvorit’!
Put’ nam vperyod, nam lyudi vmenyat’ v stïd
kol’ bez ottsa domoy pridyom.
Otets v nuzhdye velikoy,
na nas yevo nadezhda
i sled li nam ostavit’ yevo v nuzhdye?
Nayti ottsa velit nam chest’ svyataya,
i lyakha kaznit’ za smekh nad nami.
Poydyom, poydyom druz’ya!
Poydom!
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we could not reach the enemy at once.
What to us is the snowstorm,
what to us are these forest depths,
this pathless terrain, the toiling
and the chill of night?
Do not be downcast, brothers,
do not yield to the storm
and to the pathless terrain.
We shall triumph,
we shall overcome all difficulties
with our Russian fortitude
and our resolute spirit.
We shall find her father.
My fair bride is waiting,
my darling bride, for your sake
we shall find your father
and we shall bring him home.
From you, my beloved,
I await my reward,
I await a loving embrace!
Your glance will be like bright sunshine,
and the snowstorm, the toiling
and the fighting will be only a memory.
Love will come shining through.
Brothers, let’s go,
let us finish this honourable task,
and not allow the Poles to make fun of us!
Our road lies ahead,
people will make us ashamed
if we arrive home without her father.
Her father is in dire need,
his hope lies with us,
and should we abandon him
when he is in need?
Sacred honour commands us to find her father
and strike down the Poles for making fun of us.
Lets go, let’s go, my friends.
Let’s go!
dritten Akts spielt in Riccardos Arbeitszimmer. Der
Gouverneur hat den schweren Entschluss gefasst,
seinen Sekretär nach England zu versetzen;
unverzüglich soll er mit Amelia abreisen. Das
entsprechende Dokument, das Amelias Unschuld
beweist, wird er später sterbend seinem Mörder
übergeben.
Michail Glinkas 1836 in St. Petersburg
uraufgeführte heroische Tragödie Ein Leben für den
Zaren war die erste nationalrussische Oper. Die
Geschichte spielt in Russland und Polen im Jahr 1613
und handelt von den heldenhaften Taten des Bauern
Iwan Sussanin nach dem Sieg des von Polen
unterstützten sog. Falschen Dimitri über Boris
Godunow. Sussanin gelingt es, die nach dem
neugewählten Zaren Michail Romanow fahndenden
polnischen Soldaten in ein unwegsames Waldgebiet zu
führen und dort aufzuhalten, bis dem Zaren die Flucht
gelingt. Im vierten Akt führt Sobinin, der Verlobte von
Sussanins Tochter, eine Gruppe von Bauern nachts in
den Wald und macht ihnen mit seiner Arie Bratsï! V
metel’ (Brüder, in den Schneesturm!) Mut. Sussanin
gelingt zwar die Rettung des Zaren, er selbst aber wird
von den Polen getötet. Der Zar und das ganze Volk
gedenken seiner ruhmreichen Tat.
Richard Strauss’ 1911 in Dresden uraufgeführte
Komödie für Musik Der Rosenkavalier, auf einen Text
von Hugo von Hofmannsthal, spielt in den ersten Jahren
der Regierungszeit von Kaiserin Maria Theresia. Im
Mittelpunkt der Handlung steht der wehmütige Verzicht
einer alternden Feldmarschallin auf den jungen
Octavian (den späteren Rosenkavalier), dessen Liebe zu
Sophie, der Tochter eines reichen Parvenus, sie
entsagungsvoll protegiert. Mit der schwelgerischen
Arie Di rigori armato il seno macht ein italienischer
Sänger der Marschallin beim Lever im ersten Akt seine
Aufwartung.
Gioachino Rossinis letzte Oper war Guillaume Tell
(Wilhelm Tell), geschrieben für Paris, wo der
Komponist seinen Wohnsitz genommen hatte, aber
ebenso bekannt in ihrer italienischen Fassung. Die
Uraufführung fand im August 1829 an der Pariser
14
7
Opéra statt. Die Handlung spielt im dreizehnten
Jahrhundert in der Schweiz. Der junge Patriot Arnold,
der die österreichische Adlige Matilde liebt, sinnt auf
Rache für den Tod seines Vaters durch einen Aufstand
gegen die österreichische Herrschaft über sein Land. Im
vierten Akt trauert Arnold vor dem Haus seines Vaters
über dessen Schicksal. Ihm wird klar, dass er, nach der
Gefangennahme Tells durch die Feinde, die
Verschwörer anführen muss.
Adolphe Adams Oper Le postillon de Lonjumeau
erlebte ihre Uraufführung im Oktober 1836 an der
Pariser Opéra-Comique. Die unglaubliche Geschichte
handelt vom Aufstieg des Kutschers Chapelou zum
Ersten Tenor der Pariser Opéra, nachdem der Marquis
de Corcy, der Operndirektor, zufällig sein erstaunliches
(von hohen D’s gekröntes) Lied vom Postillon von
Lonjumeau, Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire, gehört hat.
Chapelou verlässt seine Frau Madeleine ausgerechnet in
der Hochzeitsnacht, um seine neue Karriere zu
beginnen. Zehn Jahre später, nachdem sie durch eine
Erbschaft zu Geld gekommen ist, kehrt Madeleine als
„Madame de Latour“ nach Paris zurück, um sich auf
ganz persönliche Weise an ihm zu rächen.
Umberto Giordanos im Paris der Revolutionszeit
spielende Oper Andrea Chénier kam im März 1896 an
der Mailänder Scala zur Uraufführung. Im Mittelpunkt
der Handlung steht der Dichter André Chénier, seine
Verbindung vor der Revolution zu der Adelsfamilie von
Madeleine de Coigny und ihre Liebe in Zeiten des
Terrors. Chénier wird vor dem Revolutionstribunal von
Charles Gérard, dem früheren Diener der Coignys, der
ebenfalls Madeleine liebt, denunziert und zum Tode
verurteilt. In Erwartung seiner Hinrichtung singt er im
Gefängnis sein neues Gedicht Come un bel dì di
maggio.
Giacomo Puccinis letzte Oper, Turandot, die er bei
seinem Tod unvollendet hinterließ, wurde 1926 an der
Mailänder Scala uraufgeführt. Die chinesische
Prinzessin Turandot rächt sich für den gewaltsamen
Tod ihrer Ahnfrau durch einen Mann an allen Freiern,
die um ihre Hand anhalten. Wer die drei Rätsel, die sie
ihnen stellt, nicht löst, stirbt unter dem Beil des
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Henkers. Noch hat keiner die Probe bestanden. Kalaf,
der unerkannt in China weilende Sohn des
Tatarenkönigs Timur, löst zum Entsetzen Turandots die
Rätsel. Er jedoch begehrt ihre freiwillig geschenkte
Liebe und will sterben, wenn es ihr gelingt, bis zum
nächsten Morgen seinen Namen ausfindig zu machen.
Turandot befiehlt, niemand dürfe in Peking schlafen,
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Page 8
bis der Name des Prinzen bekannt sei. In seiner Arie
Nessun dorma sehnt sich Kalaf den Morgen herbei, an
dem er den Widerstand der eisigen Prinzessin brechen
wird.
Keith Anderson
Pria d’ucciderti... sposa... ti baciai.
Or morendo... nell’ombra...
In cui mi giacio...
Un bacio... un bacio ancora... ah!...
un altro bacio...
Before I killed you … wife … I kissed you.
Now dying … in the darkness …
In which I lie …
A kiss … a kiss again … Ah! …
another kiss …
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA (Atto III)
A MASKED BALL (Act III)
Deutsche Fassung: Bernd Delfs
5 Scena e Romanza: Forse la soglia attinse
RICCARDO
Forse la soglia attinse,
E posa alfin. L’onore
Ed il dover fra i nostri petti han rotto
L’abisso. Ah, sì, Renato
Rivedrà la sua patria . . . e la sua sposa
Lo seguirà senza un addio, l’immenso
Mar ne separi . . . e taccia il core.
Esito ancor? ma, o ciel, non lo degg’io?
Ah, l’ho segnato il sacrifizio mio!
