Opera Obsessive

A place where the world of Opera is analysed, discussed and applauded -- and where discussion leads to understanding.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Fidelio

Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio

Wer du auch bist, ich werde dich retten!

(Whoever you are, I will save you)
- Leonore


Leonore disguises as a man to save her husband who is - unjustly - held a (political) prisoner.
She therefore calls herself Fidelio, meaning "faithful, true" and sneaks into the prison as a new servant to Rocco, who has the charge over the prison.
As the drama devlops, Leonore is growing so much over herself, that she is able to forget her original plans and is risking everything to save a stranger whom Rocco has order to kill. Wer du auch bist, ich werde dich retten!
As Fidelio and Rocco are in the unknown prisoner's vault, she discovers with terror that it is Florestan, her long-missed husband. Yet she cannot reveal herself until the moment Don Pizarro comes to kill Florestan. She throws herself in-between: Töt' erst sein Weib! (You must kill his wife, first!)
All comes to a good end with the arrival of the Governor, a friend of Florestan's - even Don Pizarro is not dealt with like other opera-villains, he is given over to justice, not to death.

Beethoven shows strong morals in this opera: fidelity, freedom, justice, devotion...to name only a few. I would call Fidelio a sum-up of what I believe Beethoven believed.

The swallow's flight

La Rondine
by Giacomo Puccini


Cantava una lenta canzone
la musica strana
e una voce lontana
diceva così:
"Fanciulla, è sbocciato l'amore!
Difendi, difendi il tuo core!
Dei baci le sorrisi l'incanto
si paga con stille di pianto!"

A strange music
sang a slow song
and a distant voice
said:
"Little girl, love is in bloom!
Guard, guard you heart!
The enchanting of kisses and laughter
is paid with teardrops!"

- Magda to her friends about her adventure when she was a little girl -
on the same time forshadowing about the adventure that she is
about to have.

MAGDA
Pensa che il sacrificio
che compio in questo instante...
Think that the sacrifice
that I am making this moment...


RUGGERO
O mia divina amante!
O vita mia vita!
Oh my divine beloved!
Oh life of my life.


MAGDA
...io lo compi per te!
...I am making it for you.

...

MAGDA
Quando sarai guarito, te ne ricorderai,
Tu ritorni alla casa tua serena,
io riprendo il mio volo e la ia pena.
When you will be healed, you will remember,
You will return to your serene house,
I will retake me flight and my suffering.

RUGGERO
Amore...
My love...

MAGDA
Non dir' niente.
Che sia mio questo dolore.
Don't say anything.
That this pain shall be mine.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Comme un rayon vermeil...


Charles Gounod

R o m é o e t J u l i e t t e
***



Comme un rayon vermeil brille en un ciel
d'orage,
Juliette parut, et Roméo l'aima.
Et tous deux, oubliant le nom qui les
outrage,
Un même amour les enfalamma.
Sort funeste! Aveugle colères!
Ces malheureux amants payèrent de leurs
jours
La fin des haines séculaires
Qui virent naître leurs amours.


*

Like a rosy ray glearming in a stormy sky,
Juliet appeared, and Romeo loved her.
And both of them, forgetting the name that
outraged them,
were fired by a selfsame love.
Fatal destiny! Blind hatred!
These star-crossed overs paid with their
lives
for the ending of the century-old hatreds
that witnessed the birth of their love.

********

(picture showing Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu as Roméo et Juliette; I claim non of these contents for myself)


To Violetta

Vivre avec Violetta
Live with Violetta


"La Traviata - das ist vor allem eine Stimme: virtuos und pathetisch, bezaubernd und
La Traviata - that is above all a voice: full of virtue and pathos, charming and
herzzerreissend. Man hört sie zum ersten Mal, zum zweiten...und eines Tages ist es
heartwrenching.You hear her the first time, for the second...and one day it is
unleugbar: Man lebt mit Violetta Valery. Das
undeniable: You live with Violetta Valery. That
ist nicht übertrieben. Von all den betören-
is not overdone. Of all the sedu-
den, strahlenden, zerbrechlichen oder eigen-
cing, shining, fragile or capri-
sinnigen Frauenfiguren der Oper [...]
ious female opera figures,
kommt uns keine so unmittelbar nah. Kaum ist man Violetta begeg-
none is so close to us. As soon as we have met Violetta,
net, glaubt man schon, sie zu kennen, und
we already believe to know her, and
ist sich sicher, sie zu lieben. Aber bald wird
we are sure to love her. Soon, however, her appearance fades
ihre Erscheinung unfassbarer und das ange-
away and the adored
betete Bild verschwimmt-um nur noch stär-
picture blushes - only in order to resurrect even stronger.
ker wieder aufzuerstehen. La Traviata ist
La Traviata is
eine Falle ohne Beispiel: Man tappt hinein
a trap without example: You get trapped,
und ist glücklich.
and are happy."


