Opera Obsessive

Fidelio

2006-09-09T03:56:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-09T03:35:00.000-07:00

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.

Comme un rayon vermeil...

2006-08-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

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

Hommage II

2006-08-08T03:24:00.000-07:00

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

Hommage

2006-07-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Rossini's Barber of Seville - Rosina

2006-07-27T04:31:00.000-07:00

"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."

T U R A N D O T

2006-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

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...

La Traviata

2006-05-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

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.

Camellia

2006-04-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

Impressions from Tosca

2006-04-23T04:42:00.000-07:00

Tosca
by Giacomo Puccini
A film by Benoit Jacquot

Church of Sant' Andrea

Mario Cavaradossi...
... Roberto Alagna

Floria Tosca...
... Angela Gheorghiu

Whether or not to kiss before praying...

Scarpia...
Ruggero Raimondi

Mario has been tortured...

Vissi d'Arte

Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore
-- I lived for art, I lived for love;
non feci mai male ad anima viva!
-- Never did I harm a living creature!...
Con man furtiva
-- I sought with secret hand to succour...
quante miserie conobbi, aiutai
-- Whatever misfortunes I encountered
Sempre con fe sincera,
-- Ever in pure faith,
la mia preghiera
-- my prayers rose
ai santi tabernacoli sali.
-- in the holy chapels.
Sempre con fe sincera
-- Ever in pure faith,
diedi fiori agli altar.
-- I brought flowers to the altars.
Nell'ora del doloer perchè
-- in this hour of pain. Why,
perchè, Signore, perchè,
-- why, oh Lord, why,
me ne rimuneri cosi?
-- dost Thou repay me thus?
Diedi gioielli
-- Jewels I brought
della Madonna al manto,
-- for the Madonna's mantle,
e diedi il canto agli astri,
-- and songs for the stars in heaven
al ciel, che ne ridean piu belli.
-- that they shone forth with greater radiance.
Nell'ora del dolore, perchè,
-- In this hour of distress. Why,
perchè, Signore,
-- why, oh Lord,
perchè me ne rimuneri cosi?
-- why dost Thou repay me thus?

That was Tosca's kiss...

E lucevan le Stelle

E lucevan le stelle ed olezzava la terra,
-- And the stars shoned and the earth was perfumed...
Stridea l'uscio dell'orto,
-- The gate to the garden creaked...
E un passo sfiorava la rena
-- And a footstep rustled, anouncing the queen
Entrava ella, fragrante,
-- Frangranted she entered
mi cadea fra le braccia
-- and fell into my arms...

Oh, dolci baci, o languide carezze,
-- Oh soft kisses, oh sweet abandon,
mentr'io fremente
-- as I trembling
le belle forme disciogliea dai veli!
-- unloosed her veils and disclosed her beauty.
Svani per sempre il sogno mio d'amore
-- Oh vanished forever is that dream of love,
L'ora e fuggita
-- fled is that hour,
E muoio dispertao!
-- and desperatly I die.
E non ho amato mai tanto la vita!
-- And never before I have loved so much!

Gli occhi ti chiuderò con mille baci
e mille ti dirò nomi d'amor.
-- And I will close your eyes with a thousand kisses and give you thousand names of love.
Dreaming of the future

Tosca finds Mario dead...

La Traviata: A parallel view

2006-04-23T04:15:00.000-07:00

La Traviata
by Giuseppe Verdi
Same story, different viewings

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

Violetta:
Anna Netrebko, Angela Gheorghiu, Theresa Stratas

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

Alfredo:
Rolando Villazon, Frank Lopardo, Placido Domingo

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

Libiamo ne lieti calici...

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

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

Prendete questo fior'...
(take this flower..)

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

Act two

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

Violetta and Germont

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

Partirò, ma giura innante che dovunque seguirai i passi miei...
(I will go, but you will swear that wherever I go, you will follow...)

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

O mia Violetta / Amato Alfredo
(O my Violetta / Beloved Alfredo)

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

Parigi o cara noi lascieremo...la vita uniti trascorreremo...
(Paris, or dearest, we will leave...we will live together...)

Libiamo..

2006-04-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

Libiamo...or also known as "let's enjoy" the world of opera, which is indeed a whole new world.
Stories get a whole new aspect through music and through that we are in a world that could exist without words and conveys emotions for which there are none.

The Opera Gate...

2006-04-23T02:17:00.000-07:00

This gate leads to other times

and places, the world of opera.

Some stories from opera are not

what they first seem, and have

many layers and interpretations.

Look into the history of any opera

and you come face to face with a

different story in itself. Once

you go through the Opera Gate,