RICCARDO
Perhaps she has reached home
And is resting at last. Honour
And duty between our hearts has opened
An abyss. Ah, yes, Renato
Shall see his country again … and his wife
Shall follow him without a farewell, the great
Sea shall come between us .. and the heart fall silent.
Do I still hesitate? But, O heaven, I would it not.
Ah, I have signed my own sacrifice!
Ma se m’è forza perderti
Per sempre, o luce mia,
A te verrà il mio palpito
Sotto qual ciel tu sia.
Chiusa la tua memoria
Nell’intimo del cor.
Ed or qual reo presagio
Lo spirito m’assale,
Che il rivederti annunzia
Quasi un desio fatale...
Come se fosse l’ultima
Ora del nostro amor!
But if I must lose you
For ever, my light,
My beating heart will come to you
Under whatever sky you may be.
Remembrance of you enclosed
In my very heart.
And now what guilty presentiment
Assails my spirit,
That seeing you again awakes
A seemingly fatal desire …
As if it were the last
Hour of our love!
IVAN SUSANIN (Act IV)
A LIFE FOR THE TSAR (Act IV)
6 Bratsï! V metel’, v nevedomoy glushi
SOBININ
Bratsï! V metel’, v nevedomoy glushi
mï srazu nye mogli dobrat’sya do vraga!
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SOBININ
Brothers! Into the snowstorm!
In unfamiliar backwoods
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Che è la sposa d’Otello.
That is the wife of Othello.
Dio! mi potevi scagliar tutti i mali
Della miseria, della vergogna,
Far de’ miei baldi trofei trionfali
Una maceria, una menzogna...
E avrei portato la croce crudel
D’angoscie e d’onte
Con calma fronte
E rassegnato al volere del ciel.
Ma, o pianto, o duol! m’han rapito il miraggio
Dov’io, giulivo, l’anima acqueto.
Spento è quel sol,
Quel sorriso, quel raggio
Che mi fa vivo, che mi fa lieto!
Tu alfin, Clemenza, pio genio immortal
Dal roseo riso,
Copri il tuo viso
Santo coll’orrida larva infernal!
Ah! Dannazione!
Pria confessi il delitto e poscia muoia!
Confession! Confession!
La prova!
God! If you could fling at me every evil
Of misery, of shame,
Make of my bold triumphant trophies
A ruin, a lie …
I would have born the cruel cross
Of anguish and of shame
Calmly
And attribute it to the wish of heaven.
But, O weeping, O sorrow! They have taken away the
vision where I, in happiness, was joyful in my mind.
Extinguished is that sun,
That smile, that ray
That gave me life, that made me happy!
Now Mercy, good immortal spirit
Of bright laughter,
Cover your blessed face
Beneath the terrible, shadow of hell!
Ah! Damnation!
First confess your sin and then die!
Confession! Confession!
The proof!
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (Atto III)
Là? Cielo! Oh, gioia!
There? Heaven! O joy!
OTHELLO (Act IV)
OTELLO (Atto IV)
4 Morte di Otello: Niun mi tema
OTELLO
Niun mi tema
S’anco armato mi vede. Ecco la fine
Del mio camin... Oh! Gloria! Otello fu.
E tu... come sei pallida! e stanca, e muta, e bella,
Pia creatura nata sotto maligna stella.
Fredda come la casta tua vita...
E in cielo assorta.
Desdemona! Desdemona!... Ah... morta! morta!
Morta!...
Ho un’arma ancor!
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Otello’s Death
OTHELLO
Do not fear
If you see me still armed. Lo, the end
Of my journey … Oh! Glory! I was Othello.
And you … how pale you are! And weary, and silent,
and fair, Blessed creature born under an unlucky star.
Cold as you were chaste in life …
And now in heaven.
Desdemona! Desdemona! … Ah … dead! Dead!
Dead! …
I still have a weapon!
12
THE FORCE OF DESTINY (Act III)
1 Recitative and aria: Qual sangue sparsi!
ALVARO
Qual sangue sparsi! Orrore!
Il cor mi stringe ferrea man!
Io l’uccisi, e l’amava!
Qual t’attende fiero colpo, Leonora!
Un mar di sangue
Or ne divide per sempre!
Ei m’era fratel! ah! l’uccisi!
Ohimè! l’angiol di Dio con ignea spada
M’insegue, m’incalza, atterra! Ah!...
Come Caino son maledetto in terra.
Miserere di me, pietà, Signor,
Concedi il tuo perdon a tanto errore.
ALVARO
What blood have I shed! Horror!
An iron hand grips my heart!
I have killed, where I loved!
What cruel blow awaits you, Leonora!
A sea of blood
Now divides us for ever!
He was my brother! Ah! I killed him!
Alas! The angel of God with sword of fire
Pursues me, presses upon me, humiliates me! Ah! …
Like Cain I am accursed on the earth.
Have mercy on me, pity, Lord,
Grant your pardon for such a misdeed.
GRANATIERI
All’armi! Ecco i Tedeschi.
Arde la regal tenda, venite, capitan.
Vittoria, o morte.
GRENADIERS
To arms! Here come the Germans.
The royal tent is afire, come, Captain.
Victory, or death.
ALVARO
S’affronti la morte, e sia finita
Di questa mia vita la barbara sorte.
Si voli a morte.
Ah, se il destino rio mi vieta morir
A Dio consacrato io giuro morire.
Sì! Andiam, andiam!
ALVARO
Meet death, and let there be an end
To the cruel fate of this life of mine.
Let death come quickly.
Ah, if evil destiny forbids me to die,
I swear to die devoted to God.
Yes! Let us go, let us go!
IL TROVATORE (Atto III)
THE TROUBADOUR (Act III)
2 Scena, aria, stretta:
Di qual tetra luce…Ah sì, ben mio
LEONORA
Di qual tetra luce
Il nostro imen risplende!
LEONORA
How gloomy the light
That is cast on our wedding!
MANRICO
Il presagio funesto,
MANRICO
Forget the sad omen,
9
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Deh, sperdi, o cara!...
Alas, my dear one! …
LEONORA
E il posso?
LEONORA
How can I?
MANRICO
Amor... sublime amore,
In tale istante ti favelli al core.
Ah! sì, ben mio, coll’essere
Io tuo, tu mia consorte,
Avrò più l’alma intrepida,
Il braccio avrò più forte;
Ma pur se nella pagina
De’ miei destini è scritto
Ch’io resti fra le vittime
Dal ferro ostil trafitto,
Fra quegli estremi aneliti
A te il pensier verrà
E solo in ciel precederti
La morte a me parrà!
MANRICO
Let love … sublime love
At such a moment speak to your heart.
Ah! Yes, my beloved,
When you are mine, and I your spouse,
I shall be the braver,
My arm will be stronger;
But if on the page
Of my destiny it is written
That I fall among the victims,
Struck by an enemy’s sword,
With my last breath
My thoughts will turn to you
And death will only seem
As if I enter heaven before you!
RUIZ
Manrico?
RUIZ
Manrico?
MANRICO
Che?
MANRICO
What?
RUIZ
La zingara,
Vieni, tra ceppi mira...
RUIZ
The gypsy woman
Comes, in chains …
MANRICO
Oh Dio!
MANRICO
Oh God!
RUIZ
Per man de’ barbari
Accesa è già la pira...
RUIZ
Cruel hands
Have aleady lit the pyre …
MANRICO
Oh ciel! mie membra oscillano...
Nube mi copre il ciglio!
MANRICO
O heaven! My limbs tremble …
My eyes are clouding over!
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LEONORA
Tu fremi!
LEONORA
You tremble!
MANRICO
E il deggio!... Sappilo. Io son...
MANRICO
I should... You must know. I am …
LEONORA
Chi mai?
LEONORA
But who?
MANRICO
Suo figlio!...
Ah! vili!... il rio spettacolo
Quasi il respir m’invola...
Raduna i nostri, affrettati...
Ruiz... va... torna... vola...
MANRICO
Her son! …
Ah! Cowards! … The evil sight
Almost takes my breath away …
Assemble our men, in haste …
Ruiz … go … back again … hurry …
Di quella pira l’orrendo foco
Tutte le fibre m’arse, avvampò!...