- Quote from "Verdis Meisterwerk - La Traviata" by Michel Parouty, Scherz-Verlag



Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Hommage II



Some singers who have bewitched us with their voices and talent.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Hommage

Hommage

***



"Music is able to influence the attitude of the soul."
- Aristotle

All these composers - and many more - contributed to the attitude of our soul; they made us
cry and laugh, they made us think, they made us feel what music is able to do.

We shall always have their works and their special gift in our hearts.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Rossini's Barber of Seville - Rosina

"Io sono docile, son rispettosa, sono obbediente, dolce, amorosa. Mi lascio
reggere, mi lascio reggere, mi fo guidar, mi fo guidar. Ma se mi toccano dov'è
il mio debole, sarò und vipera, sarò, e cento trappole prima di cedere, farò
giocar, farò giocar."
"I am docile, I am respectful, I am obedient, sweet and loving. I can be ruled, I
can be guided, but if I am touched where I am weak, I will be a viper, and a
hundred tricks I shall play, before they have their way."
copyright Image Imogen Crest 2006.

Friday, June 09, 2006

T U R A N D O T

by Giaccomo Puccini




Gli enigmi sono tre, la morte è una...
The riddles are three, death is one...
Gli enigmi sono tre, una è la vita!
The riddles are three, one is life!

***
Conosco il nome dello straniero! Il suo nome è ... Amor!
I know the name of the stranger! His name is ... Love!

***
from Turandot by Friedrich von Schiller

Kalaf: Du? Du hinderst meinen Tod?
You? You save me from death?
Ist das dein Mitleid, dass ich leben soll,
Is that your pity, that I shall live?
Ein Leben ohne Hoffnung, ohne Liebe?
A live without hope, without love?
Meiner Verzeweiflung denkst du zu gebieten?
You think you can rule over my despair?
- Hier endet deine Macht. Du kannst mich töten,
- Here your power ends. You kann kill me,
Doch mich zum Leben zwingen kannst du nicht.
But you cannot force me to live.
...
Turandot: Lebt, Kalaf! Leben sollt Ihr - und für mich!
Live, Kalaf! You shall live - and for me!
Ich bin besiegt. Ich will mein Herz nicht mehr
Verbergen
- ...
I am conquered. I don't want to hide my heart any longer...

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

La Traviata

Thoughts on La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi
Story based on the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils




La Traviata - The one who has lost the right way


Characterizing words:

Violetta:

Della traviata...sorridi...al desio,
a lei, deh perdona, tu accoglila o Dio…

Smile at the erring of the one who lost her way,
forgive her, oh God, you take her to you…


Alfredo, Alfredo, di questo core
non puoi comprendere tutto l'amore;
tu non conosci che fino a prezzo
del tuo disprezzo provato io l'ho.

Alfreo, Alfredo, of this heart
you cannot understand all the love;
I have proved it even at the prize
of you disdain.


Alfredo:

Un dì felice, eterea,
mi balenaste innante,
e da quel dì, tremante,
vissi d'ignoto amor.
Di quell'amor ch'è palpito
dell' universo intero,
misterioso, altero,
croce e delizia al cor.

One joyous day
you flashed lightly into my life;
and from that day on,
have I lived trembling from a love
not known before.
From that love, that is the pulse
of the whole world,
mysterious, unattainable,
cross and delight to the heart.


Violetta and Alfredo:

Sospiro e luce tu mi sarai...
Breath of live and light you will be for me...

****************************************************************

Violetta's story shows us,
that we ought to forgive, like we have been forgiven ourselves.
From Alfredo we learn that love has nothing do with someone's
past, but only looks for the future. By never accusing her of
her past life (i.e. forgiving her), Alfredo gives Violetta a
future, he gives her his unconditional love. So does Violetta
love him unconditionally, with all her being, so much, that she
gives up her own happiness to provide for his and the one of a
girl she has never known in her life.