OPRY LINKS
24:
Farewell to Winky
Edition
Dedicated to my deeply loved and cherished friend, Winky
the Cat, who passed away in November at just thirteen, after a terrible illness.
Saturdee Opry Links Overture!
"La Forza del Destino," by Verdi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xICXPdwV7mY
1.
We begin
with a perfunctory, less than subtle farewell, in just over a minute. Count the
"addios!" in "Addio, Addio," a manic duet from Verdi's "Rigoletto." Background:
Gilda has fallen in love with a young student (unaware he’s the cad, the Duke of
Mantua) and their tryst is interrupted when Gilda's father, the hunchbacked
court jester, Rigoletto, comes home. The Duke’s can't tear himself away. The
tenor is Stephen Costello, the soprano, Olga Peretyatko.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=62&v=gUEewxq7llg
The translation, as you might expect:
Farewell...my heart and soul
are set on you alone.
Farewell...my love for you
will last for ever.
2.
This scene, which has entirely to do with the complexities, vagaries of
"goodbye"---from romantic break-ups to the last goodbye, death---interweaves
melody miraculously. I can't think of a better example of melody and theme
integrated so compellingly with dialogue in all opera. It all seems so natural,
graceful---the conversation, and the music. From Puccini's ever-astonishing "La
Boheme," this is the act three sequence where Rodolfo, the poet, tells his
friend Marcello of his plans to leave Mimi. At first he lies about the reasons,
claiming jealousy over Mimi's habitual flirtatiousness, finally confessing his
agony over the fact that she is terminally ill. Mimi overhears, terrified,
despairing. The trio (and later quartet including Marcello's coquette, Musetta)
is astonishing for its beauty and organic flow. At last Rodolfo discovers Mimi,
and they agree to part (because of Rodolfo's jealousy, and Mimi's desire to not
be a burden), but then revise it with a bit of a caveat born of their great
love: because the winter is so bleak, they will stay together until spring.
Meanwhile Marcello and Musetta break up. These two opposing domestic disputes
are somehow woven into glorious lyricism. Rolando Villazon, Anna Netrebko, Nicole
Cabell (Musetta), the voice of Boaz Daniel (Marcello.)
Watch from 1:02:24 to 1:18:10. Or enjoy the entire act: 53:38 to 1:18:10. WITH
ENGLISH SUBTITLES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwjjCjudgzI
3.
What could be more appropriate for a farwell operatic aria than this? "Addio
del Passato," or "Farewell to the past," from Verdi's "La Traviata?" Maria
Callas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmcG8fcVWkk
Setting: Violetta's bedroom
Synopsis: Violetta is now poor and about to die. She receives a letter from
Alfredo's father saying that Alfredo has discovered why she lied about her love
for him and is coming to her. She knows that it is too late, though, and sings a
farewell to her happiness with Alfredo.
Translation;
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=310
4.
Goodbye! Courage! Do not cry! Noble sentiments, easier counseled than
accomplished. . .Here is the poignant, lilting, understated aria, "Adieu,
Mignon," from the opera, "Mignon," by Ambroise Thomas. The forgotten tenor, from
1931, is one Andre D'Arkor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1GKsLxflos
Setting: Philine's dressing room in a German castle, late 1700s
Synopsis: After Mignon has been following him around for a long time, Wilhelm
decides that it is time to tell Mignon that he isn't interested in her. He does
this in a kind way, telling her that he must leave her.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=1072
But for WWII, D'Arkor would have had a much greater career:
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/andr%C3%A9-darkor-mn0002274098
5.
It is very helpful to remember that Wagner's opera, "Lohengrin," is a
fairy tale, especially while listening to this magnificent aria of boodbye to a
faithful friend,
"Mein Lieber Schwann." ("My Dear Swan.")
Synopsis:
Lohengrin has just arrived in Brabant on the back of an enormous swan, to defend
the innocent Elsa who’s being accused of murdering her brother, by one Telramund.
He thanks his swan and bids a heartbreaking goodbye. “Leb wohl, leb wohl, mein
lieber Schwan!” (Farewell, farewell, my beloved swan!).
I suggest disregarding the setting here, and the lack of swan (and the fact that
Elsa's expression suggests she thinks Lohengrin is nutty as a fruitcake) and
just listen to Jonas Kaufman's glorious singing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLTQzddd4AA
ENGLISH:
I thank you, my dear swan!
Go back across the waters
to whence your boat brought me,
return again only to bring us happiness!
Thus will you have carried out your duty faithfully!
Farewell, farewell, my dear swan!
GERMAN:
Nun sei bedankt, mein lieber Schwan!
Zieh durch die weite Flut zurück,
dahin, woher mich trug dein Kahn,
kehr wieder nur zu unsrem Glück!
Drum sei getreu dein Dienst getan!
Leb wohl, leb wohl, mein lieber Schwan!
6.
The ironies, the cruelties, complexities of "Madama Butterfly," by Puccini, are
quite appropriate for the tortured feelings of farewell. Is Lt.