Empi, spegnetela, o ch’io fra poco
Col sangue vostro la spegnero...
Era già figlio prima d’amarti,
Non può frenarmi il tuo martir.
Madre infelice, corro a salvarti,
O teco almeno corro a morir!
The dreaded fire of that pyre
Burns all the fibres of my body, flares up! …
Wicked men, quench the flames, or soon
I will quench the fire with your blood …
I was her son before I loved you,
Your suffering cannot hold me back.
Unhappy mother, I hasten to save you,
Or at least hasten to die with you!
LEONORA
Non reggo a colpi tanto funesti...
Oh, quanto meglio sarìa morir!
LEONORA
I cannot bear such fatal blows …
Oh, how much better it would be to die!
RUIZ E ARMATI
All’armi, all’armi! eccone presti
A pugnar teco, teco a morir.
RUIZ AND SOLDIERS
To arms, to arms! We are ready
To fight with you, to die with you.
OTELLO (Atto III)
OTHELLO (Act III)
3 Scene 2: Datemi anco l’eburnea
OTELLO
Datemi ancor l’eburnea mano
Vo’ fare ammenda. Vi credea
(perdonate se il mio pensiero è fello)
Quella vil cortigana
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11
OTHELLO
Give me your hand again, white as ivory,
I shall make amends. I thought you
(Forgive me if my thought is shocking)
That base courtesan
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Deh, sperdi, o cara!...
Alas, my dear one! …
LEONORA
E il posso?
LEONORA
How can I?
MANRICO
Amor... sublime amore,
In tale istante ti favelli al core.
Ah! sì, ben mio, coll’essere
Io tuo, tu mia consorte,
Avrò più l’alma intrepida,
Il braccio avrò più forte;
Ma pur se nella pagina
De’ miei destini è scritto
Ch’io resti fra le vittime
Dal ferro ostil trafitto,
Fra quegli estremi aneliti
A te il pensier verrà
E solo in ciel precederti
La morte a me parrà!
MANRICO
Let love … sublime love
At such a moment speak to your heart.
Ah! Yes, my beloved,
When you are mine, and I your spouse,
I shall be the braver,
My arm will be stronger;
But if on the page
Of my destiny it is written
That I fall among the victims,
Struck by an enemy’s sword,
With my last breath
My thoughts will turn to you
And death will only seem
As if I enter heaven before you!
RUIZ
Manrico?
RUIZ
Manrico?
MANRICO
Che?
MANRICO
What?
RUIZ
La zingara,
Vieni, tra ceppi mira...
RUIZ
The gypsy woman
Comes, in chains …
MANRICO
Oh Dio!
MANRICO
Oh God!
RUIZ
Per man de’ barbari
Accesa è già la pira...
RUIZ
Cruel hands
Have aleady lit the pyre …
MANRICO
Oh ciel! mie membra oscillano...
Nube mi copre il ciglio!
MANRICO
O heaven! My limbs tremble …
My eyes are clouding over!
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LEONORA
Tu fremi!
LEONORA
You tremble!
MANRICO
E il deggio!... Sappilo. Io son...
MANRICO
I should... You must know. I am …
LEONORA
Chi mai?
LEONORA
But who?
MANRICO
Suo figlio!...
Ah! vili!... il rio spettacolo
Quasi il respir m’invola...
Raduna i nostri, affrettati...
Ruiz... va... torna... vola...
MANRICO
Her son! …
Ah! Cowards! … The evil sight
Almost takes my breath away …
Assemble our men, in haste …
Ruiz … go … back again … hurry …
Di quella pira l’orrendo foco
Tutte le fibre m’arse, avvampò!...
Empi, spegnetela, o ch’io fra poco
Col sangue vostro la spegnero...
Era già figlio prima d’amarti,
Non può frenarmi il tuo martir.
Madre infelice, corro a salvarti,
O teco almeno corro a morir!
The dreaded fire of that pyre
Burns all the fibres of my body, flares up! …
Wicked men, quench the flames, or soon
I will quench the fire with your blood …
I was her son before I loved you,
Your suffering cannot hold me back.
Unhappy mother, I hasten to save you,
Or at least hasten to die with you!
LEONORA
Non reggo a colpi tanto funesti...
Oh, quanto meglio sarìa morir!
LEONORA
I cannot bear such fatal blows …
Oh, how much better it would be to die!
RUIZ E ARMATI
All’armi, all’armi! eccone presti
A pugnar teco, teco a morir.
RUIZ AND SOLDIERS
To arms, to arms! We are ready
To fight with you, to die with you.
OTELLO (Atto III)
OTHELLO (Act III)
3 Scene 2: Datemi anco l’eburnea
OTELLO
Datemi ancor l’eburnea mano
Vo’ fare ammenda. Vi credea
(perdonate se il mio pensiero è fello)
Quella vil cortigana
10
11
OTHELLO
Give me your hand again, white as ivory,
I shall make amends. I thought you
(Forgive me if my thought is shocking)
That base courtesan
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Che è la sposa d’Otello.
That is the wife of Othello.
Dio! mi potevi scagliar tutti i mali
Della miseria, della vergogna,
Far de’ miei baldi trofei trionfali
Una maceria, una menzogna...
E avrei portato la croce crudel
D’angoscie e d’onte
Con calma fronte
E rassegnato al volere del ciel.
Ma, o pianto, o duol! m’han rapito il miraggio
Dov’io, giulivo, l’anima acqueto.
Spento è quel sol,
Quel sorriso, quel raggio
Che mi fa vivo, che mi fa lieto!
Tu alfin, Clemenza, pio genio immortal
Dal roseo riso,
Copri il tuo viso
Santo coll’orrida larva infernal!
Ah! Dannazione!
Pria confessi il delitto e poscia muoia!
Confession! Confession!
La prova!
God! If you could fling at me every evil
Of misery, of shame,
Make of my bold triumphant trophies
A ruin, a lie …
I would have born the cruel cross
Of anguish and of shame
Calmly
And attribute it to the wish of heaven.
But, O weeping, O sorrow! They have taken away the
vision where I, in happiness, was joyful in my mind.
Extinguished is that sun,
That smile, that ray
That gave me life, that made me happy!
Now Mercy, good immortal spirit
Of bright laughter,
Cover your blessed face
Beneath the terrible, shadow of hell!
Ah! Damnation!
First confess your sin and then die!
Confession! Confession!
The proof!
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (Atto III)
Là? Cielo! Oh, gioia!
There? Heaven! O joy!
OTHELLO (Act IV)
OTELLO (Atto IV)
4 Morte di Otello: Niun mi tema
OTELLO
Niun mi tema
S’anco armato mi vede. Ecco la fine
Del mio camin... Oh! Gloria! Otello fu.
E tu... come sei pallida! e stanca, e muta, e bella,
Pia creatura nata sotto maligna stella.
Fredda come la casta tua vita...
E in cielo assorta.
Desdemona! Desdemona!... Ah... morta! morta!
Morta!...
Ho un’arma ancor!
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Otello’s Death
OTHELLO
Do not fear
If you see me still armed. Lo, the end
Of my journey … Oh! Glory! I was Othello.
And you … how pale you are! And weary, and silent,
and fair, Blessed creature born under an unlucky star.
Cold as you were chaste in life …
And now in heaven.
Desdemona! Desdemona! … Ah … dead! Dead!
Dead! …
I still have a weapon!
12
THE FORCE OF DESTINY (Act III)
1 Recitative and aria: Qual sangue sparsi!
ALVARO
Qual sangue sparsi! Orrore!
Il cor mi stringe ferrea man!
Io l’uccisi, e l’amava!
Qual t’attende fiero colpo, Leonora!
Un mar di sangue
Or ne divide per sempre!
Ei m’era fratel! ah! l’uccisi!
Ohimè! l’angiol di Dio con ignea spada
M’insegue, m’incalza, atterra! Ah!...
Come Caino son maledetto in terra.
Miserere di me, pietà, Signor,
Concedi il tuo perdon a tanto errore.
ALVARO
What blood have I shed! Horror!
An iron hand grips my heart!
I have killed, where I loved!
What cruel blow awaits you, Leonora!
