Lectures Nineteen-Twenty-Two 8.
Verdi, distraught, completed the comic opera Un Giorno de
Verdi and Otello
Scope: The Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi and opera seria is the focus
of Lectures 19 through 22. Verdi's career is summarized, and his
operatic inheritance is reviewed. We learn how Verdi dominated
the operatic scene in Italy for over half a century by the power of
his beautiful melodies and his focus on human emotions and
psychological insight. We see how Verdi gave the orchestra an
increasingly important role in the dramatic action, and how he used
the new parlante technique to endow his operas with musical
continuity and maintain the dramatic momentum. Verdi's style is
discussed with references to Rigoletto, La Traviata, and Otelia.
Outline
Introduction.
A. The career of Giuseppe Verdi practically constitutes the history of
Italian opera from 1850 to 1900.
I. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901).
A. Verdi composed 26 operas.
B. He was not an innovator or reformer. Rather, his operatic craft
slowly evolved across the span of his long compositional career.
C. Briefbiography.
1. Verdi was born near Parma, Italy, to a middle-class family.
2. His musical ·education was sponsored by a rich local merchant,
Antonio Barezzi of Busseto.
3. At Barezzi's expense, Verdi moved at the age of eighteen to
Milan to study music. He was not considered sufficiently
accomplished to be accepted into the Milan conservatory! He
studied privately.
4. While in Milan, Verdi began his first opera, Oberto.
5. Verdi eventually returned to Busseto and married Barezzi's
daughter Margherita.
6. Oberto was performed at La Scala, and Verdi was
commissioned to write three more operas.
7. While Verdi was working on this commission, his wife and
two children died within a span of 22 months.
R «:ll 997 The TP.~~hincr rnmn<>nu
Regno, which failed miserably at its premiere in 1840.
9. His contempt for any sort of criticism, musical or personal,
stems from these events.
10. Verdi's third opera, Nabucco, was his first big hit.
11. From the start he was more interested in human drama and
emotions than in writing pretty, popular bel canto-style music.
12. Verdi reached a creative plateau between 1851 and 1853 with
the composition of Rigoletto, La Traviata, and fl Trovatore.
Ill. Bel Canto opera: Verdi's inheritance.
A. Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini were the great triumvirate ofbel
canto opera.
B. The bel canto era was not unlike that which immediately preceded
the reforms of Metastasio, marked by a notable lack of dramatic
integration of words and music.
C. Summary ofbel canto characteristics.
1. Compositional formulas permit the rapid production of operas.
2. The opera is segmented into the traditional divisions of
recitative, aria, and ensemble.
D. By the time of the operas of 1851-1853, Verdi had gone a long
way toward breaking the mold. Despite the fact that he was a
brilliant tunesmith in the Italian tradition, Verdi's operas are not
formulaic, nor do they clearly reflect the divisions of recitative,
aria, and ensemble. Arias and vocal ensembles are intermingled
and move smoothly from one to the other in Verdi's operas. The
variety of vocal forms and singing techniques is extraordinary.
Musical example: the opening of Act 1 from La Traviata.
1. Although we can identify individual sections, the overall
effect in La Traviata is one of continuous forward motion in
terms of both music and dramatic action. Verdi does not stop
the action for dry recitative. The orchestra plays continuously,
providing accompaniment here, background there, whatever is
needed. The characters and chorus interact with each other
with stunning flexibility. In this way La Traviata is much
closer to what we now call music drama.
2. Verdi has not completely broken with the bel canto style,
however. In terms of its vocal usage and the direct, popular
nature of its melodies, La Traviata is still bel canto. By
 improving on bel canto, rather than completely discarding it,
Verdi became the undisputed king of Italian opera.
3. Verdi used the technique known as parlante to eliminate the
difference between aria and recitative. He reduced the length
of the traditional recitative and blended it into a more
continuous texture with the use of the orchestra.
;IV. Verdi's evolving style.
A. The 19th century was a literary age.
B. Verdi, as a dramatist, sought ever-greater dramatic continuity in
his operas.
C. He began to use the new parlante technique by which recitative-
like vocal parts are underlaid by a memorable and tuneful
orchestral accompaniment. This allows musical continuity. The
musical interest is in the orchestra. The dramatic interest is in the
voices. Musical example: Rigoletto, Act 1, scene 7.
D. Lyricism is the key to Verdi's art. Verdi's melodies never lost their
direct and popular touch and they are molded to the characters who
sing them. An example of this is "La donna emobile," the Duke of
Mantua's aria from Act 4 of Rigoletto.
E. Verdi was an admirer of Beethoven's use of motivic development
and uses the same technique in his operas. He also used what is
known as a hinge theme. This is a theme that becomes associated
with some element in the dram~tic action and reappears in the
course of the opera to connect large areas of the drama.
F. The characteristics of Verdi's mature operas.
1. Human emotions and psychological insight provide the basis
for the story lines.
2. The bel canto divisions of recitative and aria are increasingly
de-emphasized in favor of musical continuity.
3. The orchestra plays a key dramatic role.
4. Verdi uses good libretti based on good literature.
V. Otello (1886): gestation.
A. Following the premiere of Aida in 1871, Verdi retired from the
opera.
B. Four people close to Verdi (his wife, his publisher, a conductor and
composer/librettist Arrigo Boito) conspired to bring him out of
retirement.
'){\ Ii"\ 1 007 Th~ T~~~t..:--
C. In July 1879 Verdi received a proposal to write an opera based on
Shakespeare's Othello, with Boito as librettist.
D. Otello was completed in 1886.
VI. Otello: the libretto.
A. The 19th century, and Verdi in particular, was fascinated by the
plays of Shakespeare.
B. Shakespeare's extraordinary insights into the human condition and
relationships appealed tremendously to the emotional and literary
spirit of the 19th century.
C. Boito's libretto of Otello is a masterpiece of reduction and
distillation.
D. Ultimately, as in any opera, it was up to Verdi to flesh out the
characters and dramatic situations that Boito, as librettist, had to
abbreviate.
E. The libretto/opera is in four acts.
1. Act 1 presents Otello as a hero.
2. Act 2 presents Otello in doubt.
3. Act 3 reveals Otello's degradation.
4. Act 4 brings about Otello's destruction.
F. Main characters.
1. Two of the three main characters are polar opposites.
a. Desdemona, Otello's wife, is good incarnate.
b. Iago, Otello's sergeant, is evil incarnate.
2. Otello is the man in the middle, whose journey from good to
evil, from control to chaos, is the essential dramatic line of the
play/opera.
VII. Otello, Act 1: Otello as hero.
A. The orchestra plays an extraordinary role in setting the stormy,
symbolic opening scene. Otello' s entrance is one of the most
magnificent in all opera. Verdi manages a huge number of musical
forces in this unique scene. We hear a wide variety of choruses
along with solos, all interacting with each other. Musical example:
the opening of Act 1.
B. Iago and Roderigo are introduced.
Iago's music, with its sing-song, mocking character, is descriptive
of his derision of women. Verdi's music establishes the characters
 of Iago and Roderigo. Musical example: introduction of Iago and Otello that Cassio now possesses this handkerchief. Otello is now
Roderigo. completely blind with jealously and rage. Musical example: "Pace,
C. Iago begins to hatch part one of his plot, the downfall of Cassio. signor" through "Ah! sangue! sangue! sangue!"
He makes sure Cassio has too much to drink. Cassio, as Iago plans, F. Iago and Otello join forces. Their duet of revenge ends Act 2. The
provokes a fight. Otello enters and strips Cassio of his rank. Otello orchestra plays a chilling passage evocative of a descent into hell.
has restored order but has lost his friend in doing so. Musical Musical example: "Si, pel ciel"
example: "Va al porto ... "through Iago's explanation.
IX. Act 3 is about Iago's careful machinations to convince Otello beyond a
D. The transcendent love of Otello and Desdemona is revealed in a shadow of a doubt that Desdemona is unfaithful to him. Otello' s rage is
duet. murderous and uncontrollable.
1. The love duet establishes Desdemona's character.
2. The "kiss" theme at the conclusion of this duet becomes a X. Act 4 is about Desdemona.
hinge theme that will return with a powerful impact at the end A. Desdemona is sixteen or seventeen years old and living in a land
of the opera. Musical example: excerpts from the love duet. far from her home. Her husband has gone quite mad for reasons
she does not understand. Her character is fleshed out in these
VIII. Act 2: Otello in doubt.
moments before her death. She sings of lost love. Musical
A. Act 2 truly belongs to Iago. example: The Willow Song
B. The opening orchestral prelude begins with a violent, slimy figure B. Otello's enters Desdemona's bedroom. From this moment on, the
that characterizes Iago. Iago persuades Cassio to ask Desdemona to opera moves ve:ry swiftly to the final catastrophe. Musical
intercede for him in obtaining Otello's pardon. Musical example: example: Otello's entrance
prelude opening.
C. Otello realizes too late that Desdemona was innocent. He kills
C. Iago's credo is the most amazing aria in the whole opera. himself The kiss theme returns to heighten the pathos. Musical
1. The orchestral introduction in F minor sets the mood of evil. example: conclusion of the opera from "Pria d'ucciderti"
2. Orchestral "infernal" dances play between Iago's verses.
3. Iago's credo is almost a huge recitative, rather than an aria, XI. Concluding remarks.
which would be out of character for him. A. Verdi conceived Otello as an intimate drama, not as a spectacle.
4. Iago is the archetype of evil incarnate. We know now that B. The premiere of Otello was probably the greatest operatic triumph
Otello does not have a chance against him. Iago is in control. of all time.
Musical example: Iago's credo
D. Iago goes to work on Otello. He sows the seeds of jealous
suspicion in Otello as they watch Cassio and Desdemona talking
together. Musical example: "Cio m'accora" through "puo
affermate il sospetto"
E. Iago's poison spreads. Why is Otello reacting so quickly? Otello is
an outsider, thirty years older than his bride and of a different race.
As a result, it does not take much to unnerve him. Iago goads
Otello to increased fury with lies about Cassio talking in his sleep
about his love for Desdemona. The orchestra reflects Otello' s fury.
Otello demands proof, and Iago tells him it exists in the form of the
handkerchief that Otello once gave Desdemona. Iago assures
 Lectures Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four
French Opera
Scope: The purpose of this study of French Opera is to give an overview
of the circumstances surrounding the evolution of a distinctly
French style; to explain why and how French opera is different
from Italian opera, and to emphasize that operatic content, both
musical and dramatic, is most often a function of the language
being set and the politics and economic class of its consumers.
French opera composers discussed include Jean-Baptiste Lully,
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Christoph
Willibald Gluck, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Georges Bizet.
Outline
I. · French opera at its beginning.
A. French-language opera came into being in 1669.
B. This seems a late start compared to that of Italian opera.
C. The comparatively late development of French opera has much to
do with the nature of the French language and the French spirit.
1. The French language is not as well suited to a melismatic
operatic singing style as the Italian language.
2. The French preferred their drama pure, in the theater, and
unsullied by music. , d. Lully's recitatives fall into melodic patterns. (Italian
3. The French regarded theatrical music as an accompaniment to
their favorite stage spectacle, ballet.
D. Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687).
1. Lully is almost singularly responsible for creating a French
language operatic tradition.
2. Italian by birth, Lully was a dancer and musician by training.
3. He came to Paris at the age of fourteen.
4. He quickly developed into a frrst-rate conductor and
composer.
5. Through equal parts talent and scheming, Lully eventually
became master of all music at the court of Louis XIV.
6. Lully's operas incorporated elements from musical and
dramatic genres already popular in France:
a. French classical dramatic literature.
b. Huge, dramatic stage sets and machinery.
c. Ballet.
i. Staged professional dance had been popular
entertainment in France since the 16th century.
ii. Louis XIV fancied himself a dancer and was a
tremendous patron of dance.
iii. Lully realized from the start that if opera was to
become popular in France, it must contain a great
amount of dance.
7. Lully created a French national style of opera that
encompassed magnificence, tragic drama, and dance.
a. Lully' s operas are in five acts with a prologue devoted to
the glorification of Louis XIV.
b. The action unrolls with majestic indifference to realism. It
presents all kinds of improbable adventures. Characters
discourse at length on love and honor.
c. There are rarely any comic characters. Everything is
stately, formal, and detached from reality.
8. Lully' s greatest operatic contribution was his design of a
recitative style suited to the long vowels and soft consonants
of the French language.
a. Lully claimed his model was spoken drama.
b. Lully's recitatives are syllabic: one pitch per syllable.
c. The flexibility of the French language is reflected in the
continuous changes of meter in these recitatives.
recitatives do not have melodic patterns. They just keep
on developing; they are "through composed.")
9. Lully's arias are very different from Italian arias.
a. They tend to be short and limited in vocal range.
b. They emphasize clear enunciation and textural clarity
over vocal acrobatics.
c. They generally do not stand alone as musical numbers,
but tend to be merged with longer musical sequences.
d. They are not the essential events in the opera.
e. They do not use coloratura effects.
f. This vocal style demanded less virtuosity from singers
than the more florid style of Italian opera. Musical
example: Recitative/monologue from Lully' s Armide
(1686)
 E. Conclusions.
1. Lully established opera as an institution of the state.
2. The dignified, formal splendor ofLully's operas embodied the
glorious age of Louis XIV.
3. Their disadvantage is that once the age of Louis XIV passed,
these operas sounded empty and pompous.
4. Their advantage is that they provided the foundation for
generations of French and French-based opera composers.
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764).
A. Rameau was the foremost French musician of the 18th century.
B. Rameau saw himself as the inheritor of a great and majestic
tradition.
C. Hippolyte et Aricie (1733).
1. This is Rameau's first opera.
2. Typical ofLully and other French composers, Rameau's
operas display much less contrast between aria and recitative
than contemporary Italian operas. Musical example: "Ah!
faut-il" from Act 4, scene 1 of Hippolyte et Aricie.
D. Rameau's operas were controversial.
1. The operatic traditionalists, or Lullists, found Rameau's
operas too Italian and, as such, musically subversive.
2. The operatic progressives felt that Rameau was the savior of
an operatic tradition that had grown tired and stale with age.
3. French opera is, unfortunately, rarely heard outside France,
because it is tailored to particular French tastes. Rameau's
music is, however, first rate and worth seeking out.
n. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and the War ofthe Buffoons.
A. Within twenty years the controversy over Rameau's music had
shifted 180 degrees.
1. Rousseau and his followers rejected traditional French opera
and embraced the new Italian comic genre as an example of
opera appropriate to the Enlightenment.
2. Rameau's operas became the tradition against which the new
Enlightenment progressives rebelled.
B. Rousseau and Le Devin du village.
1. Rousseau, among his other talents, was a composer (of sorts).
2. In 1752, inspired by Italian opera buffa, he wrote Le Devin du
village (The Village Soothsayer).
3. Le Devin du village is very close to the popular French
tradition of opera comique. Musical example: excerpt from Le
Devin du village
IV. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787).
A. Gluck was by nature a reformer; he effected a synthesis of
elements of the new Italian opera and of traditional French opera.
B. Though he worked across Europe, Gluck' s greatest fame was
achieved in Paris under the patronage of the Austrian-born French
queen Marie Antoinette. Musical example: Orfeo ed Euridice, Act
2, scene 1.
C. There were two major influences on Gluck's work:
1. His growing familiarity with traditional French opera;
2. The spirit of the Enlightenment. In operatic terms this
translated into an artistic goal of a non-formulaic, simple,
unaffected expression of human feelings. In practical terms
this meant that Gluck had to reign in his singers!
D. Gluck's version of the story of Orpheus: Orfeo ed Euridice.
1. The arias are melodically simple and emotionally direct.
2. The recitatives have a very high melodic content, irregular
phrase structures and rhythmic flexibility. Everything is
accompanied.
3. Dance, hitherto a secondary element, is now integral to the
action.
4. Gluck relies heavily on a chorus. This is uniquely French.
5. The high degree of integration of dance, chorus and solos is
noteworthy. Musical example: Act 2, scene 1 of Orfeo ed
Euridice
E. Gluck's operas became a model for the next generation of French
composers. They proved that it was possible to maintain the great
tradition of French operatic pomp and magnificence while
adhering to the spirit and new melodic naturalness of the
Enlightenment.
V. French opera in the 19th century.
A. Paris became the operatic capital of Europe during the first half of
the 19th century.
 B. Typical of French operatic tradition, early-19th-century French
opera celebrated heroic figures, heightened dramatic situations,
and magnificence.
C. Grand opera.
1. By the 1820s French grand opera had come into being.
2. As royal patronage dwindled, opera increasingly became a
middle-class entertainment to which the spectacular and
dramatically obvious grand operas were designed to appeal.
3. These operas indulged the French taste for grand spectacles
and crowd scenes with lots of characters all singing at the
same time.
4. Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864).
a. Meyerbeer almost singlehandedly established French
grand opera.
b. He was born in Berlin as Jakob Liebmann Beer.
c. He composed operas in both German and Italian before
moving to France, where he earned fame and fortune.
d. His operas have fallen into almost total obscurity. They
were intended as popular entertainment and lack the
musical and dramatic substance necessary to remain in the
repertory.
e. Nevertheless, Meyerbeer was particularly famous (and
imitated widely) for his ability to manage large numbers
of singers, dancers and choristers on stage. Musical
example: conclusion of Act 2 from Les Huguenots
D. Opera comique.
1. Opera comique developed alongside grand opera.
2. Opera comique employed spoken dialogue rather than
recitative, and it featured somewhat less pretentious
productions than grand opera.
3. Composers of opera comique include Jacques Offenbach,
whose operas are still performed today.
E. Lyric opera.
1. Lyric opera represents a sort of halfway point between grand
opera and opera comique. Like opera comique, lyric opera
often uses spoken dialogue and directly appealing melodies.
Like grand opera, lyric opera tends toward grandiosity.
l"IQ /f'\100'7 'T'J..~ 'T'---1..~-- r'<------·
2. Included in this classification are Charles Gounod's Faust, and
Romeo and Juliet; Camille Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah,
and Georges Bizet's Carmen.
F. Georges Bizet (1838-1875) and Carmen (1875).
1. Carmen remains one of the most beloved and :frequently
performed and adapted operas in the repertory.
2. Bizet lived a short and unhappy life. He died nearly penniless
three months after the premiere of Carmen.
3. Carmen is about two very different people and their mutual
destruction. It is a frank and powerful look at the brutal and
transformational power of sex and desire, violence and fate.
a. Carmen is the embodiment of temptation and primal,
destructive sexuality.
· b. Don Jose is destroyed by his own sexuality, unleashed
and set aflame by Carmen.
4. The card scene in Act 2 of Carmen is an example of operatic
drama at its most powerful. In this scene Carmen no longer
finds Don Jose sexually appealing and tells him so. She makes
it clear that she has no intention of being dominated by any
man. Two of Carmen's friends are telling each other's
fortunes with a deck of cards. Carmen joins them. She reads
death in the cards. The musical motive associated with
Carmen's ultimate fate is heard as she turns over the cards.
While her two friends sing their cheerful refrains, Carmen
sings her fatalistic aria. Her acceptance of her fate imbues her
with tragic beauty. Musical example: the card trio from Act
Two of Carmen.
 Figaro Figaro
II barbiere di SivjgJia (Fig1lro offitage) (Figaro ()ffitage)
The Barber ofSeville (1816) La la la fa la la la la la la. La la la la la la la la la la.
Gioacchino Rossini Conte Count
Libretto by Cesare Stcrbini
Chee mai quesr'impommo? Who i$ this coming now?
ACT ONE Lasciamolo passar; 1'11 lcr him go by;
sorto quegli archi uon ve<luto unseen, under this archway,
Scene One vc<lrc> (pt:rnto M~ogm~. I <.:au 1'<.'<.' what I waot.
Gi?t I'alba appare Dawn is already here
Just hdore sunrise. A small piazza iu Seville with narrow streets running off
e amor non si vergogna. but love is not sby.
in aH directions. Dr. BartoJo's house is centerstage; it lias a smalJ balcony (//(· hirln)
(He hides.)
overlooking the piazztl, a.hove tlte front door.
--0-
1N·mooucnoN
(Fiorello, servant to Count Almaviva, enters slotuly. mrveying the scene, urging (Figaro enters with a guitar ar<Jund his neck.}
his hired musicians to follow him. The musicians tune their instruments, and the CAVA1'tNA: "Largo al facrotum"
Count sings. accompanied hy them)
Figaro Figaro
CiWATtNA: "Ecco, ridcnre in ddo"
Ji( 51
La ran la le ra la ran la la. La ran la le rn la ran la la.
Conte Count
Largo al factotum Make way for the factotum
Ecco, ridente in cido Lo, in the smiling sky, delJa dtra. ofd1edty.
spunta la bella aurora, the lovely dawn is breaking La ran la Ja, etc. La ran la la, etc.
e tu non sorgi ancora and you are not awake. Presto a bottega Rushing to his shop
c puoi dormir cosi? 'and you are still asleep? che l'aJba e gia for chtwn is here.
Sorgi. mia docle speme, Arise, my sweetest love, La ran la la. etc. La ran la Ja, etc.
vieni, bell'i<lol mio, oh come, my rreasured one, Ah. che bel vivere, What a merry fife,
rendi men cruclo, oh Dio, sofien the pain, oh God, che bel piacere, what gay pleasures
lo stral chc tni feri. of the dart which pierces me. per un barbiere di qualita for a harbcr of quality.
jf' ..::-1'
--0- Ah, bravo Figaro. Ah. bravo Figaro.
Conte Count Bravo, bmvissimo, bravo! Bravo, bravissimo, bravo!
La ran la fa, etc. La ran la la, ett·.
Che a quest'ota io tutti giorni qui She must have noticecl that I come
Fonunatissimo Most fortunate of men,
vengo per lei dev'essersi avveduta. here every day at this time to see
Oh, vedi. amore a un uomo del her. Oh, just see what love has done per verita. Bravo! indeed you are!
La ran la la, etc. la ran fa la. etc.
mio rango come l'ha fatca beHa! to a man of my rank!
'1J '1J
Eppure, eppurd oh! dev'essere Yet, yet ... oh. she must be
Pronto a far tuno Ready for everything
tnia sposa ... my britle .. .
la notte, ii giorno. by night or by day,

