Shirley Verrett
Saturdee Opry Links Overture!
March from "The Love for Three Oranges," by Prokoviev.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ur8dHVxByE
1.
Today's inevitable Valentine-y opry links theme:
luuuuhve. Let's see. .
.they met about ten minutes before. She came in to get her candle
re-lit, and wound up with her heart aflame! Two people meet, introduce
themselves, then declare their
undying love. In fifteen minutes. Just like life. Hard to think of a more
ardent
pairing than Jussi Bjorling and Renata Tebaldi, so we are lucky to have them
in this wonderful old black-and-white clip. Here is the duet,
"O Soave Fanciulla" ("O beautiful girl in the moonlight") from Puccini's "La
Boheme." Which ends with the repeated word---yes, you guessed it---love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZJqR_8uE9s
Translation:
https://sites.google.com/site/edwardlein/Home/translations/puccini-soave-fanciulla
2.
More
Puccini luuuhve wonderment, with Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna,
who were in love when this was performed. (Sad to say, it did not last.) This is one of those Puccini moments---possibly the greatest of its
kind---where you can only mutter, "Oh my God," such is the staggering beauty
at hand. The all-too-brief quartet with chorus from his "boutique opera," "La Rondine," ("The
Swallow.")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMWJqtLNIfc
Synopsis:
Ruggero offers a toast: Let us drink to love! The two couples drink, then
Ruggero toasts Magda. "I drink to your fresh smile. I drink to your profound
desires and to your lips, which have uttered my name." (Bevo al tuo fresco
sorriso) To Magda, this evening is a fulfillment of her dream. She is
supremely happy. Lisette and Prunier exchange thoughts of love for each
other. Prunier even tells her that she is the first who has spoken to his
heart. Ruggero and Magda swear to be with each other forever.
Opera synopsis:
http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/LaRondine/synopsis.html
I regret that there is no translation available, but really, who needs one?
"I drink to your fresh smile."
3.
And
while on "La Rondine," here's another lovely thing to swallow (pun
alert.) How did Puccini write this stuff? Maybe it was the cigars and
whiskey.
They do facilitate concentration. This is the rapturous, poignant, "Doretta's Glorious Dream."
As sung by Angela Gheorghiu.
Synopsis: Act 1, Magda's salon, Paris. At a cocktail party hosted by the
courtesan Magda, the poet Prunier expounds his theories on love. Magda's
friends Yvette, Bianca and Suzy playfully mock him, while Lisette, Magda's
maid, tells him he does not know what he is talking about. Prunier takes
offence and Magda orders Lisette to leave. Prunier maintains that no one is
immune to romantic love and sings the first verse of his latest song about
Doretta, who rejected a king as her suitor because of the value she placed
on true love. He does not know how to finish the song, so Magda takes over
and provides the second verse: she recounts how Doretta falls in love with a
student (Aria: Chi il bel sogno di Doretta). Magda's guests are charmed by
her performance and her long-term protector Rambaldo gives her a pearl
necklace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k05GBxUx7mE
Translation:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=54958
4.
"Tacea
la notte placida"---"The night was still and quiet"---has a welling,
yearning piquancy not often equaled in my (limited ) opera experience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6TShEc8xwE
(Regret there is no footage of Callas doing this. Fate is a callous thing.)
And how it can look on stage, with Renee Fleming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YjBW_aSHi0
Scene 2: Garden in the palace of the princess
Leonora confesses her love for the Troubadour to her confidante, Ines (Tacea
la notte placida / "The peaceful night lay silent"... Di tale amor / "A love
that words can scarcely describe"), in which she tells how she fell in love
with a mystery knight, victor at a tournament: lost track of him when a
civil war broke out: then encountered him again, in disguise as a wandering
troubadour who sang beneath her window.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/translations/trov02_tacea.txt
About the opera:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_trovatore
5.
And
here is that great luuhve aria, "Sei il primo, l'ultimo, il mio tutto. . ."
From the opera, "L'amore senza limiti," by Barone Bianco. (Think
about, think about it.) Here sung by the
composer himself, in a duet with Luciano Pavarotti. (Anybody who can tell me
what Pavarotti is singing?) Hey, you've got to have a little fun with this
stuff, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqwuFRLV43E
6.
"La ci
darem la mano" ('Give me thy hand, oh fairest"), from Don Giovanni, by the
man who never wrote a wrong note. Luuhve, genteel and restrained. Who said
opera singers have to wail?
Bryn Terfel and Hei-Kyung Hong at the Met.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqPcb1nKZYg
Translation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A0_ci_darem_la_mano
7.
Love duet from "Manon Lescaut," quite the
potboiler, by Puccini. If you ever get a chance
to see the silent film, "When a Man Loves," with John Barrymore, it's the "Manon"
story, and it's quite the rollicking epic. That's two "quites" in close
company, but we're talking unrequited love, so. . .
Lesser knowns, but with English captions. . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MWkKejLyL4
"Oh, saro la piu bella" ("Oh, I shall be the most
beautiful.)
Plot summary:
http://www.mnopera.org/manon-lescaut/synopsis/
This duet is in act 2.
Translation:
http://www.murashev.com/opera/Manon_Lescaut_libretto_English_Act_2
(search "Oh, I shall be the most beautiful.")
And for those who do not need captions, and
prefer to hear this the way it should be sung, here are Maria Callas and
Giuseppe DiStefano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r_56Ega1fg
8.
I hear you, I hear you. Where are the tenors? Valentine's Day, and no
tenors? Are you kidding? That's like Egg Nog without the Nog. What? And why don't you ever
show clips of Jonas Kaufmann? (I do.) Well, wonder no more. Cavaradossi paints his love's
portrait. "Recondita Armonia," from "Tosca." "Hidden Harmony."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPR6PJ1qkag
About, translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=304
9.
Love always comes at a price, and no one paid more dearly than Samson, don't
you think? Poor fellow, tricked by Dalila's passionate, flowery declaration
of amour. Tch tch. Let that be a lesson to you, lovesmacked gentlemen
spending four or five paychecks on a diamond for your bachelorette. Here are
wonderful Shirley Verrett and Jon Vickers in this haunting, if not entirely
sincere, love duet. "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix." ("My
heart opens to your voice.") Don't do it, Samson! Don't cut your hair!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq3H42NjmIU
Setting: the valley of Soreck, ancient Palestine
Synopsis: In an attempt to close the trap which she has set for Samson,
Dalila tells Samson seductively that she will surrender herself entirely to
him if he wants her. She begs him to respond to her caresses, hoping that he
will finally forget about the Israelite rebellion he is leading against the
Philistines. If Samson concentrates completely on her, the High Priest of
Dagon may be able to capture him.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=916
10.
And
for all the many people who have listened to each one of these Opry posts
today, but are just to shy to to drop an e-mail (I know there are thousands of
you), here is the emperor of operatic love declarations, that will never be
surpassed, "Che Gelida
Manina" ("How cold your little hand is") from Puccini's "La Boheme." Nothing
else written captures the poignant hope--"la speranza," which happens to get the
biggest note of the aria---of luuhve more than this. Nothing. And yes, this is what
happens minutes before Rodolfo and Mimi declare their mutual love in "O
Soave Fanciulla," which was our first Opry link today. I tried singing this
to various women long ago, but, sad to say, it did not have the desired
impact. The tenor is Mario del Monaco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiTHjfmSyQU
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/translations/boheme1_che.txt
Or, if you prefer a more measured rendition, with tremendous power. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_1Ry44K-MM
Saturdee Opry Links Valentine's Day Encore!
The one, the only. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q5WN2kAR5A