A sea of blood
Now divides us for ever!
He was my brother! Ah! I killed him!
Alas! The angel of God with sword of fire
Pursues me, presses upon me, humiliates me! Ah! …
Like Cain I am accursed on the earth.
Have mercy on me, pity, Lord,
Grant your pardon for such a misdeed.
GRANATIERI
All’armi! Ecco i Tedeschi.
Arde la regal tenda, venite, capitan.
Vittoria, o morte.
GRENADIERS
To arms! Here come the Germans.
The royal tent is afire, come, Captain.
Victory, or death.
ALVARO
S’affronti la morte, e sia finita
Di questa mia vita la barbara sorte.
Si voli a morte.
Ah, se il destino rio mi vieta morir
A Dio consacrato io giuro morire.
Sì! Andiam, andiam!
ALVARO
Meet death, and let there be an end
To the cruel fate of this life of mine.
Let death come quickly.
Ah, if evil destiny forbids me to die,
I swear to die devoted to God.
Yes! Let us go, let us go!
IL TROVATORE (Atto III)
THE TROUBADOUR (Act III)
2 Scena, aria, stretta:
Di qual tetra luce…Ah sì, ben mio
LEONORA
Di qual tetra luce
Il nostro imen risplende!
LEONORA
How gloomy the light
That is cast on our wedding!
MANRICO
Il presagio funesto,
MANRICO
Forget the sad omen,
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Henkers. Noch hat keiner die Probe bestanden. Kalaf,
der unerkannt in China weilende Sohn des
Tatarenkönigs Timur, löst zum Entsetzen Turandots die
Rätsel. Er jedoch begehrt ihre freiwillig geschenkte
Liebe und will sterben, wenn es ihr gelingt, bis zum
nächsten Morgen seinen Namen ausfindig zu machen.
Turandot befiehlt, niemand dürfe in Peking schlafen,
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Page 8
bis der Name des Prinzen bekannt sei. In seiner Arie
Nessun dorma sehnt sich Kalaf den Morgen herbei, an
dem er den Widerstand der eisigen Prinzessin brechen
wird.
Keith Anderson
Pria d’ucciderti... sposa... ti baciai.
Or morendo... nell’ombra...
In cui mi giacio...
Un bacio... un bacio ancora... ah!...
un altro bacio...
Before I killed you … wife … I kissed you.
Now dying … in the darkness …
In which I lie …
A kiss … a kiss again … Ah! …
another kiss …
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA (Atto III)
A MASKED BALL (Act III)
Deutsche Fassung: Bernd Delfs
5 Scena e Romanza: Forse la soglia attinse
RICCARDO
Forse la soglia attinse,
E posa alfin. L’onore
Ed il dover fra i nostri petti han rotto
L’abisso. Ah, sì, Renato
Rivedrà la sua patria . . . e la sua sposa
Lo seguirà senza un addio, l’immenso
Mar ne separi . . . e taccia il core.
Esito ancor? ma, o ciel, non lo degg’io?
Ah, l’ho segnato il sacrifizio mio!
RICCARDO
Perhaps she has reached home
And is resting at last. Honour
And duty between our hearts has opened
An abyss. Ah, yes, Renato
Shall see his country again … and his wife
Shall follow him without a farewell, the great
Sea shall come between us .. and the heart fall silent.
Do I still hesitate? But, O heaven, I would it not.
Ah, I have signed my own sacrifice!
Ma se m’è forza perderti
Per sempre, o luce mia,
A te verrà il mio palpito
Sotto qual ciel tu sia.
Chiusa la tua memoria
Nell’intimo del cor.
Ed or qual reo presagio
Lo spirito m’assale,
Che il rivederti annunzia
Quasi un desio fatale...
Come se fosse l’ultima
Ora del nostro amor!
But if I must lose you
For ever, my light,
My beating heart will come to you
Under whatever sky you may be.
Remembrance of you enclosed
In my very heart.
And now what guilty presentiment
Assails my spirit,
That seeing you again awakes
A seemingly fatal desire …
As if it were the last
Hour of our love!
IVAN SUSANIN (Act IV)
A LIFE FOR THE TSAR (Act IV)
6 Bratsï! V metel’, v nevedomoy glushi
SOBININ
Bratsï! V metel’, v nevedomoy glushi
mï srazu nye mogli dobrat’sya do vraga!
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13
SOBININ
Brothers! Into the snowstorm!
In unfamiliar backwoods
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Shto nam metel’, lesnaya glubina,
besput’ye, trud, i khlad nochnoy?
Nye unïvaytye, bratsï!
Nye ustupaytye v’yugye,
i trudnomu besput’yu.
Svoyo voz’myom.
Mï stoykost’yu russkoy
i nepreklonnïm dukhom
vsyu trudnost’ perelomim.
Ottsa naydyom!
Zhdyot nevesta krasnaya,
svetik dlya tebya,
mï naydyom ottsa, dostavim domoy.
Ot tebya ya, dorogaya,
zhdu nagradï,
i lyubovnoy laski zhdu.
Vzglyanesh’ krasnïm solnïshkom,
k pamyati sletit v’yuga,
trud i boy proglyanet lyubov’,
Bratsï, poydyom!
Dokonchim chestnïy trud
i lyakhu nye dadim nad nami smekh tvorit’!
Put’ nam vperyod, nam lyudi vmenyat’ v stïd
kol’ bez ottsa domoy pridyom.
Otets v nuzhdye velikoy,
na nas yevo nadezhda
i sled li nam ostavit’ yevo v nuzhdye?
Nayti ottsa velit nam chest’ svyataya,
i lyakha kaznit’ za smekh nad nami.
Poydyom, poydyom druz’ya!
Poydom!
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we could not reach the enemy at once.
What to us is the snowstorm,
what to us are these forest depths,
this pathless terrain, the toiling
and the chill of night?
Do not be downcast, brothers,
do not yield to the storm
and to the pathless terrain.
We shall triumph,
we shall overcome all difficulties
with our Russian fortitude
and our resolute spirit.
We shall find her father.
My fair bride is waiting,
my darling bride, for your sake
we shall find your father
and we shall bring him home.
From you, my beloved,
I await my reward,
I await a loving embrace!
Your glance will be like bright sunshine,
and the snowstorm, the toiling
and the fighting will be only a memory.
Love will come shining through.
Brothers, let’s go,
let us finish this honourable task,
and not allow the Poles to make fun of us!
Our road lies ahead,
people will make us ashamed
if we arrive home without her father.
Her father is in dire need,
his hope lies with us,
and should we abandon him
when he is in need?
Sacred honour commands us to find her father
and strike down the Poles for making fun of us.
Lets go, let’s go, my friends.
Let’s go!
dritten Akts spielt in Riccardos Arbeitszimmer. Der
Gouverneur hat den schweren Entschluss gefasst,
seinen Sekretär nach England zu versetzen;
unverzüglich soll er mit Amelia abreisen. Das
entsprechende Dokument, das Amelias Unschuld
beweist, wird er später sterbend seinem Mörder
übergeben.
Michail Glinkas 1836 in St. Petersburg
uraufgeführte heroische Tragödie Ein Leben für den
Zaren war die erste nationalrussische Oper. Die
Geschichte spielt in Russland und Polen im Jahr 1613
und handelt von den heldenhaften Taten des Bauern
Iwan Sussanin nach dem Sieg des von Polen
unterstützten sog. Falschen Dimitri über Boris
Godunow. Sussanin gelingt es, die nach dem
neugewählten Zaren Michail Romanow fahndenden
polnischen Soldaten in ein unwegsames Waldgebiet zu
führen und dort aufzuhalten, bis dem Zaren die Flucht
gelingt. Im vierten Akt führt Sobinin, der Verlobte von
Sussanins Tochter, eine Gruppe von Bauern nachts in
den Wald und macht ihnen mit seiner Arie Bratsï! V
metel’ (Brüder, in den Schneesturm!) Mut. Sussanin
gelingt zwar die Rettung des Zaren, er selbst aber wird
von den Polen getötet. Der Zar und das ganze Volk
gedenken seiner ruhmreichen Tat.