J'.l.{I {(')1007 Th~ T~~~i..:-- " - - - - - - -

 sempre d'intorno always in hustle, C' C'
in giro sta.. in constant motion. Ehil Figaro: son <JUat Ho, Figaro! I am here!
Miglior cuccagna A better tor. Figaro <1ua, Figaro la, Figaro here. Figaro there,
per un barbiere, for a barber, Figaro su, Figaro giu. Figaro up, Figaro down.
vita pii1 nobHe. a nobler life Pronto, prontissimo Quicker and quicker
no, non si di\. does not exist. son come ii fulmine, I go like gm1scd Jightning.
La la ran la la ran la, etc. La la ran la la ran la, etc. sono ii factotum make way for the facrocum
'}J' 'lJ'
delta ciua. of the city.
Rasori e petdni. Razors and combs,
C" C"
lancette e forbid. lancets and scissors,
Ah, bravo, Figaro, Ah, bravo, Figaro,
Al mio comando at my command
bravo, bravissimo, bravo, hravissimo,
tutto qui sta. everything's ready.
V'e la risorsa a re la fortuna on you good fonune
Then there are "extras,"
poi del mestiere, part of my trade non manchera. will always smile.
colta donneua, business for ladies La la ran la, etc. La la ran la, etc.
col cavaliere ..• and cavaliers .•. Sono ii factotum della dtta. I am the factotum of rhe dry.
La la ran la ... la ... la. La la ran la ... la ... la.
Ah, die bd vivere, Ah what a merry life,
che bel piacere> what gay pleasures,
--0-
per un barbiere di qualita. for a barber of quality.
c c Figaro Figaro
Tutti mi chiedono, AU call for me,
tutti mi vogliono. all want me.
(m1ding aloud the note from Rosina) (reading 11/oud the note from Rosina)
donne ragazz.i, ladies and children, "Le vostre assiJue premure hauno «'Your constant aucntions have
vecchi, fanciuHe. old men and maidens. ecdtata la mia curiosita. II mio aroused my curiosity. My guardian
Qua la parrucca, I need a wig. tmore eper ttsdr di casa; appena si is just leaving;. as soon as he's gone.
presto la barba, I want a shave, sara allontanato> procurate con find some ingenious means to tell
qua la sanguigna, leeches to bleed me, quakhe mezzo ingegnoso me your name, your rank and your
presco ii higlieuo. here, take this note. d'indicarmi ii vostro nome, ii vostro intentions. I can never appear on
Tuui mi d1iedono, All call for me, stato e le voscre imenzioni. lo non the balcony except in the strict
tutti mi vogliono. :lH want me, posso gfammai comparire al company of my tyrant. Rest assured,
Qua la panucca I need a wig, balcone, senza l'indivisibil~ however, thac unforcunate Rosina is
presto la batba, I wane a shave, compagnia cld mio tiranno. Siatc prepared to do anything to break
presto abiglietto. here, take this note. pero certo, che CUtto e disposta a her chains."
Ehi, Figaro. Figaro, l•igaro, etc. Ho, Figaro, Pig:uc>t l<igaro, etc. fare, per rompere le sue catene, la
']) '})
sventurata Rosina ... ••
Ahime! che furia! I-leavens! What a commotion!
Ahimef che foHa! Heavens! What a crowd! --0-
Uno alla volta, per carita. One at a time~ for pityts sake.
 Conte Count ffgaro Figaro
U nome mio non le vo'dir l don't want to teU her my name E' un vecchio fodemoniato, Me's an oJd devil,
ne ii grado: assicuranni or my rank: I first avaro. sospettoso, brontolone, miserly, suspicious, ctahbed,
vo' pria ch'dfa ami me, want to be sure that she loves me avra cent'anni indosso he must be a hundred
me solo al rnondo. aml me alone jn alJ the world~ e vuol fare ii galance: but wants to play the gallant"
non le ricchezze e i titoJi not the wealth and tides indovinate? Per mangiare and just imagine, so as to enjoy
del come Almaviva. of Count AJmaviva. a Rosina tutta l'eredita s'e Rosina's entire legacy he's
fitto in capo di volerla sposare. taken it into his head to marry her.
--0- Aiuto! Help!
Scene Two
--0--
A courtyard in Barr:ofo's house.
CJ\VATINJ\: "Una voce poco fa" Rosina Rosina
Rosina Rosina Qual biglietto? What note?
(a ktter in her hand) (a ktter in her hand) Bartolo Bartolo
Una voce poco fa The voice I heard just now
Che serve! Oh, what's the use?
qui nd cor mi risuouo. has thrilled my very heart.
II mio cot ferito e gi~ L'arieua ddl'htutil Precauzione The note which you dropped this
My heart already is pierced
c:he ti cadde staman gill dal balcone. mowing from the balcony.
e Lindot-0 fu che and it was Lindoro who
Vi fate rossa? You're blushing, eh?
ii piagb. hurled the dart.
(Avessi indovinato!) (If only rd guessed!)
Sl, Lindoro mio sara, Yes, Lindoro shall be mine,
Che vuoJ dir questo dito What is the meaning
1o giurai, la vincero. I've sworn j(, rn succeed.
(He seizt.t Rosi11t1 sfinger) {He seizes Rosina Jfinger)
U tutor rkusera, My guardian won't consent,
cosi sporco d'inchiostro? of your ink-stained finger?
io t'ingegno aguzzero. but I will sharpen my wits,
aUa fin s' acchetera. aiul ar last, he wiJJ relent, Rosina Rosina
e concenta io restero. and I sl1aJI be content.
Sporco? Oh! NulJa. Stained? Oh! Nothing.
Sl, Lindoro etc. Yes, Lindoro, etc.
lo me t'avea scottato I burned myself
lo sono docile, I 1un docile. e coll'inchiostro and I uml the inlc1
son rispcuosa, I am respeccfuJ, or l'ho meclicato. as a me<ticine,
sono obbedientc, I am obedient,
dolce. amorosa. sweet and lovh1g. Bartolo Bartolo
Mi la.sdo reggere, J can be ruled, (Diavolo!) (Tbe devit!)
mi fo guidar. I can be guided. (Ile coimts the sheets ofpaper 011 the (He co11nts the slueti cfpaper 011 the
Mase mi toccano But if crossed in love, table.) table,)
dov'e ii mio deboie. I can be a viper, E (1uesti fogli ... Afl(l these sheets of p•~per ...
saro una viperaJ saro, and a hundred tricks or son dnque. eran set there are five now. there were six.
e cento ttappole J shalJ play
prima di ccdere furo giocar. Rosina Rosina
before they have their way.
Que' fogli? E vero. The note paper? You are tighr.
lo sono docile. etc. I am dodle, etc.

l'.lLl a"l1007 Th,, T,,.,.~h;~~ r-~-----·

 Altlll.: "A un dottor dcll;i mia so1tc"
D'uno mi son servita a m:m<lar I used one to wrap the sweets
cle'c.:onfeni a Marcellina. .1 sent to Marcellina. Bartolo Bartolo
A un ,.fottor <leHa min so rte l~or a doec<H of my standing
Bartolo Bartolo
queste scuse, s&gnotina, these excuses, Signorina,
l>ravissima! Bravissima! vi consiglio. mia cadna, I advise you. my dear d1il<l.
(fie picks up the pen) (He piclu up the pm) un po'ntegUo a imposturar. to invent a little better.
Ela penna~ And the pen) Meglio! Meglio! Meglio( Meglio! Better! Better! Better! Better!
l'erche fo temperata? why was it shaq>enecl? I confetti aUa ragazza Sweers for Marcellina!
Rosina Rosina
a ricmno sul tamburo! A design for your embroidery!
Vi scottaste, eh via! And the scalding of your finger!
(Maladeuo!) La peona! · (Heavens!) The pen! Ci vuol alcro. figHa mia, It takes more than that. my girl,
Per disegnare un fiore sul tnmburo. To draw a flower to embroider. per potermi corhdlar. to deceive me with success.
Altro! Altro! Altro! Altro! More! Mot·c! More! Mord
Bartolo Bartolo
J>erche manca ta quel fogllo? Why is chat sheet of paper missing?
Un Gore! A flower! Vo'saper cotesto imbroglio. I mean to find out what's going on.
Rosina Rosina Sooo inutm le smorfle; No, coaxing is useless.
fcrma l~ non mi toccate. Keep away, don't touch me.
Un fiore. A flower.
FigUa mia, non lo sperntc No my dear sirl, give up alt hope
Bartolo Bartolo ch'io mi lasd infinocchiar. that ru let mysdfbe fooled.
A un donor ddla mia sorte For a doctor of my slauding
Ut1 fiord All! 1-:rnschetta! A flower! Old You minx!
queste scuse. signorina, d1ese excuses, Signorina,
Rosina Rosina vi consiglio, mia carina I advise you, my dear d1ild,
Davvcr. It is the truth. un po' meglio a impostumr. m invent a liule hetter.
Via carina, confessate. Come, clear chilcl, confess it all.
Bartolo Bartolo Sun <lisposto a perdonar. I am prepared co pardon you.
Zitto. Sile11ce. Non pnrlate? Vi ostinatd You don't answer? You are stubhom?
So ben io qucl che ho da far. Then 1 know well what I'll do.
Rosina Rosina
Credete ... Believe me ... Signor.ina, un' altra volta Signorina, another time
quando B:.molo andra fuod when Bartolo muse leave the house
Bartolo Bartolo la consegna ai servitori he'll give orders to the servants
Basra cosi. Enough of this. a suo modo far sapra. who will see you stay inside.
Ah! non servono le smorfte Now your pouting will not belp you
Rosina Rosina faccia pur la gatta morta. nor your injured innocence.
Signor ... Sir ... Cospcnon! per queUa potta, l here assure you, through tbac door
nemmcn l'aria enuar potr?t. the very air frsdf won't enter.
Bartolo Bartolo
Non piii ... tacete. No more ... be quiet. E Rosina innocentina, Am.I little innocent Rosina,
sc.-unsolata, disperara, drsconsolate and in despair,
-0--