Pinkerton the most loathsome of villains, or is he a victim of. . . ardor? Is he
captivated by Butterfly's beauty, and the exquisiteness of Japan, helpless to
control his emotions? Or is he diabolical, a heartless cad, a scoundrel who
abandons his foreign plaything when finished with it? Is the aria, "Addio,
Fiorito Asil" ("Farewell, flowery refuge") a sincere lament, or shallow,
chauvanistic? To listen to Placido Domingo sing it, one would suspect the
former, but. . .it's up to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySdwrEQLcSQ
Setting: Butterfly's house
Synopsis: Pinkerton comes to Butterfly's house and, after speaking to Suzuki,
decides that it would be too painful to say goodbye to Butterfly directly. He
bids adieu to the house in which he and Butterfly spent many happy hours.
Translation:
http://operainenglish.blogspot.com/2013/08/addio-fiorito-asil-madama-butterfly.html
7.
Adieu to a fairy tale swan is perhaps a bit of a stretch, in terms of
arousing emotion, but a farewell to a table is really not hard to understand. (Your SOL
host still has a blanket given to him when he was effectively an orphan at age
eight!) From the opera, "Manon," by Jules Massenet, here is "Adieu, notre petite
table." (Goodbye, our little table.") "What will the future be like?," sings
Manon. "Will it have the same charms as the wonderful days of the past?" (Hint:
not likely!) Beverly Sills sings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg77_6RVuhM
Setting: Apartment of Chevalier Des Grieux, Paris, France, 18th century
Synopsis: Manon has been told by a nobleman that her love Des Grieux will soon
be kidnapped by his father's men in order to get him away from her. She knows
that the happy days they have spent in Des Grieux's apartment will soon be at an
end and takes the opportunity to bid adieu to the table at which she and her
love ate many meals together.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=610
8.
Colline, the philosopher of the Bohemians in Puccini's "La Boheme," sings
to his trusty old coat that kept him warm in many a freezing Parisian
night. He has decided to sell it in order to buy medicine for the fatally ill
Mimi. The baritone is James Morris.
"Dear old coat, listen,
I stay here below,
but you must now
ascend the mount of piety!
Receive my thanks.
You never bent your threadbare
back to the rich and powerful.
You have sheltered in your pockets
like peaceful caves,
philosophers and poets.
Now that happy days
have fled, I bid you farewell,
my faithful friend,
farewell, farewell."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArYceMAJiH8&list=RDArYceMAJiH8&start_radio=1
Italian:
https://www.opera-arias.com/puccini/la-boh%C3%A8me/vecchia-zimarra-senti/
9.
The great poet and champion of the people, enemy of the ruling class, Andrea
Chenier, faces execution. As most champions of the people and enemies of the
ruling class seem to. In the courtyard of the Prison of St. Lazare, waiting for
dawn and the executioner, Chénier has been writing a poem. He recites it to his
great friend, Roucher, at his urging---a poem of goodbye. Franco Corelli does
the honors with "Come un bel di Maggio," from "Andrea Chenier," by Giordano.
"Like a beautiful day in May. . ."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2M9EXW-FDQ
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=52
Chenier was real, by the way:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Ch%C3%A9nier
10. FINAL BOW:
This edition of Saturdee Opry Links, as I mentioned, is dedicated to my beloved Winky the Cat, who passed away last month. He and I were
very close, though it took a while for us to figure each other out. He was very
complicated, and had to live a life very different from what his nature
commanded. No one has ever had a more noble friend. (Below is a poem about him,
written when he was young, and sick.) We conclude here with a little song by Tosti, "Addio."
The singer is Joseph Schmidt, one of several to earn the title, "The Pocket
Caruso." Celebrated throughout the '30's as a concert performer because opera
halls deemed him too short (4' 11"), Schmidt, a Jew, died of infection and heart
failure after being interred in a Swiss refugee camp while fleeing the Nazi
invasion of France. Addio, indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHTJXei7J3w
Translation:
http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=37781
Winky
Winky the cat
weaned too soon, full of infection
started life on medication
Stunted his brain
Big and orange and white and gregarious and
unhappy
Winks when he's nervous
Winky the cat can't keep his food down
gets his teeth pulled
hates his sister who hates him
never went to cat school
Is stuck with this big monkey who is depressed all the time
Winky the cat stopped peeing
Nearly died
But the monkey bailed him out
And now dopes him up with pain killer and "relaxant"
so he can pee
on floors
in slippers
on laps
on carpets
in sinks
on beds
sometimes even in the cat box
Winky the cat doesn't know that the big monkey
will soon give him Prozac
because it relaxes the bladder spasm caused
by
unhappy
Doesn't know that otherwise his wang will go the way of his
long lost testicles
leaving him more puzzled as to whowhatwhenwherewhy
than he already is
Relegated to "cat trees" and balconies
pacing and chasing
watching window birds
hiding from the television
he's never gotten used to
unhappy
But Winky the cat caught a big brown rat
a 2 a.m. balcony rat
a punctured neck writhing shocked ugly rat
last week
And he delivered it to the monkey
as if to say, "See?"
Winky the cat
wanted only rats
not cat trees and balconies
not drugs to make him pee
wanted only
hunting, fornicating, reproducing
scratching fleas
healing fight abcess
darting
screeching
yowling
rats and gophers and birds
being hit by a car before he turned three
happy
(copyright 2019 Rip Rense, all rights reserved.)
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