Richard Strauss’ 1911 in Dresden uraufgeführte
Komödie für Musik Der Rosenkavalier, auf einen Text
von Hugo von Hofmannsthal, spielt in den ersten Jahren
der Regierungszeit von Kaiserin Maria Theresia. Im
Mittelpunkt der Handlung steht der wehmütige Verzicht
einer alternden Feldmarschallin auf den jungen
Octavian (den späteren Rosenkavalier), dessen Liebe zu
Sophie, der Tochter eines reichen Parvenus, sie
entsagungsvoll protegiert. Mit der schwelgerischen
Arie Di rigori armato il seno macht ein italienischer
Sänger der Marschallin beim Lever im ersten Akt seine
Aufwartung.
Gioachino Rossinis letzte Oper war Guillaume Tell
(Wilhelm Tell), geschrieben für Paris, wo der
Komponist seinen Wohnsitz genommen hatte, aber
ebenso bekannt in ihrer italienischen Fassung. Die
Uraufführung fand im August 1829 an der Pariser
14
7
Opéra statt. Die Handlung spielt im dreizehnten
Jahrhundert in der Schweiz. Der junge Patriot Arnold,
der die österreichische Adlige Matilde liebt, sinnt auf
Rache für den Tod seines Vaters durch einen Aufstand
gegen die österreichische Herrschaft über sein Land. Im
vierten Akt trauert Arnold vor dem Haus seines Vaters
über dessen Schicksal. Ihm wird klar, dass er, nach der
Gefangennahme Tells durch die Feinde, die
Verschwörer anführen muss.
Adolphe Adams Oper Le postillon de Lonjumeau
erlebte ihre Uraufführung im Oktober 1836 an der
Pariser Opéra-Comique. Die unglaubliche Geschichte
handelt vom Aufstieg des Kutschers Chapelou zum
Ersten Tenor der Pariser Opéra, nachdem der Marquis
de Corcy, der Operndirektor, zufällig sein erstaunliches
(von hohen D’s gekröntes) Lied vom Postillon von
Lonjumeau, Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire, gehört hat.
Chapelou verlässt seine Frau Madeleine ausgerechnet in
der Hochzeitsnacht, um seine neue Karriere zu
beginnen. Zehn Jahre später, nachdem sie durch eine
Erbschaft zu Geld gekommen ist, kehrt Madeleine als
„Madame de Latour“ nach Paris zurück, um sich auf
ganz persönliche Weise an ihm zu rächen.
Umberto Giordanos im Paris der Revolutionszeit
spielende Oper Andrea Chénier kam im März 1896 an
der Mailänder Scala zur Uraufführung. Im Mittelpunkt
der Handlung steht der Dichter André Chénier, seine
Verbindung vor der Revolution zu der Adelsfamilie von
Madeleine de Coigny und ihre Liebe in Zeiten des
Terrors. Chénier wird vor dem Revolutionstribunal von
Charles Gérard, dem früheren Diener der Coignys, der
ebenfalls Madeleine liebt, denunziert und zum Tode
verurteilt. In Erwartung seiner Hinrichtung singt er im
Gefängnis sein neues Gedicht Come un bel dì di
maggio.
Giacomo Puccinis letzte Oper, Turandot, die er bei
seinem Tod unvollendet hinterließ, wurde 1926 an der
Mailänder Scala uraufgeführt. Die chinesische
Prinzessin Turandot rächt sich für den gewaltsamen
Tod ihrer Ahnfrau durch einen Mann an allen Freiern,
die um ihre Hand anhalten. Wer die drei Rätsel, die sie
ihnen stellt, nicht löst, stirbt unter dem Beil des
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Tenor-Opernarien
DER ROSENKAVALIER (Atto I)
Verdi • Glinka • R. Strauss • Rossini • Adam • Giordano • Puccini
Die Anregung zu La forza del destino (Die Macht des
Schicksals) kam aus St. Petersburg von dem Tenor
Enrico Tamberlick (dem ersten Alvaro), der dem
Direktor der Kaiserlich-Russischen Oper vorgeschlagen
hatte, bei Verdi eine italienische Oper in Auftrag zu
geben. Die Uraufführung fand im November 1862 statt;
heute wird gewöhnlich die revidierte Fassung gespielt,
die 1869 an der Mailänder Scala über die Bühne ging.
Die verworrene Handlung hat ihren Ursprung in einem
Schauspiel des spanischen Autors Angelo Perez de
Saavedra. Alvaro liebt Leonora und will mit ihr fliehen,
tötet aber durch einen verhängnisvollen Zufall ihren
Vater und wird in einem jahrelangen Rachefeldzug von
ihrem Bruder Don Carlo verfolgt. Leonora glaubt ihren
Liebhaber tot und geht ins Kloster; sie findet Zuflucht in
den Bergen, wo sie verkleidet als Mönch unerkannt in
einer einsamen Klause ihr Leben fristet. Auch Alvaro
sucht nach Jahren der Flucht in derselben Gegend als
Mönch seinen Seelenfrieden. Dort entdeckt ihn Don
Carlo und fordert ihn in den Bergen zum Duell. Alvaro
verwundet ihn tödlich. In dem herbeigerufenen
Geistlichen erkennt der sterbende Don Carlo seine
Schwester und tötet sie. Qual sangue sparsi, Alvaros
Rezitativ und Arie aus dem dritten Akt der ersten
Fassung, erklingt, nachdem Alvaro sich nach einer Zeit
der Soldatenfreundschaft mit Don Carlo, in der sie ihre
Identität voreinander verborgen halten, auf ein Duell
mit seinem Todfeind einlässt, dessen Ausgang er bitter
bereuen wird.
Das Libretto von Verdis Il Trovatore (Der
Troubadour) geht ebenfalls auf ein spanisches
Schauspiel zurück, dessen Autor Antonio García
Gutiérrez war. Die Uraufführung der Oper fand im
Januar 1853 in Rom statt. Auch hier stehen Liebe und
Rache im Zentrum der Handlung. Der Troubadour
Manrico, der vermeintliche Sohn der Zigeunerin
Azucena, liebt Leonora, die jedoch auch von dem
jungen Grafen Luna verehrt wird. Die Rivalität der
beiden Männer endet mit der Gefangennahme Manricos
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durch Luna. Leonora bietet sich dem Grafen, um
Manrico zu retten, nimmt aber heimlich Gift, um Lunas
Absichten auf sie durch ihren Tod zu vereiteln. Der
Graf lässt Manrico zum Scheiterhaufen führen und
Azucena Zeugin seines Todes werden. Als Manrico von
den Flammen erfasst wird, schreit die Zigeunerin Luna
ins Gesicht, dass Manrico sein Bruder war. Im dritten
Akt hat der Troubadour die Festung Castellor
eingenommen, wo er Leonora heiraten will, obwohl der
Ort von Lunas Soldaten beschattet wird. Ein Gefühl der
Angst spricht aus Leonoras Di qual tetra luce. Manrico
verspricht ihr, nur mit ihrem Namen auf seinen Lippen
sterben zu wollen.
Nahezu zehn Jahre waren nach seiner ägyptischen
Oper Aida vergangen, bevor sich Verdi mit Otello (nach
Shakespeares gleichnamiger Tragödie) erneut einem
Opernstoff zuwandte. Die Vorarbeiten begannen 1881,
und 1887 fand schließlich die Uraufführung an der
Mailänder Scala statt. Im dritten Akt der Oper hat Jago
sein Ziel fast erreicht, Othello von der Untreue
Desdemonas zu überzeugen. In Datemi anco l’eburna
mano ergreift Othello ihre Hand; er will wissen, ob
Jagos Geschichte von ihrem angeblich bei Cassio
gefundenen Taschentuch, einem Geschenk Othellos,
wahr ist. Immer stärker verfällt der Mohr seiner
Eifersucht, bis er im vierten Akt Desdemona in ihrem
Schlafgemach erwürgt – nur um zu erfahren, dass sein
Verdacht unbegründet war. Es bleibt ihm nur, seine
Liebe zu ihr mit einem letzten Kuss zu besiegeln und
sich selbst den Tod zu geben.