Eh! non servono le smorflc.
facda pur fa gatta mott'1.
Cosp-etton! pet queUa porta
nemmcn I'aria emrar potra.
E Rosina innoceudna,
sconsolata, disperacn,
in sua camera serrata;
fin cb·io voglio star d.ovr~.
Un donor dcUa mia sorce
non si lasda inftnocch~ar.
E Rosina innoccntin;l. etc.
(Exit]
--0-
Ffgaro
Eun solenne imbroglion
di rnacrimoni,
un collo tono. un vcro <lispcrato,
sempre senza un quandno .. ,
Gia. e maestro di musica.
insegna aUa ragazza.
-0--
Don Basilio
Cosl, con buona grazia.
bisogna principiare
a inventar quakhe favola che al
pubblico lo metta in. mala vista,
che cornparir lo facda un
uomo infarne. un'anima perduta. , .
io, io vi serv(to;
fra quattro giorni, credete a me,
Basilio ve lo giura1
noi lo farem sloggiar
da queste mura.
--0--
now your pouting will not hdp you.
nor your injured iunocence,
I. here assure you. through that door
the very air itself won't enter.
And little innocent Rosina,
disconsolate and in despairt
in her chamber shall he locked
so long as I see flt.
For a doctor of 1ny standing
does not let himself be fooled,
And Hrtle innocent Rosina~ etc.
{Exit)
Figaro
A faltlous intriguing
matdunaker,
a hypocrite. a goo<l-for~nothing,
witb nevet a penny in his pocket ...
He has lately turned music-maker,
an<{ teaches chis girt
Don Basilio
Just this, that plausibly,
we must begin
to invent a story which wiH
put him in a bad Jighr with
the public, making him seem a
man of infumy, a doomed soul ...
I shaU anend to this;
within four days,
on the word of Basilio.
he'll be thrown out
of this town.
/UUA~
Don Basilio
La calunnia ~ un vemicello
un 'auretta assai gentile
che insensibilei sottile,
leggermente, dokememe,
incominda a sussurrar.
Piano piano, terra terra,
sottovoce. sibilando,
va scorrendo~ va ronzando.
Nell' orecchie clclla gente,
s'introduce destramence
e le tesce ed i cervelli
fo stordire e fa gonfiar.
Dalla bocca fuori uscen<lo
lo schiamazzo va crescendo,
prende forza a poco a poco,
vola gia di loco in loco.
sembra ii mono. la tempesra
che nel sen della foresta
va fischiando, brontolando,
E ti fa d'orror gelar.
Aila fin trabocca e scoppia,
si propaga. si rad<loppia,
e produce un •esplosione
come un colpo di cannone,
un tremuoto, un temporale,
un tumuho genernlei
che fa l'aria rimbombar.
Eii meschino calunniato,
avviliro, calpestato,
Sotto apubbJico flageUo,
per gran sorte va a crepar.
"Lt calunnia ~ un venticcUn"
Don Basilio
Slander is a little breeze,
a genrle zephyr,
which insensibly, subcly,
lightly and sweetly,
commences to whisper.
Softly softly, here and there,
sottovoce, sibilant,
ic goes gliding, ir goes rambling.
Into rhe eats of the people,
it penetrates slyly
and the head and the brains
it stuns and ic swells;
farom the mouth re·emerging
the noise grows crescendo,
gachers force little by little,
runs its course from place to place,
seems the tlumcler of the tempest
which from the depths of the forest
comes wltlstling, muttering.
freezing everyone in horror.
Finally with crack and crash,
it spreads afield, its force redoublcd1
and produces an explosion
like the outburst of a cannon,
an earthquake. a whirlwind,
a general uproar,
which makes rhe air resound.
And the poor slandered wrerch.
vilified. trampled down~
sunk heneath the public tash.
by good fortune, falls to death.
-0---
 ACT TWO Bartolo Bartolo
Musk lesson L'aria cikca "Giannina/' The aria says "Gianoina."
Rosina Rosina ma io dico ~'Rosina ... " but I say "Rosina ... "
"Quando mi sci vicina "When you are near me,
Cara immagine ri<lcntc, Dear smHing image, amabife Rosina, sweet Rosina,
do lee idea d' un lkto amor, sw~et thought of happy love,
ii cor mi briHa in petto. my heart glows in my hrcast.
tu m'acccudi in petto. acore. you buru in my bte<isr. in my heart.
Mi hatla ii minuctto ... " it dances a minuet ... "
Tu mi porti a delfrad etc. I am delirious with joyf etc.
(he da.nces a cottrtly step; Figaro (he dances a courtly step; Figaro
Caro, a te mi tac\!omando. Dearest. in you I put my trust,
tu mi safva. pet pietM please, come save me, for pityJs sake! imitates him behind his back.) imitates him behind his back.)
tu mi porti a delirar! 1 am delirious with joy!
Recitative
Recitative
Conte Count Bartolo Bartolo
BeUa voce! Bravissima! A beautiful voice! Bravissima1 (catching sight ofFigaro} (catching sight ofFigaro)
Bravo, signor harbieret ma bravo! Bravo, Signor Barber, brnvo!
Rosina Rosina
Figaro Figaro
Oh! Mille grazie! Oh! A thousand thanks!
Eh, niente affauo, scusi, Excuse me please,
Bartolo Bartolo son dcbolcz.ze ..• it was a moment of weakness ...
(wnki11g up and crossillg to harpsi~ (waking ttp a11d croui11g to harpsi~ Bartolo Bartolo
chord) chord)
Certo, bella voce! Truly1 a beautiful voice! Ebben, guidone, Well, you rascal,
Ma cospetto, quest'aria! But this aria. damnation! che vicni a fare? what are you here for?
eassai noiosa. I~ is mher tiresome.
Figaro Figaro
La musica a mid tempi Musk in my day,
era altra cosa. was quite another thing. Oh, beHa! Yengo a farvi Ja barba! Here for! Here to shave you.
AM Quando~ per esernpio, cantava Ah! When, for instance. Oggi vi tocca. 'l'his is your <lay.
CaffarieHo quell'aria portemosa Caffariello sang that wondetful aria
Bartolo Bartolo
La ra la la la ..• semite, La ra la la la •.. listeh,
Don Alonso, cccola qua. Don Alonso, bere it is. Oggi non voglio. I don't wish ic today.
Arietta Figaro Figaro
"Quando mi sei vicina, ..When you are near met
Oggi non vuol? Today you don't wish it?
amabile Rosina .•.n sweet Rosina ... "
Domani non potro io. Tomorrow I can't come.
Conte Count
Bartolo Bartolo
Varia dicea "Giannina" The aria says "Giannina"
(Figaro ent.ers and hides behind {Figaro enters 11.nd hides behind Pcrchc? Why not?
Bttrtolc.) Bartolo.)

Figaro
(co11s11lting his JJfJtehook)
Perche ho <ht fare.
A tutti gli UfHzfoti
c.fel nuovo reggimento
barba e tenat
aUa Marchesa An(lronica
ii biondo parrudtin
coi inarone , ..
Al Contino Bombe
ii ciuffo a campanile ...
purganre an· awocato
Bernardone che ie.-i
. s'ammalo d'indigestione.
Epoi ... epoi ...
cite serve?
Doman non posso.
Bartolo
Orsu, meno parole.
Oggi non vo' fat barba.
--0-
Figaro
(consulting hi.c notebook)
Because I slmlJ he husy.
For all the o flicel's
of the new regiment,
shave and haircut.
for the Marquise Andronica
her hlomf e wig
tinted brown ...
For the young Count Bombe
forelock to curl ...
A purge for the lawyer
Bernardone who yesterday
fell ill with indigestion.
And then ..• and then ...
but why continue?
Tomorrow J cannot come.
Bartolo
Come. less chatter.
Today I do not want to be shaved.
La Traviata
(1853)
Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piavc
ACT ONE
A salon in Violeuats house.
(Violetta is conversing with her doctor and severalfi·iends. Other guests arrive,
among them the Baron Douphol. and Flora Bervoix, who is escorted by the
Marquis d'Obigny.)
Guests Guests
Odl'invico trascorsa e gia l'ora, It's already past tnvitatiou time,
voi cardasre. you•re late.
Giocmnmo da Plom, We were gaml>liug at Flora's.
c giocando quell'ore volar. and when we gamble, time flies.
Violetta Violetta
(greeting the entering guests} (greeting the entering guest.r)
Fiora, amid, la notte che resta Flora, dear friends, let's make joyful
d'alue gioie qui face britlar. and bright what is left of the night.
l'ra le tazze ptu viva e la festa. When wine flows. the party is gayer.
Flora and Marquis flora and Marquis
E godet voi pottete? Are you weU enough to have a good
time?

Violetta Violetta
Lo voglio; I wane co.
al piaccrc m'afftdo, I make a habit of pleasure.
cd io soglio con tal farmaco Ies the best medicine
i mali sopir. for my illness.

Flora, Baron, Marquis, Doctor, Guests
S\, la vita s'addoppia al gioir.
{G1utone, Viscount ofLetorieres, enters
ivith Alfredo Germo11t and goes to
Violetta.)
Flora 1 Baron~ Marquis, Doctor, Guests
Yes, life is made for pleasure.
(Gas.tone, Viscoultt ofLetorieres, enters
with Alftedo Germont and goes ta
Violetta.)
Gas tone Gastone Gastone Gastone
In Alfredo Germonr, o signora. Here is AJfredo Germonti dear lady; (whispering to Viole/la) (whispering to Vioktt1t)
1
ecco un altro che rnolro v onora; he is another of your admirers; Sempre Alfredo a voi pensa. Alfredo js always thinking about you.
pochi amid a Jur simiH sono. few friends are Hke him.
Violetta Violetta
Violetta Violetta Scherzace! You must be jokingt
(giving her hand to A/ftedo, who kisses (giving her hand to Aifi-edo;. who kisses it)
Gastone Gastone
it) Mio visconre, merce di tal dono. I thank you. Viscounc. for such a favor..
Egra foste, When you were ilJ,
Marquis Marquis c ogni dl con affanno qui volo, he hurried here each day,
Caro Alfredo. Dear Alfredo. di voi chiese. anxious to find out: if you were betrer.

Alfredo Alfredo Violetta Violetta

Marchese. Marquis. Cessate. NuUa son io per lui. Be stHL 1 don't mean a thing to him.

Gastone Gastone Gastone Gastone

{to Alfredo) {to Affeedo) Non v'inganno. r tn not fooling.

T'ho detto. L'amista qui s'intrecda al You see, I told you so. Here friendship
Violetta Violetta
diletto. is entwined wirh pleasure.
{to Alfredo} (to Alfredo)
Violetta Violetta Vero e dunque? Onde cio? Then it's true? But why?
(to servants, busy at the dinner table) (to servants, busy at the dinner table) Nol comprendo. I don• t understand.
Pronto ~ il mtto? Is everything re-ady? Alfredo
Alfredo
(as a servant gestures yes) (as 11 servant gestures yes}
Miei cari, sedece; ·My dear ones, he seated; (righing) {sighing)
eal convito che s' apre ogni cor. it's at feasting that hearts sweU. St egli e ver. Yes ies true.

Violetta Violetta
Guests Guests
(to Alfi·edo} {toAlftedlJ)
Ben diceste. Well said.
Le mie grazie vi rendo. My thanks to you.
Le cure scgrete fuga Wme is ever a friend
(to the Baron) (to the Baron)
sempre ramico lie.or. who banishes secret cares.
Voi, harone, non fcste altrettanto. Baron, you weren, t so devoted a swain.
(They seat them1elves at the tabk: (They seat tb4mselves .-it the tabl.e:
Violetta is u;ith Alftedo and Gastone; Violetta is with A/ficdo and Ga.stone; Baron Baron
Flora is between the Marquis and the Fhra i; between the Marquis and the Vi conosco da un anno soltanto, I've known you for only a year.
Barbn.) Baron.)
Violetta Violetta
AH All
Ed ci solo da qualche minute. And he for only a few moments.
Eal convtto che s'apre ogni cor. And it's at feasting that aU hearts sweH.
Flora Flora The Others The Others
{sojily to th~ Baron} (s()ftly t(} the Bmvn) (except Alfredo 1md the BarQn.) (except Alfredo and the Barcn)
Meglio fora se ave.ste taciuco. It would have been beuer ro keep srifl. S\, si, un btindisi. Ycs, yes, a toast.

Baton Baron Alfredo Alfredo

{softly) (J·ofilyJ L'cscro non m'arride. rm not in the right spirir.
M't increscioso quel giovin. I've taken a dislike to that young man.
Gastone Gas tone
flora flora
E non sei tu maestro? Can't you conquer your mood?
Perche? Why?
A me invece simparko egli e. On clte contrary, l find him attractive. Alfredo Alfredo
Gas tone Gastone (to Violetta) (to Violetta)
Vi fia graco? Would that please you?
{to A/ftedo) (to Alft~do)
E tu dunque non apri piu boccar And aren't you going to open your Violetta Violetta
mouth?
St Yes.
Marquts Hatqufs
Alfredo Alfredo
(to Violetta) (to VMettu)
Ea madama cite scuoterlo tocca. h's up to the lady to prompc him. Sl? eho gilt in cor. Really? Then it's already in my heart.

Vtoletta Violetta Marquis Marquis

(po11ring wine for Alfredo} (potJring wine for Alfredo} Dunque attend, Now listen,
Saro l'Ebe cbe versa. l'U be Hebe, rbe Cupbcarcr. attenti al cantor! listen to the singer!

Alfredo Alfredo The Others The Others

E ch 'io bramo immortal And what I long for is that you, (except A/ftedo) (except Alfredo)
come queJla. like het, shoufcl be immortal. Sl, auenri al cantor! Yes, listen to the singer!
AU All
Bcvfamo. Beviamo, beviam! Let's drink Let's drink. drtnk! -0--

Gastone Gastone Alfredo Alfredo

(tq th~ BaMn)
0 barone, ne un verso. ne un viva
troverete in quesr• ora giuliva?
(m the Baron declints. (lasltme turns to
Alfredo)
Dunquea te.
(to the Baron) Libiamo nc' liete calid, Let us <lrink from festive cups
Eh~ Uaron. haven't you a rhyme che la belleLZa infiora: that with beauty are adorned,
or a t0<1st for •his merry hour? e la fuggevol ora and the fleecing hour
(as lhe /fmvm tkdiues, Gmtoue tflrm to s'innebrii a voluna. with sensuous pleasure wiU be replete.
Alfredo) Libiam ne' dolci fremiti Let us drink with sweet ex:dtement
Now it's up to you. d1e susdta I'amore. arising out oflove;
(turning toward Violetta) (tttrning toward Vioktta)
 Alfredo Alfredo
poid1e quell' occhio al core beciuse of a glance that reigns Voi soffrire. You're in pain.
onniporente va. supreme, after havh1g pierced the
The Others The Others
Libiamo, amore, amor fra i cahd heal"t. Let us drink, love, fur within
piu caldi baci avra. the cup He the warmest kisses oflove, {except Alfiwlo) (except A!fi·edo)
-"-etc,- -etc.·- Oh. cicl, ch'e quesm? Oh. heavens, what's this?

Violetta Violetta
--0--- Un crcmiw che provo. A faintness rhar will pass.
Or la passare; Go ahead;
Violetta Violetta
fra poco ;;inch 'io saro. l'1l join you in a little while.
Non gradireste ora le danze? And now shaH we dance?
The Others The Others
The Others The Others
(except Alfi·edo) (except Alfredo}
Oh, il gentil pensier! Oh. what a happy idea! Come bramale. As you wish.
Tutti accettiamo. We aJl accept. (All the gums except A/frerio go to the (All the guests except Alfredo go to the
Violetta V'ioletta other room.) other room.)
Usciamo dunque! Then let's go. Violetta Violetta
(suddenly turning pale} (suddenly turningpak) (swdying herselfin the rnirr01) (smdying herselfin the mirror)
Ohime! Oh!
Oh, qual pallor! Oh, how pale 1 am!
The Others TheOtheft {turning and seeing Alfredo) (tuming fllul seeing Alfredo)
Voiqui! You here?
Cheavetd What ails you?
Alfredo Alfredo
Violetta Violetta
Cessata e l'ansia che vi turbo? ls chat pain srill bothering you?
NuUa, nulla. Nothing, nothing.
Violetta Violetta
The Others The Others
Sto mcglio. I feel better.
Che mai v'arresta? But what stopped you?

Violetta Violetta Alfredo Alfredo

Usciamo- Letusgo- Ah, in coral gui.sa v'ucciderete. Ah, this life you' re leading wiU kill you
(as rhe takes a ftw steps but is forced to (as she takes a fow steps but is farad to Aver v'e d'uopo cum dell'esser vostro, You muse cake care of yourself.
halt and sit down) haft and sit down)
Oh, Dio! Oh, my God! Violetta Violetta
E lo potrci? How could I?
lheOthers The Others
(except Alftedo) (except Alftetk) AllYedo Alfredo
Ancora! Again! Oh, se mia foste, Oh, if you were mine,
custode veglierd pe' vostri soavi dt I'd watch over your gende existence.
Alfredo Alfredo
Violetta Violetta
Ah, st, da un anno! Ah, yes, for a year!
Che dite? What did you say?
Un d} fdice ctcrca One happy, heavenly day
Ha forsa alcuno cura di me? Is there one who cares about me?
mi baJcnaste innantc, your beauty shone before me,
Alfredo Alfredo c da quel d\ trcmantc, and since th;lt day. so momenrous,
vissi d'ignoro amor. J have adored you in secret.
Perche nessuno al monclo v'ama? Does no one in the world love you? Di qudl'amor ch'e palpito, Out of such a love so tremulous,
dell'universo incero, out of the universe so heavenly,
Violetta Violetta
crocc e ddiz.ia al cor. mysccriously, sorrow and gladness
Nessun! No one! come to the heart

Alfredo Alfredo -0---

T ranne sol io. Except me. Rigoletto
(1851)
Violetta Violetta
Giuseppe Verdi
Gli evero! Thac' s crue!
Libretto by Francesco Marja Piave
Sl grande amor dimenticato avea. I'cl forgotten about that great love.
ACT ONE
Alfredo Alfredo
Scene Seven
Ridete! E in voi v'ha un core? Laugh, then! And have you a heart?
Rigoletto Rigoletto
Violetta Violetta (Qud vecd1io maJedivami!) (That old man cursed md}
Un cor? S\, forse- A hearc? Yes. perbaps- Sparafucite
Sparafudle
e a che lo richiedete? w:hy do you ask?
Signor? ... Sir?
Alfredo Alfredo
Rigoletto Rigoletto
Ah, se do fosse, Ah, if that were true, Va, non ho niente. I have no money.
non potreste allora celiar. you wouldn't be able to make light ofit.
Sparafucile Sparafucile
Violetta Violetta
Ne ii chiesi. .. a voi presence I asked for none. Before you
Di te clavvero? Are you sincere? un uom di spada sea. stands a man who lives by his sword.

Alrredo Alfredo Rigoletto Rigoletto

lo non vinganno. rm not deceiving you. Un ladro? A robber?

Violetta Violetta Sparafucile Sparafudle

Un uom che libera A man who for a modest fee
Da molto e die mi amate? Have you loved me for long?
per poco da un rivale. would rid you of a rival.
E voi ne avete ... You must have one.
--0--
 Rigoletto Rigoletto
Rigoletto Rigoletto
Cmnpreodo. I understand.
Quaid Who?
Sparafudle Sparafudle
$parafucile Sparafucile
Senz.a st.repito ... Not a sound.
ta vosrra don na ela. Your lady Jives here.
Equcsw ii mio stnunento. An.d here's my instrument,
Rigoletto Rigoletto (sh(IWS his sword) (shows his swon/)
Vi serve? Can I serve you?
(Che scnto!) E quamo spendere (Whac does he know?) How much
per un signor dovrci? would you charge for a nobleman? Rigoletto Rigoletto
Sparafucile Sparafucile No ... al momento. Not at the moment.
Prezzo maggior vorrd .•• That would be more expensive ...
Sparafutile Sparafucile
Rlgoretto Rigoletto Peggio per voi ... So nmch the worse.
Com'usas{ pagar? How are you paid?
Rigoletto Rigoletto
Sparafucile Sparafucile Chi sa? ... Who knows when?
Una mega s'amicipa, Haff in advance,
il resco si da poi. .. rhc rest afccrwar<ls. Sparafucile Sparafucile

Rigoletto Rigoletto
Sparafudl mi nomtno ... Sparafudle's my name.
(Demonio!) E come puoi {The demon!} And how can you Rigoletto Rigoletto
canto securo oprar?" work so securely?
Straniero? A foreigner?
Sparafuc:He Spatafudfe
Sparafucile Sparafucile
Soglio in ciuadc uccidere, ,l kill my man in the cown
oppure nd mio cetto. or under my own roof; Borgognone... Fwm Burgundy.
L'uomo di sera aspetto; I wait for him at night.
Una stoccata e muor. One thrust, and he's dea<l. Rigoletto Rigoletto
E dove an' occasione?. "· And where, if I need you?
Rigoletto Rigoletto
(Demonio!) E come in <.-asa? An<l in your own house? SparafucUe Sparafudle
Qui sempre a sera. Here, every evening.
Sparafudle Sparafudte
Efacile ... That's easy; Rigoletto Rigoletto
M'aiura mia sorella ... my sister helps me. Va. Go.
Per le vie danza ... e beHa.. . She dances by the roadside, she's
Chi voglio auira ... e aUor.. . lovely, she lures the man I want, and Sparafudle Sparafucite
then ...
Span1fudt SparafuciL
(Sparafucile exits.) (Sparafucile exits.)
 ACT FOUR
Cassio Cassfo
Duca Duke
Ela nave dd Duce.. , Ti.s rhc General's ship!
La donna e mobile Woman is wayward
qual piuma al vemo, as a feathei· in the breeze, Montano Montano
muta d\Kccmo caplidous in word Or s'affouda, or s>inciela. Now she is engulfed, now tossed
e di pensiero. and in rhoughc. skywards.
Sempre im amabile Always a lovable
Cassio Cassio
lcgiadro viso, pretcy face,
in pianro o in riso~ but deceitful Ergc ii rostro daH' oncla. Her prow rises from out the waves.
emcnsognero. whether weeping or smiling. Some Cypriots Some Cypriots
Nelle nubc si cela e nel mar, She is shrouded in the clouds and che sea
--0- e alla luce dei lam pi nc appar. and anon appears in the lightning flash .

.Otello All AH
(1886) Lampi! Tuoni! Gorghi! Lightning! Thunder! Whidpools!
Turbi tcmpestosi e fulmini! Tempestuous storms and rhundcrbolts!
Giuseppe Verdi
T rcman l' ondc, crcman I'aurc, The waves quake, the winds quake,
Libretto by Arrigo Boho treman basi e culmini! the depths and the heights quake!
Fende l'ecra un rorvo e cieco A grim and blind spiric, dizzily
ACT ONE
spirito di vertigine. piunging, deaves the air.
A town in Cyprus. Oucside the casde. An inn with a trellised arbor. In the kldio scuoce il ciel bieco. God shakes the wild heaven,
background the quayside and sea. It is evening. A thundersrorm rages. come un tetro vel. dark as a paH. A!l is smoke!
T utto e fumo! T utto e fuoco! AU is fird The horrid darkness
Cypriots Cypriots L'orrida caligioe si fa incendi<>, becomes a conflagration,
poi si spegne piu funesta. then dies out more baleful still.
Una vela! Una vela! Un vessillo! Un A saiH A sail! A srandard! A standard!
Spasima f>universo, The universe is smitten~
vessillo!
accorre a vakhi l'aquilon fantasima, the spectral north wind comes rushing.
Montano Montano i titanici oricakhi sqtlHlano nel cicl. titanic trumpets resound in the sky.
E l'alato Leon! 'Tis the winged lion. (Tru,.npets are heard. Women .l)fthe island ctJme running in and /l)ok totvards the
qua_y with gestures ofterror 11nd supplication.)
Cassio Cassio Dio, fulgor dclla bufcra! God, from the glare of the tempest!
Or la folgor lo svda. Now the lightning flash revea)s ic. Dio. sorriso della duna! God, from the lure of the sandbank!
Salva l'arca c la bandiera deUa vcneta Save the ship and the flag ofVenc~
Newcomers Newcomers fortuna! dan fortune! Thou, who rulest the
Uno squillo! Uno squillo. A fanfare! A fanfare! Tu. chc reggi gli astri e ii Fato! stars an<l Face!
Tu, che imperi al mondo e al cid! Thou, who commandest earth and
AH AU Fa che in fondo al mar placato heaven! In che depths of a calmed sea
Ha tuonato il cannon! The cannon roared. posi l'ancora fodel. bring the trusty anchor to rest.
Iago fago Cypriots Cypriots
E infranto i'ard mon! Her mainsaiYs burst! Ewiva Orello! Evviva! Evviva! Evviva! Long live Othello! Hmrnh! Hurrah!
Vittoria, vittoria! Hurrah!
Roderigo Roderigo
(Othello enters the castle, follnwed by Victory, viccory!
H roscro piomha su queHo scoglio! Her bow is rushing full on that rock! Cassio, lttfontano and soldiers.) (Othello enters the castle, followed by
Vittoria! Sterminio! CflSsio, 1\1o:ntano and soldiers.)
Cypriots Cypriots
Dispersi, distrutli, sepolti nelI' orrido Vjctory! They are defeated!
Aita! aita! Help! Help! tumulco piombar. Dispersed. destroyed, engulfed, buried
Avranno per requie la sferza dd Hutti, in the terrible depths.
Iago Iago
la ridda dei turbini, For requiem they will have the lash of
(aside to Roderigo) (aside to Roderigo} l'abisso del mar. the breakers, the braw] of the whirlwind,
L'alvo frenetico del mar sia la sua May the raging belly of the sea be her Vittoria! Vittoria! Vittoria! Vittoria! the abyss of the seas.
tomb:a! tomb! Dispersi, distrutti, sepoJti ndl'orrido Victory! Victory! Victory! Victory!
tumulto piombar. Dispersed> descroyed, engulfed, buried
Cypriots Cypriots
Vittoria! Evviva! in the terrible depths.
Esalvo~ esalvo! She is saved! She is saved! (The storm begins to die ar.uay.) Victory! Victory!
Voices off-stage Voices off-stage Si calma la bufera. (The storm begins to die away.)
The storm is subsiding.
Giuate i palischermi! Lower the boars!
Mano aUe funH Fermi! All hands to the ropes~ Make fast!

Cypriots: Cypriots
--0-
Forza ai remi! Alla riva! Pull together! To the shore!
Iago Iago
Voices off-stage Voices off..stage
(aside to Roderigo) (aside to Roderigo}
All'approdo! alio sbarco! To the ianding! Disembark! Roderigo, ebhen. che pcnsi? Well, Roderigo, what arc you thinking?
Cypriots Cypriots Roderigo Roderigo
Evviva! Ewiva! Evviva! thmaht Hurrah! Hurrah! D'affogarmi. Of drowning myseJf.
(Othello enters. ascending the steps (Othello enters. ascending the sups
jhnn the shore to the quay, follmved by .from the shore to the quay, folloU1ed by 1ago Iago
Venetian solrliers 11nd sai/()rs.) Venetian soldiers and sailors.) Stolto echi s'affoga per amor di Fool is he who drowns himself for love
donna. of woman.
Othello Othello
Esultate! I:orgoglio musu1mano Rejoice! The Mussulman's pride Roderigo Roderigo
sepoito e in mar; nostra e dd cid e is buried in the sea; oms and heaven's
Vjnccr nol so. How to win I know not.
gloria! is the glory! (Some ofthe people start to build tl (Some ofthe people start to build a
Dopo l'armi lo vinsc l'uragano. After our arms the storm defeated iuoodpik. l11e rtst 1:rowd ·round,
woodpile. The rest crowd 'rouml
him. turbulent 1md curious.) tttrlmlent and curious.)
 Iago lago Va! spargi ii r.umulto, i'orror. Le Go! Spread confusion an<i horror. Let
Suvvia, fa senno, aspen:a Come: now, be sensible, await
campane risuo.nino a stormo. the beUs sound the alarm.
l'opra <lei rempo. A Desdemona the working of time.To the lovely
(Roderigo runs offi Iago turns to the tw<> (Roderigo mns offi Iago turns to the tw<>
bella, che nel segreto de' tuoi sogni Oesdem.ona, whom in your secret fighting men.) fighting men.)
adori, dreams you adore, Fratelli! L'imm<ine conflitto cessate! Brothers, stop this crud fight!
presto in uggia vcrranno i foschi baci the dark kisses of d1ar thick-lipped Cypriot Women Cypriot Women
di quel sclvaggio dalle gonfie labbra. savage will soon turn loarhsome.
Buo n Roderigo, amico tuo sincero Good Roderigo. your sincere friend Fuggiamt Let's fly!
mi ci profcsso, ne in piu forte I do profess me, nor could I serve
Iago Iago
ambascia soccorrerri porrei. you wirh greater zeal.
Se un fragil voto If a woman's weak vow Cid! gia gronda <li sanguc: Montano! Heavens! Montano's dripping
di femmina none tropp'ar<luo nodo prove not too difficult a knot Tenz.on furiboncfa.~ with blood! What a furious fight!
pcl genio mio ne per !'inferno, giuro for my calcnt nor yet for hdi. I swear
che quella donna sara tUa. this lady shall be yotns. Listen- Women Women
- M'ascolta-benchc finga d'amarlo. although l feign to love him. l hate Fuggiam, fuggfam! Lees fly, iec's tly!
odio qud Mor-0. the Moor.
(Cassio re·enters mul joins the soldiers. (Cassio re-enters and joins ihe soldiers. Iago Iago
Jago points to Cassio aud continues Iago pt>ints lu Cassio and continues Tregual Trued
spe11king.) speaking.)
E una cagion ddl'irn, ccc()la, guarda. There is a reason. fo1· my hate, Men Men
Quell'azzimato capitnno usurpa yonder-look. Tregua! Trued
ii grado mio, ii grado mio che i11 That foppish captain usurps
cento my rnnk, £he rank thar in a hundred Women Women
bcn pugnate battaglie ho medtato. . well-foughr bardes 1 have earned.
S' uccidonul 'l11ey ~re killing one another!
Tai fo Hvoler d'Otcllo, ed io Such was OcheUo 's will, a11d I remain
rimango of my Moorish Lord ... his ensign! Men Men
di sua Moresca Signoria ... l'alficre! But, as true 'tis you are Roderigo,
Ma. com'e ver che tu Roderigo sei, so, coo, 'tis true that, were I rhe Pace! Peace!
cosl e pur vero chc se ii Moro io fossi Moor,
Iago Iago
vedermi non vorrei d' attorno un I would not wish to see an Iago
Jago. about me. Nessun piu raffrena qud nembo No one can longer restrain this fight-
Se tu m'ascolti. .. If you but hear me. , . pugnace! ing fury!
Si gridi raUarme! Satima gl'inva(ie! Raise the alarm! Sacan possesses them!
-{]---
Jago Iago Cypriots Cypriots
(aside to Roderigo) (mide to Roderigo) AH'armi! All'armi! Soccorso! Soccorso! To arms! To arms! Help! Help!
Va al pono, con quanta pill possa Go to rhe harbor wirh all the speed {Enter Othello, fallowed by people with (Enter Othello, followed by people with
ti resca, gridando: som.mossa! you can inuster, crying; Revolt! torches.) torches.)
sommossa! Revolt!
 Othello Othello
Othello OthtUe
E tu m'amavi ... Ami you loved me ...
Abbasso le spade! Down wirh your swords!
(The combatants stop.) (The combtztants st-op.) Desdemona Desdemona
Ola! che avvien? Son io fra i How now! What is happening? Am I
E ru mJamavi ... And you loved me ...
Saraceni? 0 la turchcsca rabbia e in among Saracens? Have you turned
voi trasfusa da sbranarvi l'uu l'altro? Turks so that you tear one another to Othello Othello
Onesto Jago, per quell'amor che tu pieces? Honest Iago, by that love which
Ed io t' amavo ... And I loved you ...
mi potti, parla. you bear me, speak.

Iago Iago Othello, Desdemona Othello, Desdemona

Non so ... qui mtti cran cortesi amid,
dianzi, e giocondi. .. ma ad un tratto,
come se un pianeta maligno avesse a
qudli smagato il scnno, sguainando
l'arme, s'avvemano furcnti...Avessi
io prilna smmcati i pie' che qui
m;addusser!
--0-
Love Duet
Othello
lngentilia di lagrime la storfa
H tuo bd viso e ii labbro di sospir;
scendcan sullc mie tcncbre la gloria,
ii paradiso e gll astri a bencdir.
Desdemona
Ed io vedca fra le tuc tempie oscure
splender del gcnio l'cterea belta.
I know not. .• E'en now aU here were ... per la tua/mia piera.. . .. that you/I did pity them.
friends, civH and merry ... but on a
sudden, as if some malign star had
bewitched their judgment, unsheathing --0-
their swords, they fell upon one
another ..• Would I had lost my legs ete OtheUo Othello
they had borne me hither.
Un bacio ... A kiss ...
Desdemona Desdemona
OteHo! Othello!
Othello
Your lovely face ennobled the story Othello Othello
with tears, and your lips with sighs; Un bado ... ancora un bado. A kiss ... and yet another kiss.
on my darkness glo1y descended,
Gia la pleiade ardente in mar The burning PJdades already sink into
'paradise and the stars co bless.
discende. the sea.
Desdemona
Desdemona Desdemona
And from your dusky temples I saw
the eternal beauty of your spirit shine. Tarda ela notte. Late is the night.