Die Handlung von Verdis ursprünglich in
Schweden angesiedelter Oper vom Attentat auf König
Gustav III., Un ballo in maschera (Ein Maskenball),
wurde auf Einspruch der Zensur ins ferne Nordamerika
verlegt. Dort verliebt sich Riccardo, der Gouverneur
von Boston, in Amelia, die Gattin seines Sekretärs
Renato. Trotz der Freundschaft der beiden verbündet
sich Renato mit einer Verschwörergruppe und ermordet
Riccardo auf einem Maskenball. Das zweite Bild des
6
THE KNIGHT OF THE ROSE (Act I)
7 Aria of the Italian singer:
Di rigori armato il seno
EIN SÄNGER
Di rigori armato il seno
Contro amor mi ribellai
Ma fui vinto in un baleno
In mirar due vaghi rai.
Ahi! che resiste poco
A stral di fuoco cor di gelo.
SINGER
My bosom strongly armed
Against love I rebelled
But was conquered in a flash
Looking at your lovely eyes.
Ah! How little can resist
A heart of ice against an arrow of fire.
GUGLIELMO TELL (Atto IV)
WILLIAM TELL (Act IV)
8 Preludio, scena ed aria:
Ah, non mi lasciare, o speme di vendetta
ARNOLDO
Non mi lasciare, o speme di vendetta.
Guglielmo è fra catene, ed impaziente
Io di pugnar ora l’istante affretto.
In questo dolce asilo... qual silenzio!
Andiamo... io non ascolto
Che il suono de’ miei passi... Oh! vada in bando
Il segreto terror... entriam...
Oh Dio!
Sul limitar malgrado mio m’arresto...
Fu spento il padre mio e in vita io resto!
ARNOLDO
Do not abandon me, O hope of revenge.
William is in chains, and impatiently
I await the moment of battle.
In this sweet refuge … what silence!
Let us go … I hear nothing
But the sound of my own footsteps … Oh, away
Secret fear … Let me enter …
O God!
On the threshold I stop, in spite of myself …
My father was killed and I am still alive!
O muto asil del pianto
Dov’io sortiva il dì:
Ieri felice... ahi, quanto!
Oggi fatal così!
Invano il padre io chiamo:
Egli non m’ode più.
Fuggir quel tetto io bramo
Che caro un dì mi fu.
O unspeaking refuge of tears,
Where I first saw the light of day:
Yesterday happy .. alas, how happy!
Today so ill-fated!
In vain I call on my father:
He no longer hears me.
I would fly from this house
That once was dear to me.
VOCI DI DENTRO
Vendetta!
VOICES WITHIN
Revenge!
15
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ARNOLDO
Oh mia speranza!
D’allarme io sento i voti!
Son essi i miei più fidi;
Chi mai li guida a me?
ARNOLDO
Oh, my hope!
I hear the call to arms!
Here are my most loyal people;
But who led them to me?
CORO DI SVIZZERI
Guglielmo è prigioniero
E ognun di ferro è privo.
Di farlo salvo
È in noi desir.
Armi vogliamo,
Per lui morir.
CHORUS OF SWISS CONSPIRATORS
William is a prisoner
And each of us is without weapons.
To save him
Is our desire.
We want weapons,
to die for him.
ARNOLDO
Da gran tempo Guglielmo è mio padre
Questa speme nutrivano intera.
Dove sta la deserta riviera
Lancie e spade nascose vi son.
ARNOLDO
For long William and my father
Fostered this inner hope.
On the deserted shore
Are hidden lances and swords.
CORO
Ad armarci, su, corriam,
Ad armarci, su, voliam.
CHORUS
To arms, let us hasten!
Let us take up arms!
ARNOLDO
Dal pianto omai si resti;
L’ira al pensier si desti
Di mia fatalità.
Su chi mio padre ha spento,
E del mio ben mi priva,
La morte scenderà.
ARNOLDO
The time for tears is gone;
Let anger waken at the thought
Of my great loss.
On the one who killed my father
And deprived me of my love
Death will fall.
CORO
Non temere, no, t’affida,
Già sul reo la morte sta.
CHORUS
Do not fear, no, trust us,
Already death falls on the guilty man.
ARNOLDO
Corriam, voliam, s’affretti
Lo scempio di quel vile
Che su noi trionfò.
Sì, vendetta dell’empio facciamo:
Il sentiero additarvi saprò.
Ah! venite; delusa la speme
ARNOLDO
Let us hurry, let us hasten, quickly
Bring the slaughter of that base man
Who triumphed over us.
Yes, let us take revenge on the villain:
I can show you the way.
Ah! Come, false shall we make the hopes
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National Opera Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
The National Opera Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine was established in 1834 as the Symphony Orchestra of the
Kiev City Theatre and has a long history and deep cultural traditions. Tchaikovsky visited Kiev specially for the
performances of his operas The Oprichnik, Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, and in 1891 he also
conducted a concert of his own works. The orchestra was also conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov,
Glazunov and Gliere, while there was collaboration with well-known musicians such as Shalyapin, David
Oistrakh, and Emil Gilels. During the 1960s the orchestra took part in a performance of the opera Katerina
Ismailova under the composer Dmitry Shostakovich, who described the performance as one of the best ever. From
1967 to 1973 and 1977 to 1988, the orchestra was headed by the famous Ukrainian conductor Stephan Turchak,
who was responsible for some of the great successes of those years. Since Ukrainian independence in 1991, the
orchestra has reached a new peak of artistic development under Volodymyr Kozhukhar, a pupil of Rozhdestvensky
in Moscow and Artistic Director of Moscow City Opera from 1977 to 1988. As chief conductor of the National
Opera Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, he has appeared with distinction in performances of opera, ballet and the
symphonic repertoire throughout Europe and as far afield as Japan.
Johannes Wildner
Born in Austria, Johannes Wildner studied conducting, violin and musicology. In 1994-95 he served as Chief
Conductor of Prague State Opera, and from 1996 to 1998 was First Permanent Conductor of Leipzig Opera. Since
1997 he has been Generalmusikdirektor of the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia. He has appeared as a
guest conductor of major opera houses, festivals and orchestras, including the opera houses of Graz and Leipzig, the
opera festival Mozart in Schönbrunn in Vienna, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the St Petersburg
Philharmonic, the MDR-Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the Vienna Radio Symphony, the Bruckner Orchestra
in Linz, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the New Zealand Symphony, the Taipei National Symphony and the
China Philharmonic Orchestra. Johannes Wildner has recorded more than forty CDs and videos, including
complete versions of Die Fledermaus and Così fan tutte, as well as Bruckner’s Third and Ninth Symphonies with
the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia for Naxos.
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Janez Lotric̆
Born in Slovenia, Janez Lotric̆ studied at the music academy in Ljubljana, making his opera début at the Maribor
opera house as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. While growing into the dramatic tenor repertoire, Janez
Lotric̆ always kept his splendid easy top range. He has appeared at all the leading opera houses of Europe, including
the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Milan, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra-Bastille in Paris, Royal Opera of Covent
Garden and the opera houses of Madrid, Rome, Hamburg and Zurich. His huge stage repertoire includes rôles such
as Tonio in La fille du régiment, Calaf, Cavaradossi, Canio, Turiddu, Manrico, Arrigo in I vespri siciliani, Don
Alvaro, Radames, Don José, Hoffmann, Arnoldo in Guillaume Tell, Bacchus, Florestan, and Alfred in Die
Fledermaus.
Kiev Municipal Chamber Choir
Renderem di chi vili ne brama.
Gloria, onore, vendetta ci chiama,
E Guglielmo non morrà.
Of those that thought us cowards.
Glory, honour, revenge call us on,
And William shall not die.
CORO
Sì, vendetta, delusa la speme
D’ogni tristo per noi resterà.
CHORUS
Yes, revenge, their hopes
shall be thwarted.
ARNOLDO
All’armi!
ARNOLDO
To arms!
LE POSTILLON DE LONJUMEAU (Acte I)
THE POSTILION OF LONJUMEAU (Act I)
9 Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire
The Kiev Municipal Chamber Choir was founded in December 1990, with members that include professional
singers, and graduates of conservatories and musical institutes throughout Ukraine. The Musical Director, Mykola
Hobdych, studied at the Kiev Tchaikovsky Conservatory. The national and international repertoire of the choir
ranges from the medieval to the contemporary, and critically acclaimed performances have been given in major
concert halls in the United States and throughout Europe.