Othello Othello Othello Othello

E tu m'amavi per le mie sventure
ed io t' amavo per la cua pieta.
Desdemona
Ed io c'amavo per le tue svcmure
e tu m'amavi per la mia pieta.
And you loved me for the dangers I
had passed and I loved you thac you
did pity chem.
Desdemona
And I loved yoo fot the dangers you
had passed and you loved me rhat I did
pil:y rhem.
Vien ... Venere splende. Come ... Venus shines on hjgh.
Desdemona Desdemona
Orello! Othello!
{They go slowly towards the castle, (They go slowly towards the castle,
clasped in each others arms.) clmped in each others arms.}
--0-
 •tcrcdo;) Iago Iago

Iago
(akmek p11;,ying 110 farther heed to Cassio)
Credo iu un Dio crudel chc m}ha
creato simile a see che nell'ira io
no mo. DaHa vilta d' un gcrme o
d'un atomo vHe son nato.
Son sceUerato perche son uomo;
e sento it fango origioario in me.
SH quesra e la mia fe!
Credo con fermo cuor, skcome
crede la vecloveUa al tcmpio.
che il mal ch'io penso c che da me
procede, per il rnio destino adempio.
e
. Credo che ii giusto un istrion
bcffardo, e nel viso e nel cuor,
che tutto e in lui bugiardo:
lagrima~ bado> sguardo,
sacrificio cd onor.
E credo l'uom gioco d iniqua sotte
dal germe deHa cuHa
al verme deli'avd.
Vien dopo ranta irdsi.on la Morte.
E poi? E poi? La Mone t 11 Nulla.
!!. vecchfo. fola HCid.
Iago (pretending nQt to have seen Othello, (pretending not to have seen Ot.hello,
who has drawn near; as ifto himse/j) who hos drawn tJC(lr; rts ifta himself)
(alone, paying no farther heed to C.llssio) CiO m'accora. I like not chat. .
I believe in a cruel God~ who has
created me in his image and whom> Othello Othello
in hate 1 I name. From some vile Che parli? What do you say?
germ or atom base am I born.
I am evil because I am a man; Iago Iago
and I feel the primeval slime in me. NuHa ... voi qui? una vana Nothing ... you here? . , . an idle
Yes! This is my creed! voce m' usd dal lab bro ... word fell from my lips.
I believe with a firm heart, as ever
does che young widow praying before Otltello Othello
the al car. chat whatever evil I think or Colui che s' allomana Was noc that Cassio
do was decreed for me by fate. e
dalJa mia sposa, Cassio? parting from my wife?
I believe tbat the honest man is but a
poor actor. both in face and heart, Iago Iago
that everything in him is a lie; Cassio? No ... q uei si scosse Cassio? No , .. that man shook
tears, kisses. looks, come un reo ncl vcdervi. like one guilty, seeing you coming.
sacrifices and honor.
Othello Othello
And I believe man to be the sport of
an unjust fu.te from rhe germ of the Credo che Cassio ei fosse. I do believe it was Cassio.
cradle to the worm of che grave,
Iago Iago
After alJ rhis mockery comes Death.
Mio signore ... My lord ...
And then? And then? Death is
nothingness. Heaven is an old wives' Othello Othello
tale.
Che brami? What would you?

Iago Iago
--0-- Cassio, nei primi dl del v-0stro amor, In the first <lays of your love,
Desdemona non conosceva? did Cassio know Desdemona?

Othello Othello
Si. Yes.
Perche fai cale inchicsca? Why do you ask such a question?

Iago Iago
IJ mio pensiero e vago d'ubbie, My thought reflects vague fear,
non di malizia. not malice.

Othello
Di' ii tuo pensiero, Jago.
Iago
Vi confidaste a C...assio?
OtheHo
. Spesso un mio dono o un cenno
porcava alla mia sposa.
Othello Othello
Othello
Dunque senza velami Then speak out wirhout subterfuge,
Tell me your thought, Iago. t' esprimi, e senza amhagL hiding nothing.
T'esca fuor dalla gola i) tuo piu rio Spew forch from your throat your
Iago
pensiero colla piu ria parola. worst thoughts in your worst words!
Did you put your confidence in Cassio?
Iago Iago
Othello
S'anco teneste in mano mua l'anima Had you my very soul in your
He would often carry some present
mia nol sapreste. hands, you should not know it.
or tQkcn from me to my bride.

Iago Iago Othello Othello

Dassenno? Indeed? Ah! Ah!

Othello Othello Iago Iago

Si, dasseno. Ay, indeed. Temete, signor, la gelosia! Beware. my lord, of jealousy!
Nol credi onesto? Do you not think him honest? E un'idra fosca, livida. cieca, col suo 'Tis a dark hydra, malignant, blind, it
veleno se scessa attosca. vivida piaga le poisons itself wich irs own venom,
Iago Iago a
squarcia seno. its breast is ripped by an open wound.
(imitating Othello) (imitating Othello)
Onesto? Honesr? Othello Othello
Miseria mia! No] ii vano sospectar Oh, misery! No! Vain suspicion
Othello Othello nuUa giova. profits nothing.
Che ascondi nel tuo core? What are you hiding in your heart? Pria del dubbio l'indagine, dopo Before doubt che inquiry> after
ii dubbio Ja prova, dopo la prova doubr the proof. After proof (Orhdlo
Jago Iago
(Otello ha sue leggi supreme), has his supreme laws), love and
Che ascondo in cor, signore? What am I hiding in my heart. my ford? amore e gelosia vadan dispersi insiemc! jealousy together shall be resolved!
OtheHo Othello
Iago Iago
"Che asconclo in cor, signore? 11 "What am I hiding in my heart, my lord?"
Un tal proposto spezza di Such a proposition removes
Pd ciclo, tu sci l'eco die detci mid, By heavens, you are the echo co my words
mie labbra nsuggello. the seal from my lips.
nel chiostro dell'anima riceni qualche In che cloister of your mind you
terribj[ mostro. house some fearful monster.
(Voices are heard ojfitage> singing.) (Voices are heard offit11ge, singing.)
Non parlo ancor di prova, I speak not yec of proof, buc,
Si, ben t'udii poc'anzi mormorar: Yes, I heard you murmur but now:
"Cio m'accora.)' "I like not thatn - pur, generoso Otelto, vigilate .. , generous Orhello, be on guard , ..
Ma di che t'accoravi? But what did you not like? You soventi le onescc e hen create often honesc and noble natures
Nomini Cassio e allora cu corrughi mention Cassio and then you frown. c:oscienze non vedono la frode: <lo not suspect deceit: be on your
la fronte. Suvvia, parla, se m'ami. Come now, speak, if you do love me. vigilate. Scrutarc le parole di guard. Observe Desdemona's words,
Desdemona, un deno puo ricondur a single one can restore faith,
Iago Iago la fede, puo affcrmate ii sospetto. can confirm suspicion.
Voi sapete ch'io v'amo. You know well I love you.
--a-
Othello
Viu om:ndo d'ogni orren<la ingiuria
deU'ingiuria ea
sospetto.
Neff ore arcane ddla sua lussuria
(ea me furate!) m'agitava Hpctto
forse un presagio? Ero baldo. giulivo,
Nulfa sapevo ancor; io non sentivo
sul suo corpo divin che m'innamora
e sui labbri meudaci
gli ardenti baci
di Cassio! Ed oral ed ora ...
addio, sublimi incami del pensier!
Addio schiere fulgenti, addio viu:oric,
dardi volanri e volanti corsied
Addia, vessillo trionfale e pio,
· e diane squiJlami in sul matcin!
Clamori e canti di bauaglia, addio!
Della glorfa d'Orello e quesm ii fin.
-0--
Iago
Pace, signor.
Othello
Sciagurato! mi rrova una prova secuta
che Desdemona e impura ...
Non sfuggir! nuHa ti giova!
Vo' una secura, una visibil prova!
0 sulla ma tesca
s'accenda e predpiti il fulmine
del mio spaventoso furor che si desta!
{He seizes Iago by the throat and
thrmvs him to the ground.)
Iago
(rising)
Divina grazia difendimi! II delo
Othello
More dreadful than the most dreadful
i11juay of injuries is suspicion,
In the secret hours of her lust
(stofon from me!} did a presentiment
ever stir in my breast? I was bold,
happy. As yet I knew noching; I did
not fed on the divine body I adored
and on the lying lips
the burning kisses
of Cassio! And now! And now .. ,
farewell, sublime concenc of the mind!
Farewell~ brave troops, fareweJl,
victories,
flying shafi:s and racing steeds!
Farewell, triumphant sacred banner,
and the reveille ringing in the morn!
Sound and songs of battle, farewell!
Othello's glory is gone.
Jago
Peace. my lord.
Othello
Villain! Find me sure proof
that Desdemona is impure ...
Do nor fly! 'TwilJ avail you nothing!
I wane sure and ocular prqofl
Or upon your head will fall
the fiery thunderbolt
of my wakened and fearful fiuy!
(He seizes Iago by the throat and throws
him to the ground.)
Iago
(rising)
Divine grace defend me! Heaven
vi protegga. Non son piu vostro alfiere, protect you. I am no more your
Voglio che il mondo tcstimon mi sia
r c
che onesta periglio.
{He makes as ifto go.)
Othello
No ... rimani. Forse onesco tu sei.
Iago
Meglio varcbbc ch'io fossi un
durmador.
Othello
Per l'universo!
Credo leale Desdemona c credo
d1e non Jo sia. Te credo ones co e
credo disleale ... La prova io vogHo!
Voglio la certezza!
Iago
Signor. frenate l'ansie.
Equal certezza v'abbisogna?
Avvinti verderli forsc?
Othello
Ah, morte e dannazione!
Iago
Ardua irnpresa sarebbe; equal cercezza
sognate voi se quell' immondo fatto
sempre vi sfuggira? Ma purse quida
ela ragione al vero, una s) forte
congettura riserbo che per poco alla
cenezza vi conduce. Udite.
Era la nocte, Cassio dormia,
gli stavo accamo.
Con imerrouc vod rradia
l'incimo incanto.
Le labbra lente, lente movea,
nell' abbandono
ensign, I wane the world. to be my
witness that honesty is not safe.
(He makes as ifto go.)
Othello
No ... scay. Perhaps you are honest.
Iago
'Twere better were I a swindler.
Othello
The world be witness!
I believe Desdemona true and I believe
she is noc. I believe you honest and
I believe you disloyal .. , I want prooH
I want cercainty!
Iago
My lord, curb your agitation.
And what certainty would you have?
To see tbem perhaps embracing?
Othello
Death and damnation!
Iago
It would be a difftculc cask; and
what certainty do you have jf this
monstrous deed forever elucles you?
But if reason be guide to truth, I
have a strong conjecture which soon
should bring you certainty. Listen.
It was night, Cassio was sleeping.
I lay beside him.
In halting accents he betrayed
his inmost rapture.
His lips moved slowly, slowly,
in the abandon
dd sogno ardeme, e al!or dicea,
con flebil suono;
"Desdemona soave! H nostm amor
s'asconda. Caud vegliamo! L'estasi
dd dd tum> m'hrnonda,"
Scguia piu vago l'incubo hlando;
con moUe angoscia
l'interna imago quasi badando,
ei disse posda:
1
~ H rio dcstino impteco
ch.e al Moro ti cl.on(>...
E allora Hsogno in deco
letargo si muto.
Othello
Oh! mostruosa colpa!
Iago
Io non narrai che un sogno.
Othello
Un sogno che rivela un fatto.
Iago
Un sogno che puo dar fonna di
pmva ad altro indizio.
Othello
Equal?
Iago
Talor vedeste in mano di
Desdemona un ressuto
trapunto a fior e piu soniJ
d'un velo?
Othello
E it fazwletto ch'io le diedi,
pegno primo d'amor.
of his burning drean1, aud then
he said, in mournful tone;
"Sweet Desdemona! We muse hide
our love. Let us be wary! I am
drowning in heavenly ecstasy.''
The nightmare grew ever mo1·e
passionate; wirh soft anguish
he seemed to kiss his fancy's image,
then said:
"I curse the fate
char gave you to che Moor.')
Aud then the dream subsided
into blind oblivion.
Othello
Oh, monstrous guild
Iago
I have but related a dream.
Othello
A dream reveals a fact.
Iago
A dream that can give proof
of other evidence.
Othello
Of what?
Iago
Have you sometimes seen in
Desdemona's hand a tissue
embroidered with flowers and
finer than gauze?
Othello
'Tis the handkerchief I gave her,
first pledge oflove.
Iago
Que! fazzoletto ieri (certo ne son)
lo vkli in man d~ Cassio.
Othello
Ah! MiUc vice gli donasse Iddio!
Una epovera preda al furor mio!
Jago, ho ii cor di gdo.
Lungi da me le pieroso farve!
Tutro H mio vano amor esalo al
ddo, guardami, ei sparve. NeUe sue
spire d'angue J'idra m'avvincc!
Ah! sangoe! sangud sangud
-0---
Othello
(kneeling)
S}. pd cid marmorco giuro!
Per le an:orre folgorH Per la Morte
e per l'oscuro mar sterminaror!
D'irn e d>impeto tremendo presto
fia che sfolgori
questa man ch}io levo c srendo~
(He lifts his h1md tc the sky and is
about to rise when Iago prevents him,
and kneels beside him.)
Iago
Nou v'aliare ancori
Testimon e il Sol ch'io miro,
che m'irradfa e inanima
rampia terra e il vasto spito
del Cream inter:
che ad OreHo io sacro ardemi,
core1 hracdo ed anima
s·anro ad opere cruemi
s'armi ii suo volcr!
Iago
That handkerchief (I am sure)
I saw yesterday in Cassio's hand.
Othelfo
Ha! God grant him a thousand lives!
One is a poor prey to my fury.
Iago, I have a heart of ice.
Away from me piteous illusions!
AH my fond love thus do I bfow to
heaven, see, 'tis gone. The hydra
entwines me in its snaky coils.
Oh, blood! Blood! Blood!
Othello
(kneeling)
Yes, I swear by the marble heaven!
By the forked lightning! By deach
and by rhe dark destroying sea!
Let this hand which I raise and
stretch forth
soon blaze in wild uanspon: of rage!
(He lifts his hand to the sky and is about
to rise when Iago prevents hi1n, and
kneels beside him.)
Iago
Do not rise yet!
Witness is the sun that I behold,
that shines on me and animates
tbe broad earth and the vast soul
of all Creation,
witness that co Othello I solemnly
dedicate heart, hand and soul,
if he will also arm his will
for the bloody work!
Iago. Othello Iago, Othello
(n1ising their h11t1ds to heaven as in a (raising their hands to heavm as in a Era ii suo nome Her name was Barbara.
solemn 01Jth) solemn oruh) Barbara. Amava She was in love with a man who then
Si, pd ciel marmoreo giuro! Yes~ I swear by che marble heaven!
un uom chc poi l'abbandono; camava forsook her; she used to sing a song:
Per le attorte folgori! Per la Morte By the forked. lightning! By death un canione: la canzon del Salice. The Willow Song.
e per l'oscuro mar srerminator! and by the dark destroying sea! (speaking to Emilia) (speaking to Emilia)
D'ira e d'impeto tremendo prest<> Let this hand which I raise Mi disciogli le chiome ... Undo my hair ...
Io qucsta sera ho la mcmoria piena That song tonight will nor go
fia che sfolgori and stretch forth
di quclla canrilena . from my mind ...
questa man chlio levo e stendo! soon blaze in wild cransporr of rage!
Dio vendicator! God of vengeance!
--0--
--0- "Willow Song"
ACT FOUR
Desdemona Desdemona
Desdemona's bedroom. A bed. a prayer desk, a table, a mirror. some chairs. A
Piangea canrando Singing, she wept
light bums before a picture of c:he Madonna which hangs above the prie~dieu.
nell' erma lan<la. on the lonely heath,
On che tabk a candle. Ir is night. piangea la mesta . , . the poor soul wept ...
0 Salce! Salce! Sake! Oh, willow. willow, willow!
Emilia Emilia Sedea chinando She sat, her head
Era pita calmo? Was he calmer? sul sen la tcsta! bent on her breast!
Salce! Sake! Sake! Willow. willow, willow!
Desdemona Desdemona Cantiamo! Cantiamo! Come sing! Com.e sing!
H Salce funebre The weeping willow
Mi parea. M'ingiunsc So it seemed to me. He bade me
sar~ la mia ghirlanda. shall be my garland.
di codcarm.i e d'actenderlo. Emilia, go to bed and wait for him, Emilia,
te nc prcgot distendi sul mio letto I pray you lay on my bed
--0-
fa mia candida veste nuz.iale. my white bridal robe.
Send. Se pria di ce morir dovcssi Hark. If I should die before you (Othello enters by a secret door. He places fl scimitar on the table. He stands
mi seppeliisd con un di quei veli. shroud me in its veils. before the candle undecided whether/() extinguish it m· not. He looks at
Desdemona, then pt#s mu the light. 11Je room is nmv illuminated only by tbt
Emilia Emilia
candle buming flbove the prie-dieu. lie draws near to the bed tmd !fJoh dawn (jfl
Scacdate questc idee. Dismiss such fancies. the sleeping Desdemona. He kisses her three times. On the third kiss she awakens.}
Oe$demona Desdemona
De$dcmona Desdemona
Son mesta. tanto, canto. I am sad, so very sad.
(sitting down mechanically before the (sitting down mechanically before the Chi e ta? Ocello? Who's there? Othello?
mirro1~ mirror) Othello Othello
Mia madrc aveva una povcra ancelia, My mother had a poor maid,
Sl! Yes!
innamorata e bella. she was pretty and in Jove.
---0--