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4
CHAPELOU
Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire
D’un jeune et galant postillon.
C’est véridique, on peut m’en croire,
Et connu de tout le canton.
Quand il passait dans un village,
tout le beau sexe était ravi,
Et le cœur de la plus sauvage
Galopait en croupe avec lui.
Oh! oh! oh! qu’il était beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHAPELOU
My friends, hear the story
Of a gallant young postilion.
It is true, believe me,
And known through the whole district.
When he went through a village,
All the fair sex was enthralled,
And the heart of the wildest
Galloped with him.
Oh, oh, oh! How handsome he was,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
LE CHŒUR
Oh! qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau,
qu’il est beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHORUS
Oh, how handsome he was, how handsome,
how handsome,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
CHAPELOU
Mainte dame de haut parage,
En l’absence de son mari,
Parfois se mettait en voyage
Pour être conduire par lui,
Aux procédés toujour fidèle,
On savait qu’adroit postillon,
S’il versait parfois une belle,
Ce n’était que sur le gazon!
Oh! oh! oh! qu’il était beau,
CHAPELOU
Many a lady of high lineage,
With their husbands away,
Sometimes set out on journeys,
In order to be driven by him.
Always loyal to his trade,
It was known that the clever postilion,
If he overturned sometimes a fair girl,
It was only on the grass!
Oh, oh, oh! How handsome he was,
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Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
LE CHŒUR
Oh! qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHORUS
Oh, how handsome he was, how handsome, how
handsome,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
CHAPELOU
Mais pour conduire un équipage,
Voilà qu’un soir il est parti.
Depuis ce temps, dans le village,
On m’entend plus parler de lui.
Mais ne déplorez pas sa perte,
Car de l’hymen suivant la loi,
La reine d’une île déserte
De ses sujet l’a nommé roi.
Oh! oh! oh! qu’il était beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHAPELOU
But to drive a coach,
Now one evening he set out.
Since that time, in the village,
No-one has heard tell of him.
But do not mourn his loss,
For following the law of marriage
The queen of a desert island
Made him king of her subjects.
Oh, oh, oh! How handsome he was,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
LE CHŒUR
Oh! qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau, qu’il est beau,
Le postillon de Lonjumeau!
CHORUS
Oh, how handsome he was, how handsome, how
handsome,
The postilion of Lonjumeau.
ANDREA CHÉNIER (Atto IV)
ANDRÉ CHÉNIER (Act IV)
to escape. In the fourth act Sobinin, who is to marry
Susanin’s daughter, leads a band of peasants in the
forest at night, and encourages them in Brothers, into
the snow-storm. Susanin is finally successful in his
protection of the Tsar, but is killed for it, his heroism to
be remembered by the Tsar and by future generations.
The nostalgic Der Rosenkavalier by Richard
Strauss is set in the first years of the Empress Maria
Theresia. The opera was first performed in Dresden in
1911. The plot centres on the Feldmarschallin, her love
for the young Octavian, later the knight of the rose of
the title, and the sacrifice she makes when she allows
and encourages Octavian’s love for Sophie, daughter of
a rich parvenu, on whose money the Feldmarschallin’s
uncouth cousin, Baron Ochs, has set his heart. At her
levée the Princess is attended by a number of people,
including an Italian singer, whose song of love, Di
rigori armato il seno has a charm of its own and some
relevance to the plot.
Gioachino Rossini’s last opera was Guillaume Tell,
written for Paris, where he had settled, and also familiar
in an Italian version. It was first performed at the Paris
Opéra in August 1829. The action is set in thirteenthcentury Switzerland, where the young Swiss patriot
Arnold, in love with the Austrian noblewoman Matilde,
seeks revenge for the death of his father through a rising
against Austrian domination of his country. In Act IV
Arnold, standing outside his father’s house, laments his
father’s fate and realises that, with William Tell
captured by the enemy, it is he who must lead the
conspirators.
Adolphe Adam’s opera Le postillon de Lonjumeau
had its first performance at the Paris Opéra-Comique in
0 Come un bel dì di maggio
CHÉNIER
Come un bel dì di maggio
Che con bacio di vento
E carezza di raggio
Si spegne in firmamento,
Col bacio io d’una rima,
Carezza di poesia,
Salgo l’estrema cima
Dell’esistenza mia.
La sfera che cammina
Per ogni umana sorte
Ecco già mi avvicina
All’ora della morte,
E forse pria che l’ultima
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CHÉNIER
Like a fair day in May
That with the wind’s kiss
And the sun’s caress
Fades in the sky,
With the kiss of a verse,
The caress of poetry,
I rise to the last summit
Of my existence.
The sphere that travels
Through every human fate
Lo already draws me near
To the hour of death,
And perhaps before the last
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3
October 1836. The unlikely story deals with the rise of
the coachman, Chapelou, to the position of principal
tenor at the Paris Opéra, after the Marquis de Corcy,
director of the Opéra, has overheard his remarkable
song about the postilion of Lonjumeau, Mes amis,
écoutez l’histoire, with its top Ds in imitation of the
post-horn. Chapelou deserts his new wife, Madeleine,
on their wedding night to embark on his new career,
leading her to take her revenge ten years later, when she
inherits money and appears under a very different guise
in Paris.
Set in revolutionary Paris, Umberto Giordano’s
Andrea Chenier, first given at La Scala in March 1896,
centres on the poet of the title, his association before the
Revolution with the noble family of Madeleine de
Coigny and their love during the Terror, to which
Chénier falls victim through the actions of his rival in
love, Gérard, a former family servant. He sings his new
poem, Come un bel dì di maggio, in prison, as he awaits
execution.
Giacomo Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, unfinished
at the time of his death in 1924, had its first performance
at La Scala in 1926. The Chinese princess of the title
poses riddles to her suitors, who suffer death when they
fail to solve them. Calaf, son of the exiled King of
Tartary, answers Turandot’s riddles, but then offers to
stake his life on the discovery of his name. It is
proclaimed that none shall sleep, until the stranger’s
name be found, and in Nessun dorma Calaf expresses
his confidence in victory over the icy-hearted princess,
an outcome finally achieved.
Keith Anderson
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Tenor Opera Arias
Verdi • Glinka • R. Strauss • Rossini • Adam • Giordano • Puccini
It was at the initial request of the tenor Enrico
Tamberlick, the first Alvaro, that Giuseppe Verdi was
persuaded to return to work to write his opera La forza
del destino for the Russian Imperial Theatre. This was
given its first performance in St Petersburg in
November 1862, but is now generally heard in a revised
version that was first staged at La Scala, Milan, in 1869.
The plot, later modified, is one of some complexity,
derived from a play by the Duke of Rivas. Don Alvaro
is in love with Leonora, but accidentally kills her father,
leading to a long search for revenge by her brother, Don
Carlo. Leonora, believing her lover dead, retires to a
hermitage, and Don Alvaro to a neighbouring
monastery, the revelation of their final meeting
coinciding with the appearance of Don Carlo, his death
at the hands of a reluctant Don Alvaro and his final
murder of Leonora, as he dies. The Act III recitative and
aria, Qual sangue sparsi, from the first version of the
opera, is heard after Don Alvaro, on campaign with Don
Carlo, where the two have hitherto failed to recognise
each other, engages in a duel with the latter, apparently
killing him, an outcome that he can only bitterly regret.
The libretto of Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore was also
derived from a Spanish play, the work of Antonio
García Gutiérrez. It was first staged in Rome in January
1853. The plot again concerns love and revenge.
Manrico, the troubadour of the title, supposed son of the
gypsy Azucena and in the service of Count Urgel, is in
love with Leonora, who is also loved by the young
Count Di Luna, a supporter of the Prince of Aragon.