~"lf\..t'\.,..., "T'IL- " Y " - - - L : _ _ f"" ..... - - -.....- .. ,

Othello
Pria {rucddeni ... sposa •..
d baciai.
Or morendo •.. ndrombra ...
in cui mi giado ...
Un bado ... un bacio ancora ...
ah? ... un altro bado ...
(He falls rm the bed and dies.)
-0--
Othello
Armide
(1686)
Ere I killed you ... wife .. ,
I kissed you, Jean-Baptiste Lully
Now dying , •. in the shadow ... Libretto by Philippe Quinault
where I lie ...
A kiss ... another kiss ... Recit11tive/Monologt1e
ah ... and yet another kiss ...
Armide Armide
(He falls on the bed and dies.)
Enfin il esc en ma puissance, Finally he is in my power,
ce fatal ennemi, ce superhe this fatal enemy, this superb warrior.
vainqueur. The charm of sleep delivers him to
te charme du sommeille livre ~ ma my vengeance;
vengeance; I wiH pierce his invindbie heart.
Je vais perccr son invincible coeur. Through him all my captives have
Par lui tous mes captifs sont sortis escaped from slavery.
d'esclavage; Let him fod all my anger.
Qu'il eprouve toute ma rage. What fear grips me? what makes me
Quel trouble me saisit? qui me fait hesitate?
hesiter? What in his favor does pity want t<>
Qu,est-ce qu'en sa faveur le piti~ me teH me?
veut dire? Let us strike... Heavens~ Who can
Frappons ... Cid! Qui peut stop me~
m'arreter? Let us get on with it... I tremble!
Achevons... je foemis! Let us avenge ... I sigh!
Vcngcons-nous... je soup ire! Is it rlms chat I must avenge myself
Est;...ce ainsi que je dois me venger today?
aujourd'hui? My rage is extinguished when I
Ma colere s'eteint 'luand j'approche approach him.
deluL The more I see of him, the mote my
Plus je le voi, plus ma vengeance est vengeaucc is ineffectual.
vaine; My trembling arm denies my hate.
Mon bras tremblant se refuse ama Ah! What cruelty, to rob him of the
haine. light of day!
Ah! quellc cruaute de lui ravir le jour! To this young hero everyrhing on
A cc Jeune heros tout cede sur la eanh surrenders.
tcrre. Who would believe tbat he was born
Qui croiratt qu,il fut ne seulemem only for war?
pour la guerre? He seems to be made for love.
ll semblc ctre fait pour I'Amour. Could I not avenge myself unless he
l'?-..1 C\l\"'7 Tt... ...... 'T'..-...n.r..k~- ....... l"'...-....--.-n.-'r
Ne puis-je me venger a m.oins qu'H clics? sonc couvens, my days~
ne perisse? Oh, is it not enough that Love should que deviend.ra ma gloire a.ux ycux de What will become of my glory in the
Ht! ne sufih,..il pas que ['amour le punish him? l'univers? eyes of the world?
punisse? Since he could not find my eyes Ah! faut-il, en un jour, perdrc tout cc Ah, must I, in a day, lose aU thac I
Puisqu'il n'a pu rrouver mes yeux charming enough,
que faime? love?
asscz charmants. let him love me at least through my
Mon phc pour jamais me bannit de My fucher is banishing me forever
Qu'H m•aime au moins par mes sorcery, ces lieux from rhese parts
enchancements. so that, ifit's possible, I may hate
Si cheris de Diane meme. So dear to Diane herself.
Que, s'il se peut, jc le haissc. him.
Je nc vcrrai plus beaux yeux I shaH see no more the beauciful eyes
Aria Qui faisaient mon bonheur supreme. which made me supremely happy.
Vencz. venez, seconder mes desirs, Come, come support my desires,
Demons, transformez,..vous en demons; transform yourselves imo
--0-
d'aimables zephirs. friendly zephyrs. Le Devin du village
Je cede a ce vainqueur, la pitie me I give in to this conquerori pity
The Village Soothsayer (1752)
surmonte. overwhelms me.
Cachez ma faiblesse et ma home Conceal my weakness and my shame jean-Jacques Rousseau
Dans les plus recules deserrs. in the most remote desert.
Volez, vole-z, conduisez~nous au bout Fly, fly. lead us to the end of the Libreno by the composer
de l' univers, universe.
Colette Colette
--0-
J'ai perdu tout mon bonheur, I have lost all my happiness,
Hippolyte et Aride f ai perclu mon scrviteur. I have lost my servant.
(1733) CoHn me delaisse. Colin forsakes me.
Helas! il a pu changer! Alas, he could have changed.
Jean-Philippe Rameau Je voudrais n'y plus songer. I would rather stop dreaming about it.
Libretto by Simon~Joseph Pellegrin fy songe sans cesse. Yee I dream about it incessancly.
ACf FOUR Redt

Scene One
n m'aimait autrcfois, et ce fut mon He loved me once, and this was my
maiheur ... bad luck .. ,
Hyppolyte Hippolyte Mais queHe est done ccUe qu~il me Bue who, chen, is she whom he
Ah! fam-il. en un jour. perdre tout ce Ah, must I, in a day lose all that I pref-ere? prefers?
que faime? Jove? EUe est done bien charmantd She must be very charming!
Et les maux que je crains, et les biens And the troubles l fear, and rhe riches Imprudeme bcrgere, Imprudent shepherdess,
que je perds, I lose, Ne crains tu point les maux do you not fear at anthe misforcuncs
Touc accable mon coeur d'une All overwhelm my hean: with extreme r
Que epmuve en ce jour? that I am experiencing today?
douleur extreme. pain. Colin a pu changer; tu peux avoir Colin could have changed; you may
Sous le image affreux done mes jours Under the terrible cloud that darkens ton tour ... have your turn ...
que me sen d'y rever sans cesse? What good docs it do to dream
 about it incessantly~
Rien ne pent guerir mon amour Nothing can cure my love Purte, larve, ombre sdcgnose! Furies, specters, scomfol phantoms!
Et tour augrnente ma tristesse. and t."Vt.'l'ything increases my sorrow.
J'ai perdu mon serviteur ... etc. l have lost my servant ... etc. Chorus Chorus
Je veux le hair; je le dois .. . 1 wam to hate him~ I must d.o it ... NoL .. No! ... No! ... N-0! ...
Peut~etre il m'aime encor .. . Perhaps he loves me still ...
Pourquoi me fuir sans cesse? Orpheus Orpheus
Why does be shun me incessantly!
Il me cherchait tant auttcfois. He used to look for me once. Vi renda almen piecose Let it ac least make you merciful.
Le devin du canton fait id sa demeure: The s(iochsayer of the canton makes U mio barbaro <lolorl my cruel pain!
his home here.
usair {OU(~ a saura le sort de mon He knows aU; he will know the fate --0--
amour. of my love.
Je le vois el je veux m' edairdr en cc: I see him, and I wane rhis clarified
Les Huguenots
jour. today.
(1836)
--0-- Giacomo Meyerbeer
Lihrecto by Eugene Scribe
Orfeo ed Eurid.ice
{1762) Recitative
Christoph Willibald von Gluck Marguerite Marguerite
Libretto by Raniero <le' Calzahigi
Et maintenanc: je dois offrir a votrc And now I must offer co your sight
ACf TWO vue votre charmanre precen(tue, your charming fiancee,
Scene One qui rendra vos serments fu.ciles a who wm make your oath easy co
rcnir! keep.
Chorus Chorus (St.-Bris reappears, leading Val.entine (St.-Bris reappe1irs, leading Valentine
Chi mai dell'Erebo Who from Erebos toward Raottl) toward Raoul)
Fratle caligini through rhc dark mists, Raoul Raoul
SuU'orme d;Ercole iii lhe footsteps of Hercules
Edi Piricoo atld of Peidrhous (with muffled voice} (with mujJled voice)
Conduce i1 pie? would ever set forth? Ah! grand Dieu! qu'ai-je vu? Ah! Great God! What do I see?
D' orror l'ingombrino He would be blocked wirh horror Marguerite Marguerite
Le fiere Eumeni<li, by the fierce Eumenides
E lo spaventino and frightened by Qu'avez-vous? What's wrong with you?
Gli urli di Ccrhero, the shrieks of Cerberus, Raoul Raoul
Se un dio non e. unless he were a god.
(harely able to speak) (barely able to speak)
Orpheus Orpheus Quoi! ... c'est ellel What! ... It is she! She
Oeh, pla01tevi con mt:. Please, be gende wich me. Que m'offraienc en ce jour ... whom chey offer to me today.
Marguerite Marguerite
Et l'hymen et !'amour! Marriage and love, together! Viendraic-H tout acoup s~emparer de all of a sudden taken possession of
son c<>em? his heart?
Raoul Raoul
Trahisonl Perfidiel Treason! Treachery! Raoul Raoul
Moi, son epoux? jamais! jamais! 1, her spouse? Never! Never! Plus d'hymen; je rai diti e.t, fidHc a No marriage. as I said. Loyal to my
rhonneur, je me ris desormais de honor, I laugh now ar their cries of
AH All ieurs eris de fureur! fury.
Ciel! Heavens!
Nevers, St. Bris Nevers, St. Bris
Marguerite, Urbain, Valentine, A lady Marguerite, Urbain, Valentine~ ALady C'esc son sang qu,il me faur pour It is his blood that I need to calm
of Honor of Honor
calmer ma fureur, my fury.
0 transport! odemence! er d'ou vient 0 rapture! 0 madness! Whence Pour punir cet afftonr, pour venger To punish this affront, to avenge my
cet outrage? comes this outrage? mon honneur! honor!
A briser de tels noeuds qucl <lciire To break these knocs, what delirium
l'engage? inspires him? Marcel Marcel
Raoul Raoul ChevaHer et chretien, ecoutant seul Knight and Chriscian, listening only
l'honneur, ii se rit desormais de leurs co his conscience, he laughs now at
Ace pojnc l'on m'outrage! At this point l am outraged! eris de fureur! their cries of fury.
Je repousse ajamais un honteux I rejecr forever this shameful mar-
mariage! riage! Chorus Chorus

Nevers, St. Bris Nevers, St. Bris Cet affront veuc du sang; dans ce This affront calls fur blood. On rhis
jours sa furcur day his fury
Ah! je tremble et fremis et de honte Ah! I shake and shiver from shame
Do it punir I'offenseur et venger son must punish the offender and avenge
ec de rage! and anger.
honneur! his honor.
C' est a moi d•immoler l' ennemi qui' It is up to ine to sacrifice the enemy
m'oucrage! who insults me! Valentine Valentine

Marcel Marcel (with pained expression) (with pained expression)

Et comment ai-je done merice tant How did I deserve such an insult?
Oui, mon coeur applaudh, cher Ycs, my heart applauds, dear Raoul,
d'outrage? Dans mon Coeur eperdu In my desolate heart has frozen my
Raoul. con courage! your courage!
s'est giacc mon couragef couroge.
Chorus Chorus Raoul Raoul
Et pourquoi rompre afosi le serment And why break rhus the oarh thac he
0 douleur! trisre sort! 0 misery! Sad destiny!
qui l'engagd sword
Ace point ron m' outrage! To such a point they insult me!
Marguerite, Urbain, VaJentine, ALady Marguerite, Urbain, Valentine, ALady
Heven. St. Bris Neven, St. Bris
of Honor of Honor
D\m penchant inconnu fe pouvoir Has an unknown impulse, its Fremissant er trembfam. Shuddering and trembJing,
seducteur seductive power, Plcin <le home et de rage, ... full of shame and anger, ...
Marcel Mar<:el Qu'a finstam pres de lui votre r-0i that at this moment your king
(ti.side, in an outpouring ofiqy) (asfrle, iu an outpouring ofjoy) vous rappdlc? summons you to his side?
Seigneur, rempart et seui soutien du Lord, rampart and only support of Raoul Raoul
faible qui t'adore! the feehle who adore you!
Je les suivrai! I shall follow them.
Marguer1te Marguerite
Marguerite Marguerite
Un semblable refus . . . Such a refusal , ..
Non pas; pres de moi dans ces lieux No. Near me in this place
Raoul Raoul Yous restcz! You will remain.
N'est que crop legicime! Is only right!
St. Bris St. Bris
Marguerite Marguerite Le l!iche est trop heureux The coward is too happy
Ditcs-m'en la raison. Give me a reason. Que cette main royaie ait un tel chat chis royal hand have such a
privilege! privilege.
Raoul Raoul Cest en vain qu'on pretend It's in vain that they daim they can
Je ne le puis sans crime, I cannot without incriminating enchatner mon courage; enchain my courage.
mais cet hymen, jarnais! myself. but this marriage, never!
Raoul Raoul
Marguerite Marguerite (in a muffed vofre. to St. Bris) (in a muffled voice, to St, Bris)
0 transport! odemencd ec pourquoi 0 rapture, o madness! Anci why this C'est vous qu'elle protege en It is you she protects in disarming
cec outrage? outrage? d.esannam mou bras, my hand,
A briser de tds noeuds quei delire To undo rhese knors whar delirium Et hiemot je serai pres de vous! and soon I shall be close to you.
!'engage? inspires him?
Marguerite Marguerite
Nevers, St. BrJs Nevers, St. Bris Temtraires! T ous les deux redoutez Fools! Both of you better dread my
(to Raoul} (to Rtwul) ma colere! anger.
Sortons! Qu'il tombe sous nos coups! Let's go. Let him full beneath our
blows. Nevers, St. Bris Nevers, St. Bris
Je saurai recrouver l'ennemi, I shall know how to find the enemy,
Raoul Raoul i'offenseur! the offend.er.
O'un eel honneur mon coeur est plus Of such an honor my heart is too
jaloux.! eager. Marcel Marcel
Oui! mon coeur appiaudit Raoul de Yes, my heart applauds Raoul for his
Marguerite Marguerite son noble courage! noble courage.
Arretez! Devant moi qudle insulre Halt! In my presence, what new
nouvelle! insult?
Chorus Chorus
(Jig11ali11g an officer to disarm Raoul) {signaling an officer to disarm R11oul} C'est en vain qu'on pretend le's in vain that they claim they can
Vous, Raoul, vocre cpee! You. Raoul. your sword. cnchainer son courage; enchain his courage.
(to St. Bris) Et vous. oubHez..vous (to St. Bris) And you, do you forget . II saura retrouver I'ennemi qui He will know how co find che enemy
routrage! chat offends.

Ab! partons, eloignons-nous!
Alfons, partons, elo.ignons-nous!
Riett ne pourra sauver Raoul!
Marcel
(mide, joyfally)
Tu nous defends encor, mon Dieu!
Ah! let's go, ict's get away.
tet's go. for•s Jcave, let's get away.
Nothing can save Raoul.
Marcel
(aside. joyfolly)
You defend us still, my God!
Frasquita
Moi, jc vois un jeune amoureux
qui m'aime on nc: peut davantage.
Mercedes
Le mien est tres riche et rres vieux
mais il parle de mariage.
Frasquita
What I see is a young man couning,
And he's madly in love with me.
Mercedes
Minc's very rich and vcry ol<l,
But he wants to marry me.

(St. Bris and Nevers dr11g Valentine, halffainting~ and exit, dcfjing Rtwul, whu Frasquita Frasquita
wants to fal/ou; but is restrained by ihe Queen i so/dim.)
Jc me campe sur son chcval, et dans la He plumps me on his horse and
montagne ii m' enr:raine. carries me off into the mouncaios.
--0--
Carmen Mercedes Mercedes
(1875) Dans un chateau presq ue royal, Mine sets me up like a queen
1

Georges Bizet le mien m installe en souveraine. In a princely casde.

Libretto by Henri .Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy Frasquita Frasquita
NO. 20 TlUO De l'amour a n'en plus finir, Love that goes on and on,
MerUdts Mercedes tous )es jours nouvelles folies. New madness every <lay.

Melons! Shuffie! Mercedes Mercedes

Frasquita frasquita De J'or cant que j'en puis cenir. More gold rhan I can hold,
des diamants .. , des pierreries. Diamonds ... all kinds of gems.
Coupons! Cut?
frasquita Frasquita Frasquita
Frasquita
Bien, c'est cda. Right, that's ir. Le mien devient un chef fameux, Mine becomes a famous leader,
cent hommes marchent a la suite. With a hundred men at his back.
Mercedes Mercedes
Mercedes Mercedes
T rois canes ici •.. Three cards here ...
Le mien, en croitai-je mes yeux ... Mine, can I believe my eyes ...
Frasquita frasquita Oui, II meurt Ah! je suis veuve et Yes, he dies. Hahl I'm a rich widow.
Quacre la. Four cards here ... h6rite.