Their rivalry ends in the defeat and capture of Manrico
by the Count. Leonora offers herself to the Count in
return for Manrico’s life, taking poison, in order to
outwit him. In the event she dies and Manrico is put to
death, leaving Azucena, from her prison, to reveal that
Manrico was in fact the Count’s brother. In the third act
Manrico is in possession of the fortress of Castellor,
where he plans to marry Leonora, although the place is
likely to be attacked by the Count Di Luna. Something
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of this threat is inherent in Leonora’s ominous Di qual
tetra luce, a light that is actually and figuratively
gloomy. Manrico assures her that if he must die, he will
die with her name on his lips.
A period of six years followed Verdi’s Egyptian
opera, Aida, and it was only then that he turned his
attention again to Shakespeare in Otello, first staged at
La Scala in February 1887. By Act III Iago has
succeeded in arousing Othello’s jealousy. In Datemi
ancor l’eburnea mano, Othello takes Desdemona’s
hand, anxious to find out whether Iago’s story of the
handkerchief that he had given her is true. His jealousy
can only increase and in Act IV he murders his wife in
her bed-chamber, only to learn that his suspicions of her
were groundless. When all is revealed, it is only left for
him to die by his own hand, sealing his love of his dead
wife with a kiss.
Set originally in Sweden and dealing with the
murder of Gustav III, Un ballo in maschera, first
performed in Rome in February 1859, was transferred,
thanks to the censors, to America. There Riccardo,
Governor of Boston, falls in love with Amelia, the wife
of his mulatto secretary, Renato, who kills him, in spite
of their friendship and his earlier unswerving loyalty
and unwillingness to conspire against him. The third
Finale opens in Riccardo’s study, where he drafts an
order for Renato, with Amelia, to return to England, a
paper that, ironically, he will show to Renato only after
the latter has stabbed him during the masked ball with
which the opera reaches a final climax.
Mikhail Glinka’s heroic tragedy A Life for the Tsar
was the first nationalist Russian opera, staged in St
Petersburg in 1836. Set in Russia and Poland in 1613, it
centres on the heroic exploits of Ivan Susanin in the
aftermath of the defeat of Boris Godunov by the socalled false Dmitry, with Polish support. The peasant
Susanin succeeds in diverting the Polish forces, who are
in pursuit of the newly elected Tsar, Mikhail Romanov,
leading them astray until the young Tsar has been able
2
Mia strofe sia finita,
M’annuncerà il carnefice
La fine della vita.
Sia! Strofe, ultima Dea!
Ancor dona al tuo poeta
La sfolgorante idea,
La fiamma consueta;
Io, a te, mentre tu vivida
A me sgorghi dal cuore,
Darò per rima il gelido
Spiro d’un uom che muore.
Verse is finished
The executioner will declare
The end of my life.
Let it be! Verse, final Goddess!
Grant again to your poet
The brilliant idea,
The desired flame;
And as this vivid inspiration
pours from my heart,
I shall give forth in my rhyme the cold
Breath of a man who dies.
TURANDOT (Atto III)
TURANDOT (Act III)
! Nessun Dorma
CALAF
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza guardi le stelle
che tremano d’amore e di speranza...
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,
quando la luce splenderà…
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà
il silenzio che ti fa mia.
CALAF
Let none sleep! Let none sleep!
Yet you, O Princess,
In your cold room, look on the stars
That tremble with love and with hope.
But my secret I hold close,
None shall know my name!
No, no, on your mouth shall I pronounce it,
When the light shines …
And my kiss shall unloose
The silence that makes you mine.
CORO DI DONNE
Il nome suo nessun saprà…
E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!
CHORUS OF WOMEN
His name none shall know …
And we must, alas, die, die!
CALAF
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle!
All’alba vincerò! Vincerò!
CALAF
Vanish, O night! Set, stars!
At dawn I shall conquer! I shall conquer!
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ˆ
Janez Lotric, Tenor
Yaroslava Poberezhna*, Soprano
Ruslan Tansky†, Tenor
Ukrainian National Opera Symphony Orchestra • Johannes Wildner
Kyiv Chamber Choir • Mykola Hobdych, Chorus master & Artistic Director
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
!
Amore, sublime amore
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901): La Forza del destino (St Petersburg Version, 1862): Act III:
Recitative ed aria: Qual sangue sparsi (Alvaro)
4:44
Il Trovatore • Otello • Der Rosenkavalier • Turandot
VERDI: Il Trovatore: Act III:
Scena, aria, stretta: Di qual tetra luce… Ah sì, ben mio (Leonora*, Manrico, Ruiz†)
8:31
Janez Lotric, Tenor
VERDI: Otello: Act III, Scene 2:
Datemi ancor l’eburnea mano (Otello)
5:21
Ukrainian National Opera Symphony Orchestra • Johannes Wildner
VERDI: Otello: Act IV:
Othello’s Death: Niun mi tema (Otello)
6:04
VERDI: Un ballo in maschera:
Finale Terzo: Scena e Romanza: Forse la soglia attinse (Riccardo)
5:26
Mikhail Ivanovich GLINKA (1804-1857): Ivan Susanin (A Life for the Tsar): Act IV:
Bratsï! V metel’, v nevedomoy glushi (Brothers! Into the snowstorm!) (Sobinin)
5:49
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949): Der Rosenkavalier:
Aria of the Italian Singer: Di rigori armato il seno
2:16
Gioacchino ROSSINI (1792-1868): Guglielmo Tell: Act IV:
Preludio, Scena ed Aria: Ah, non mi lasciar, o speme di vendetta (Arnoldo)
13:17
Adolphe ADAM (1803-1856): Le postillon de Lonjumeau:
Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire (Chapelou)
4:27
Umberto GIORDANO (1867-1948): Andrea Chenier: Act IV:
Come un bel dì di maggio (Chenier)
3:03
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924): Turandot: Act III:
Nessun dorma (Calaf)
3:1 0
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20
ˆ
1
TENOR ARIAS
DDD
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TENOR OPERA ARIAS
Playing Time
62:07
TENOR ARIAS
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ˆ
Recorded at the Grand Concert Studio of the National Radio Company of Ukraine, Kiev
5th-8th September 2001
Producer: Alexander Hornostai
Editor and Engineer: Andrij Mokrytsky
Booklet Notes: Keith Anderson
Cover Image: Leonora abducted from the convent by Manrico, Il Trovatore by Verdi, anonymous
The Art Archive / The Art Archive
h 2003 & g 2003 HNH International Ltd.
Janez Lotric, Tenor
Booklet notes in English • Kommentar auf Deutsch
Sung texts and translations included
Made in Canada
1 VERDI: La Forza del Destino (St Petersburg version, 1862):
Qual sangue sparsi
4:44
2 VERDI: Il Trovatore: Di qual tetra luce… Ah sì, ben mio*
8:31
3 VERDI: Otello: Datemi ancor l’eburnea mano
5:21
4 VERDI: Otello: Niun mi tema (Othello’s Death)
6:04
5 VERDI: Un Ballo in Maschera: Forse la soglia attinse
5:26
6 GLINKA: A Life for the Tsar: Bratsï! V metel’, v nevedomoy glushi 5:49
7 R. STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier: Di rigori armato il seno
2:16
8 ROSSINI: Guglielmo Tell: Ah, non mi lasciar, o speme di vendetta
13:17
9 ADAM: Le postillon de Lonjumeau: Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire
4:27
0 GIORDANO: Andrea Chenier: Come un bel dì di maggio
3:03
! PUCCINI: Turandot: Nessun dorma
3:10
DDD
www.naxos.com
TENOR ARIAS
“The tone is pure, the line even, and the high notes… are incisive and unforced.”
(Gramophone on Naxos 8.553030). Following this earlier recording of arias and duets
with baritone Igor Morozov, Janez Lotric̆ presents his first solo recital for the label. Born
in Slovenia, Lotric̆ studied at the Ljubljana Music Academy, and in Vienna. He has
appeared on the stages of the Vienna State Opera, the Paris Opéra-Comique, the
Hamburg State Opera, the Bastille and La Scala Milan, among others.
Yaroslava Poberezhna, Soprano* • Ruslan Tansky, Tenor*
Kiev Chamber Choir • Mykola Hobdych, Chorus Master
Ukrainian National Opera Symphony Orchestra • Johannes Wildner
NAXOS
NAXOS
8.555920
CMYK