Mercedes1 frasquita Mercedes. frasquita Frasquita, Mercedes frasquita, Mercedes

Et maintenanr, parlez. mes belles
De l'avenir, <lonnez-nous des
nouvdles; diteM1ous qui nous trahira,
Dites-nous qui aimera.
Par!ez!
And now my beaucies teU us aU
The future, teH us aU thar's new;
Tell us who will play us fulse,
T dl us wllo will love us uue -
Tell!
Parlez encore, parle-t mes belles, Again, my beauties, tell us all
de l'avenir donnez-nous des The future, rell us all that's new;
nouvelles; dites-nous qui nous trahira, Tell us who will play us false,
dices-nous qui nous aimera. Tell us who will love us true,
Parle:d Tell!
frasquita
Fortune!
Mercedes
Amoud
Carmen
Voyons, que j'essaie a mon wur.
(She starts turning the cards over.)
Carrcau, pique! ... Ja more!
J'ai bien lu ... moi d'ahord,
(pointing to the sleeping; Don ]<>st)
Ensuite lui ... pour tous les dcux, la
mon!
(quietly to herself, as she t-Ymtimm
tttrning cards)
En vain pour eviter les reponses
ameres, en vain tu meleras.
Cela ne sere a rien, les carces sont
sinceres et ne memirom: pas!
Dans le iivre d'en haur, si ta page est
est heureuse, mele er coupe sans peur,
La carte sous ces doigts se mumera
joyeuse, t'annon<;ant le bonheud
Mais si tu dois mourir, si le mot
redoutable est ecrit par le sort.
Recommence vingt fois. la carte
impitoyable rcpetera: la mort!
Oui, si tu dois mourir, recommence
vingt fois,
La carte impitoyable repetera; la mord times. the c.·ud nought but "Death!"
Encore! encore! coujours la mort!
f rasquita, Mercedes
Parlez encore, parlez. mes beUes,
De l'avenir donnez-nous des
nouvelles, dices-nous qui nous trahira,
Oites-nous qui nous aimera . . .
--0-
Frasquita
Fortune!
Mercedes
Love!
Carmen
Now then, lee: me uy my turn.
(She starts turning the cards aver.)
Diamonds~ spades! ... <leach!
I saw it no doubt ... firsr me,
(pointing to the sleeping Don Jose)
Then him ... for both of us, death!
(quietly to herself, as she continues
turning cards)
You may shutlle chem over again and
again to avoid an unwelcome reply;
The cards are coo honest, you shuffle
in vain, the cards will never lid
If you're destined fur joy in the book
up on high, then shuffle and cut
without fear;
As the card you hold turns. then you
will descry that happiness it will
:dedare. But if you must die, if chat
terrible word is inscribed in the book
as your fare, twenty-fold chough you
do ic, che pitiless card nought but
"Death!~' will ever repeat. Yes, if you
must die, though you turn twenty
win repeat! "Death!" again and again
wm repeat!
Frasquita, Mercedes
Again, my beauties, tell us all
The future, tdl us all that's new;
T di tts who will play us false,
Tell us who will love us rrue ...
Lecture Twenty-Five
German Opera Comes of Age
In this study we learn how German opera owed its evolution to
German folklore and the specific requirements of the German
language. We see how it came into being with Mozart's The Magic
Flute of 1791, and how it was indebted to the traditional German
entertainment of singspiel. Weber's Der Freishiitz is examined as
the work that established 19th-century German opera.
Outline
German-language opera came into being with Mozart's The Magic
Flute.
A. The late development of German opera had much to do with both
the nature of the German artistic/intellectual class and the nature of
the German language arias.
B. True German opera-in terms of singing style and the type of
stories set to music-evolved from native German roots.
Language as a definer of style.
A. The Italian language lends itself to song. It is full of long, round
vowels evenly interspersed with clean consonants that perfectly
suit the melismatic/coloratura character of traditional Italian opera.
B. The French language does not have the clean consonants of Italian.
Much less suited to coloratura style, French lends itself better to
the declamatory style developed by Lully.
C. German is a language dominated by consonants. The melismatic,
vowel-dominated Italian singing style is not suited to German.
Rather, German lends itself to syllabic style: one syllable per pitch.
Ill. Singspiel literally means "sing-play" or "play with singing."
A. Singspiel as understood today is a partly sung, partly spoken
German theatrical genre that had its roots in popular culture.
B. The equivalent type of genre is England is called a ballad opera or
operetta; in France it is opera comique; in the U.S.A. it is a
musical; in Italy there is no equivalent since all opera is sung.
 C. Mozart's singspiel, The Rescue from the Harem (1782) elevated a contemporary Italian bel canto opera and French grand and lyric
popular genre to the level of high art at a single stroke. opera in terms of the pervasive use of spoken dialogue, expressive
content, and compositional technique. The content of background
IV. The Magic Flute ( 1791) was the last major work Mozart completed
music is very strong and essential to the drama. Musical example:
before his death. It was commissioned by librettist/director/actor
excerpts from the Wolfs Glen Scene.
Emanuel Schikeneder for performance at a burgtheater, a type of music
hall, offering lower-middle-class entertainment. Mozart was working
within a German tradition, but the tradition becomes operatic in his
hands .
. A. The Magic Flute is half fairy-tale, filled with strange exotic people,
beings, events and locales, and half morality play about Masonic
initiation ritual and Enlightenment ideals.
B. Its music is brilliant and popular, with folk-like directness and
memorableness. Musical example: "Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja"
V. A German operatic tradition is born.
A. German opera grew out of the popular tradition of singspiel.
1. Melodies are well suited to the characteristics of the German
language, and spoken dialogue replaces dry recitative. Arias
are simple in form; melodies are repeated and non-melismatic.
2. Plots and story lines draw on German folktales with their
supernatural characters and situations.
B. Lacking a long, commercially profitable tradition, 19th-century
German opera became an experimental genre.
VI. Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischutz (1821) is the definitive work
that established 19th-century German opera.
A. The characteristics of 19th-century German opera are exemplified
by Der Freischutz.
1. Plots are drawn from medieval history, legend or fairy-tale.
2. Stories typically include supernatural beings and happenings.
3. They stress wild, mysterious, and uncontrolled nature.
4. Supernatural incidents are essential plot elements.
5. Human characters often become the agents of supernatural
forces.
6. The triumph of good over evil is often interpreted in terms of
salvation or redemption.
B. Der Freischutz is one of the most influential operas of the
nineteenth century. The famous Wolfs Glen Scene is a brilliant
depiction of supernatural horror, completely different from
 Lectures Twenty-Six and Twenty-Seven
Richard Wagner and Tristan und Isolde
Scope: Lectures 26 and 27 examine the contribution of the paradoxical
Richard Wagner to operatic history. Wagner's life and career is
summarized. We look at Wagner's theories, his admiration for
ancient Greek drama, and his invention of leitmotif.
Schopenhauer's philosophy and its influence on Wagner's concept
of music drama are also discussed. Finally, we examine Wagner's
landmark opera Tristan und Jsoldeas the quintessence of his
mature style, and as the most influential composition of the 19th
century.
Outline
I. Introduction: the paradox ofRichard Wagner (1813-1883).
A. Wagner was the single most influential and controversial composer
of the second half of the 19th century.
B. Ordinarily we associate his sort of artistic originality and power
with the free thinker, someone whose artistic liberalism conveys to
other aspects of his life.
C. Not so with Wagner. He was, overall, a repulsive human being:
megalomaniacal, ruthless, ht:'.donistic, arrogant, and racist.
D. Wagner's anti-Semitism and cries for racial purity approached
madness.
E. Many writers have speculated that Wagner's meanness sprang
from an extraordinary insecurity based, in part, on his own unclear
paternity.
F. Wagner demanded from society an unprecedented level of
attention and luxury, to the point that one modem critic, Harold
Schonberg, states that Wagner actually thought himself a god.
II. Richard Wagner: briefbiography.
A. Early life.
1. He was born in Leipzig in 1813.
2. His legal father was Carl Friedrich Wagner, although his
biological father may have been Ludwig Geyer, an actor and
painter with whom his mother was having an affair and who
was rumored to have been Jewish.
3. Wagner was obsessed with the question of his paternity.
4. Carl Wagner died when Richard was seven months old.
Within a year his mother married Ludwig Geyer, who himself
died seven years later.
5. At fourteen Richard stopped calling himself Geyer and began
using the name Wagner.
6. At fifteen Richard decided to become a composer, despite the
fact that he could hardly play an instrument and knew next to
nothing about the mechanics of music.
B. Wagner's musical training and operas.
1. Wagner was an extraordinarily late bloomer.
2. His two great musical influences were Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony and Weber's Der Freischiitz.
3. Almost from the beginning, Wagner wanted to write operas.
4. He wrote his own libretti and controlled every aspect of his
operas from stage design to direction.
5. He wrote/composed thirteen complete operas. His early works
were based on Italian, French and German models.
Ill. Wagner's theories.
A. Wagner's revolutionary political activism in Germany in 1848 and
1849 drove him into Swiss exile for nearly 10 years.
B. While in Switzerland Wagner took a six-year break from
composing during which he reevaluated his career and the nature
of the music he wanted to write.
1. He had already concluded that both Italian and French opera
were degenerate art forms.
2. He wrote a series of treatises and essays that laid out his
beliefs and new aesthetic doctrines.
3. Like the Florentine Camerata, Wagner went back to ancient
Greek drama for inspiration. He believed that Greek drama
was superior for five reasons.
a. It represented a successful combination of the arts.
b. It took its subject matter from myth that illuminates
human experience to the depths and in universal terms.
c. Both the content and the occasion of the performance had
religious significance.
d. It was a religion of the purely human.
/?>\1C\C\"'7 Tl....-.. T.a. ....... .-..h;._....,.. f'"'~.......,,ri..n.rt.,,
 e. The entire community took part.
4. Wagner was convinced that an artistic revolution was called
for, in which all the resources of drama poetry, instrumental
music, song, acting, gesture, costume, and scenery would be
combined in the theatrical presentation of myth.
5. Wagner called his projected, all-encompassing music dramas
Gesamtkunstwerk, the all-inclusive art form.
6. A key to the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk was the orchestra,
which had to perform for Wagner the same function as the
chorus in a Greek drama. To achieve this
orchestral/instrumental independence, Wagner invented the
concept of leitmotif.
C. Leitmotif.
1. A leitmotif is a musical motive associated with a particular
person, thing, or dramatic idea. Musical examples: drink/death
and desire leitmotifs from Tristan und Isolde
2. Leitmotifs are repeated, altered, fragmented, and developed,
often in the voices, but more often in the orchestra. Each
permutation offers some new and subtle twist on its meaning;
it services to underpin the truth.
3. In Wagner's music dramas the orchestra is no longer just an
accompaniment to the voices. It becomes a full partner with
everything onstage.
4. Wagner would not have formulated many of his theories about
music drama ifhe had not studied Arthur Schopenhauer's
book The World as Will and Representation.
IV. Arthur Schopenhauer and The World as Will and Representation.
A. Schopenhauer ( 1788-1860) was a German philosopher who wrote
The World as Will and Representation in 1818.
B. Wagner discovered Schopenhauer and his book around 1854. It
was the most important intellectual event of Wagner's life.
C. Schopenhauer wrote that instrumental music alone was capable of
expressing the deepest, most primal human thoughts and emotions.
1. This was the inspiration for Wagner's development of the
concept of leitmotif. A Wagnerian music drama unfolds on
two different levels. The singers onstage present the world of
human emotions, replete with the half-truths, delusions, and
dishonesty that characterize conscious interaction. The
orchestra reveals the unspoken truth.
2. Wagner was also deeply affected by Schopenhauer's view that
only through total negation and death could salvation and
transcendence be achieved.
Tristan und Isolde (1859).
A. This opera exemplifies the quintessence of Wagner's mature style.
B. Aside from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Tristan und Isolde is
the most influential composition (not just opera) of the 19th
century.
C. Tristan und Isolde is a musical expression of Schopenhauer's
doctrine that existence is an inherently insatiable web of longings,
willings, and strivings from which the only permanent liberation is
the cessation of being.
D. The opera's prelude (overture) predicts the action to come.
1. It is based on the drink/death and desire leitmotifs. The
drink/death leitmotif is composed of an upward motive
representing the physical action of raising the goblet of wine
and a descending motive symbolic of death. It is performed
together with a rising motive that does not resolve, symbolic
of unfulfilled desire. The two leitmotifs are mirror images of
each other: love/death and death/love, the underlying meaning
being that, for Tristan and Isolde, love and death are
connected.
2. The prelude is slow. It has no tonal center. It consists of one
deceptive (unresolved) cadence after another, interspersed
with long, pregnant pauses. All of this creates tension, and in
doing so it prepares us for a story of unfulfilled emotional and
sexual passion. The whole opera is, in many ways, one
gigantic deceptive cadence after another! Musical example:
opening of the prelude
E. Tristan und lsoldeis in three acts.
1. Act 1 centers on the drinking of the love potion. Musical
example: Act 1, scene 5.
2. Act 2 centers on the mortal wounding of Tristan.
3. Act 3 centers the deaths of Tristan and Isolde.
a. Isolde holds the dying Tristan in her arms and sings her
transcendent liebestod (love/death) aria. It represents the
moment at which Tristan and Isolde's unconsummated
passion transcends to realization at a higher plane.
 b. With the liebestod aria Wagner's music must be, and is, Lecture Twenty-Eight
as transcendent as the new reality that Isolde is already
seeing as she approaches her death. Musical example: Late Romantic German Opera-
liebestod Richard Strauss and Salome
VI. Concluding remarks.
Scope: In this lecture, Richard Strauss' s opera Salome is discussed as an
A. Wagner was a paradox representing the best and worst of human
example of late romantic German opera. After an overview of
attributes. Strauss's early life, we examine his psychopathological and erotic
B. His music provoked huge controversy and created pro and anti- Salome and the reasons why it is one of the most controversial
Wagnerian cults. operas of all time.
C. He changed music forever.
Outline
I. Introduction.
A. In his time Richard Strauss (1864-1949) was hailed as Wagner's
successor.
B. Strauss came to opera relatively late in his compositional career.
1. His early works were instrumental tone poems-works that
function like operas without words.
2. His three greatest operas are Salome (1905), Elektra ( 1909),
and Der Rosenkavalier (1911 ).
II. Briefbiography of Richard Strauss.
A. Early life.
1. He was born in Munich in 1864.
2. His father, Franz Strauss, was the most famous French horn
player in Germany.
a. Franz Strauss was a musical archconservative and anti-
Wagnerian, who gave his son the best and most
conservative musical education his money and
connections could buy.
b. Franz saw to it that Richard received training as a pianist,
violinist, conductor, and composer.
3. Richard's classically oriented compositional technique
disintegrated with his eventual (and inevitable) exposure to the
music of Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner.
B. Fame came rapidly to Strauss. For a fascinated and star-hungry
public, he inherited the mantle of Liszt and Wagner as a shocking
modem composer and performer.

~11\l'\'I TL..- T.---.--.L...:-.- f°"......_ ___ .,,._ .. ,

 C. The Strauss craze reached its peak in 1905 with the premiere of Concluding remarks.
Salome, one of the most controversial operas of all time. A. Salome is a veritable textbook of psychopathology.
III. Salome: adaptation and libretto. B. Within two years of its premiere, Salome had been performed in
A. Matthew 14:6-11 tells of the execution of John the Baptist by over fifty cities.
Herod Antipas at the request of Herod's stepdaughter, the princess C. Though many considered it pornographic, Salome is first and
Salome. foremost an opera representative of the experimental, post-
B. Oscar Wilde and Salome Victorian tum of the century.
1. Wilde was fascinated by the story of Salome.
2. Wilde's play of 1892, Salome, is filled with a degree of
eroticism, intrigue, and sexuality light years beyond the
biblical account.
3. Strauss sliced and diced a German translation of Wilde's play
to his own specifications, completing his opera in 1905.
IV. Salome.
A. The opera takes place on a terrace next to the banquet hall in the
palace of Herod, circa 30-31 C.E. ·
B. Salome is a beautiful, sexually aware vixen of sixteen. Her
character is depicted in her music. Musical example: Salome's
entrance
C. Salome is intrigued by the voice of John the Baptist, who is being
held prisoner in a cistern next to the terrace. She has John brought
out. His music is almost heroic and lacks the harmonic
complexities that fill Salome's music. Musical example: John's
entrance, "Wo ist er ... "
D. Salome is both repelled and profoundly attracted to John. Her
attempts to ingratiate herself to him are met with scorn.
E. A drunken Herod, dangerously enamored of his stepdaughter, asks
Salome to dance for him, and he promises her anything if she does.
Musical example: Herod's request and the opening of Salome's
dance of the seven veils.
F. Salome's price for the dance is the head of John the Baptist.
Terrified, Herold finally agrees to her demand.
G. Salome embraces and kisses the severed head of John the Baptist.
In horror Herod orders Salome killed. Musical example:
conclusion of the opera from "Sie ist ein Ungeheuer, deine
Tochter" ("She is a monster, your daughter")

0\100'7 Th.a. T.oo."'h~.-..n- l'f'\._.,,_o._u

 Lectures Twenty-Nine and Thirty
Russian Opera
Scope: This study of Russian opera traces the causes, history, and
character of Russian musical nationalism. Glinka and his opera
Ruslan and Lyudmila are discussed as the foundation of Russian
opera leading the way for The Russian Five and the pinnacle of
Russian nationalist opera, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.
Outline
I. The rise of cultivated Russian music had much to do with the rise of
nationalism in the 19th century.
Ill. The history of Russian musical nationalism and opera began with
A. The French Revolution of 1789 was a highly exportable model in
an increasingly enlightened, middle-class Europe.
A. Glinka was born into a wealthy family and received the piano and
B. In 1848 insurrections broke out across Europe, all of them
eventually quelled by the ruling powers.
C. Art replaced outlawed political activism as a mode of nationalistic
self-expression.
B. In 1834, inspired by Pushkin and Gogol, Glinka decided to
D. An example is the rise of musical nationalism, which
characteristically incorporated actual folk music or folk-like music
into the concert works an~ operas of Italian/non-German
C. Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842) is generally considered Glinka's
composers.
II. Russian musical nationalism was a reaction less to the events of 1848
than to Russia's fear of foreign influences.
A. The development of concert music in Russia was dependent on the
tastes of the aristocracy living in St. Petersburg.
B. Until the 19th century, cultivated music in St. Petersburg consisted
of Italian opera, light Viennese and Italian instrumental music, and
aristocratic amateur concerts.
C. Russia "emerged" and became part of the greater European
community as a result ofNapoleon's defeat in 1812 and the
Decembrist Revolt of 1825.
D. The spirit of individual freedom and nationalism that powered the
Decembrist Revolt was felt throughout the intellectual and artistic
classes.
E. In and around 1825 certain Russian writers, poets, and musicians
tried to cultivate a uniquely Russian artistic tradition. Preeminent
among these Russian nationalists was the poet and author
Alexander Pushkin (1799-183 7).
1. Pushkin was a Lord Byron-inspired
individualistic/nationalistic rabble-rouser.
2. He elevated the literary perception of the Russian language
through the model of his own works.
3. Among his works that were turned into operas are:
a. Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky).
b. Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky).
c. Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky).
d. Ruslan and Lyudmila (Glinka).
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857).
violin lessons typical for someone of his class. At age 20 he
became a civil servant, working in the Ministry of Ways and
Communication in St. Petersburg.
compose an opera in the Russian language on a Russian subject-
A Life for the Czar.
masterpiece.
1. Glinka's score is filled with the sort of folk-inspired melodies,
orientalisms, rhythmic irregularities, and orchestral effects that
we have since come to associate with Russian music. Musical
example: Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila
2. Story and music
a. The story is a fairy-tale about Ruslan and Lyudmila, two
young aristocrats who are in love, and the sinister forces
that separate them.
b. Near the beginning of the opera, a chorus predicts the
dramatic action. This choral music exemplifies the
Russian style. Its main features are as follows.
i. Melodies are clearly folk-like and Slavic-sounding.
ii. Dance rhythms are asymmetrical. The accents are not
grouped in twos or threes as they are in W estem
music. They fall into unequal groupings, with accents
___ ......._.......__ ,....,,. .......... 1._·-~- l"'I _ _ _ _ _ _ _
 falling all over the place. In this chorus we have
V. Modest Mussorgsky and Boris Godunov.
groupings of five (so-called additive meter, where
groupings of two and three beats are played in A. Mussorgsky was the first of The Five to mature compositionally.
succession to add up to five). B. He was known for only a handful of works, including his
iii. The chorus sings in unison harmonies. masterwork, the opera Boris Godunov.
iv. The word setting is syllabic. Musical example: Act 1, C. Depression and alcohol led to Mussorgsky's early death.
chorus
D. The story of Boris Godunov takes place between 1598 and 1605
c. Among Lyudmila's three suitors is the evil Farlaf, a sort
and is based on historical events. There are six different versions of
of opera buffa bad guy. Musical example: Farlafs patter
the opera. The most commonly heard version is one prepared by
aria (in rondo form)
Mussorgsky's friend Rimsky-Korsakov after Mussorgsky's death.
d. Ruslan, typical of Russian heroes, is a low voice, in this
1. Boris Godunov consists of a prologue plus four acts.
case a bass/baritone. His grief at finding his beloved
2. It is actually a series of set pieces, or tableaus.
Lyudmila in a coma-like sleep is expressed in the aria "O
love of my life" (musical example). E. Boris Godunov is based on a dramatic chronicle by Pushkin.
Mussorgsky himself wrote the libretto, central to which are two
D. After his death in 1857 Glinka was canonized and deified as the
issues:
father of Russian music.
1. The relationship between ruler and ruled.
IV. Balakirev and The Five. 2. The corrupting influence of power.
A. Following the death of Glinka, composer and teacher Mili F. No composer ever portrayed the peasant class as sympathetically
Balakirev (1837-1910) quickly became the czar of Russian music. as Mussorgsky does in Boris Godunov. Critical to this sympathetic
He gathered around him four young amateur composers (they all portrayal is Mussorgsky's extraordinary reproduction of Russian
had other quite different professions). They came to be known, speech patterns in music.
along with Balakirev, as The Five. G. Musical example: prologue to Boris Godunov, scene 2, Boris'
1. Cesar Cui, an army engineer (1835-1918). ascension to the throne.
2. Modest Mussorgsky, an army officer (1839-1881).
H. We are introduced to Varlaam, a drunken priest, whose language
3. Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a naval officer (1844-1908).
and manner is only a step removed from the peasant class. Musical
4. Aleksander Borodin, a scientist (1833-1887).
example: Varlaam's song.
B. To a great degree The Five were self-taught. Essential to their
I. The death of Boris is as profound and moving as any moment in
musical development was the belief that their duty was to create a
opera. The old divisions of recitative and aria are virtually
Russian national music based on the characteristics of Russian folk
nonexistent. Recitative-like music is always accompanied by the
music and the Russian language.
orchestra. Musical example: death of Boris, Act 4, scene 2.
C. A characteristically Russian music emerged from The Five.
J. Boris Godunov is to 19th-century Russian opera what Otelia,
1. It utilizes Russian folk melodies or folk-like melodies as the
Tristan und Isolde and Carmen are to 19th-century Italian, German
essential thematic material. and French opera respectively: the pinnacle and a difficult, if not
2. It is essentially thematic, with minimal development in the
impossible act to follow.
German sense.
3. It is expressively powerful, lyric music that is often, to the
W estem ears, emotionally unrefined.
 Lectures Thirty-One and Thirty-Two
Verismo, Puccini, and Tosca
Scope: The finale lectures in this study of opera examine opera verismo:
its origins, character, and greatest exponent-Giacomo Puccini.
Puccini's virtues and faults are discussed-especially his
marvelous power oflyricism, sometimes pursued at the expense of
dramatic reality. The second act of his masterpiece, Tosca, is
analyzed as a leading example of Puccini's style and as one of the
most powerful acts in all opera. The study concludes with a
musical illustration of the nature of opera, scene 9 from Richard
Strauss's Capriccio. In essence opera is a whole that is greater than
the parts.
Outline
I. Verismo opera.
A. Verismo (truth) opera grew out of the 19th-century philosophical
movements of positivism and naturalism.
1. Positivism posits that the only reality that humankind should
concern itself with is observable fact; there are no mysteries
left in the world that science cannot explain.
2. An offshoot ofpositivisµi is naturalism: the study of human
relations.
3. Realist/verismo authors and composers tend to depict the
worlds of the criminal, the dispossessed, and the demoralized
for their emotional extremes and for their absence of pose and
artifice.
II. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924).
A. Puccini was the greatest composer of verismo operas. He was
primarily a man of the theater. He wrote twelve operas, three of
which remain among the most popular in the repertory: Tosca, La
Boheme, and Madame Butterfly.
B. Puccini was born in Lucca in 1858, the last in a five-generation
line of respected musicians.
1. He studied at the Milan Conservatory with Amilcare
Ponchielli.
2. His first huge success was La Boheme of 1896.
3. Puccini was not an innovator. As a composer he was not
controversial. Unlike Verdi, Puccini did not constantly evolve,
seeking ever-greater drama and movement in his operas. He
was, however, a superb and sympathetic melodist, whose other
compositional skills were brought to bear directly on the
dramatic materials before him: stage action, impulsive feeling,
and truth in expression--often exaggerated expression.
III. The Puccinian dilemma.
A. Many important critics, composers, and music historians of today
have dismissed Puccini as an artless hack. They have backed up
their criticisms with sound arguments regarding Puccini's
compositional technique and the content and nature of his libretti.
B. Opera in Italy has almost always been a popular entertainment.
Puccini's operas are very much part of this tradition.
IV. Tosca (1900).
A. The large outline of the story is based on historical events
surrounding the "liberation" of Rome by Napoleonic forces around
1800.
B. Act 1 introduces us to the characters.
1. Mario Cavaradossi (tenor) is the hero and lover of
2. Floria Tosca, a hot-blooded, beautiful opera singer.
3. Cesare Angelotti is a nationalist and freedom-fighter who has
just escaped from prison.
4. Vitellio Scarpia is the evil and sadistic chief of the secret
police.
C. Act 2 is one of the greatest of all Puccini's operatic acts and the
focal point in this opera.
1. Scarpia desires Tosca and will use her to find Angelotti.
Scarpia's aria ("Ella verra ... ")demonstrates effortless vocal
lyricism at the expense of dramatic reality. Scarpia could
sound more evil than he does. This is the kind of thing that has
put Tosca under fire from critics. Also noteworthy is Puccini's
melding of parlante, arias, etc. into a continuous flow of
music. Musical example: Act 2 from Scarpia's "Tosca e un
buon falco!" to the end of Scarpia's aria, "Ella verra ... "
2. Scarpia tries to discover where Angelotti is hiding by
questioning Cavaradossi, who resists him. Musical example:
"Ov'e Angelotti?"
rri - - _t___: _ _ f""I------.. . .-"', "ll\1
 3. The questioning turns ugly. 3. In one scene a poet, composer and a stage director argue the
4. Tosca enters. In her presence, Scarpia has Cavaradossi relative merits of their respective crafts. Musical example:
tortured in an adjoining room. This scene of brutal torture is scene 9 from Capriccio
unique in opera. Puccini piles on the agony to a climax of B. Is opera words or music? It is neither. It is an indefinable
unbearable tension. Its depiction of the worst of human combination of both. The whole is always greater than the parts.
behavior is typical ofverismo.
5. Tosca cannot bear her psychological torture any longer. She
tells Scarpia where Angelotti is hiding. Scarpia orders the end
of Cavaradossi's torture. Musical example: torture scene from
Scarpia's "Orsu, Tosca, parlate" to his "Portatelo qui"
6. Cavaradossi learns ofNapoleon's victory at Marengo. He
revives and sings a victory song. Scarpia orders him to the
gallows and forbids Tosca to accompany him. Puccini
continues to pile one climactic moment upon the next. Musical
example: Cavaradossi's "Vittoria!" to Scarpia's "Voi noi"
7. Tosca tries to negotiate for Cavaradossi's life. Scarpia reveals
that the price is Tosca herself. Musical example: Tosca's
"Quanto?" through Scarpia's "Gia. Mi dicon venal"
8. Tosca is repelled and feels that God has abandonned her. She
sings one of Puccini's most beloved and famous arias, "Vissi
d'arte" (musical example).
9. Tosca agrees to yield to Scarpia in exchange for Cavaradossi's
life and a safe-conduct pass. Scarpia appears to agree to her
request. He writes the pass, but when he tries to embrace her,
she plunges a knife 1nto him and kills him. Musical example:
Scarpia's "Io tenni la promessa" to the end of the scene
D. Puccini's operas exhibit a wonderful balance of words and music.
His stories are dramatically compelling, and his balance of words
and music heightens and deepens the dramatic meaning and
expressive content.
V. Course conclusion.
A. Richard Strauss's last opera, Capriccio (1941), has the last word.
1. Capriccio takes place outside Paris around 1775, at a time
when Gluck' s operatic reforms were raising a storm of
discussion and controversy.
2. Capriccio is an opera about opera, particularly about the
relationship between words and music.

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')()'.l
 Die Zauberflote jil" YI"
The Magic .Hute (1791) Wenn alle Madchen warcn mein, Once all the girls were in my net
so causchte ich brav Zucker ein; rd keep the fairest for my per,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die, wdche mir am Hebsren war, my sweethearc and my bride-to-be,
Librecco by Emanuel Schikaneder der gab ich gleich den Zucker her, to love and cherish tenderly.
Tamino Tamino und ki.isste sie mich zardich dann, I'd bring her cake and sugar plums,
(regains consciousness, looks ,iround, war sie mein Weib und ich ihr Mann. and be content to <..--at the crumbs.
(reg.aim comcioumess. looks around.
Sic schlief an meiner Seice ein, She'd share my liule nesr wirh me -
ftightened) frightened)
ich wiegte wie ein Kind sic ein. a happier pair could never bd
Wo bin ich? Where am I?
(He whistles and tu.ms to !t·ave.) (He whistles and tttrns to leave.)
Ist's Phamasie, dass ich uoch lebe? Is it fantasy that I am still alive?
(rises and looks around) (rises and l.ooks around) Tamino Tamino
Die Schlange tor? That awful snake dead at my feet?
(Tiu: sound ofa panpipe is heard.) (The sound ofa panpipe is heard.) (steps in his way) (steps in his way)
Washor ich? What do I hear? Heda! Hey there!
_{Withdraws, observing. Ptlpageno, dressed in a mit offeathers, hurries by,
Papageno Papageno
carrying a large birdcage rm his back and a ptmpipe in his hands.)
Was da? Who's there?
NO. 2 ARIA
Papageno Papageno Tamino Tamino
Jf }I Sag' mir, du lusriger Freund, wer hist Tell me who you arc, my jolly
Der Vogdfanger bin ich ja, I am a man of widespread fame, du? friend.
stets lustig. heissa, hopsassa! and Papageno is my name.
Papageno Papageno
kh Vogelfanger bin hekannt To tell you all in simpJe words:
bei alt und jung im ganzen Land. I make my living catching bil'ds. Wer ich bin? Who I am?
Weiss mit dem Locken umzugehn The moment they attract my eye (to himse!f) (to himselj)
und midl aulS Pfeifen zu vemdm. I spread my net and in chey fly. Dumme Fragel Silly question!
Drum kann ich froh und lustig sein, I whisde on my pipe ofllan. (to Tamino} (to Tamiuo)
denn aHe Vogel sind ja mein. In short, I am a happy man. Ein Mensch wie du! A man, like yon.
(He whistles and the11 removes the cage (He UJhistles tmd then removes the et1ge
ftom his b1ick.) fivm his back.)
--0--
jl' .JI'
Der Vogdfanger bin ich ja, Although I am a happy man,
stets lusrig, heissa, hopsassa! I also have a future plan.
kh Vogelfanger bin hekannc I dearly love my feathered friends,
bei ah: und jung im ganzen Lan<l. but thar's not where my int' rest ends.
Ein Netz fur Madchen modue ich, To tell the truth, I'd. like to find
ich fiug sie durzendweis fur m!ch; a. pretty girJ of my own kind.
dann sperrte kh sic bei mfr dn, In fact, rd like to fin my nee
tmd alle Madchen waren mdn. with alt the pretty girls I met.

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 Der Freischiitz Samiel Samiel
The Mtzgic Bullets (1821) Morgen! Tomorrow!
Carl Maria von Weber Caspar Caspar
Libretto by Johann Friedrich Kind Verlang'rc sie noch einmal mir! \Xlill you extend them once more?
Wolfs Glen Scene
Samiel Samiel
A frightfol glen whh a waterfall. A pallid full moon. A storm is brewing. ln
No! No!
the foreground a withered tree shattered by lightning seems to glow. In other
trees, owls, ravens, and other wild birds. Caspar, wirhout a hat or coat, buc Caspar Caspar
wich hunting pouch and knife, is laying out a circle of black fiddstoncs, in
kh brjnge neue Opfer dir. I bring you new sacrifices.
the center of which lies a skull. A few steps away a hacked-off eagle wing, a
ladle, and bullet moulds. Samief Samiel
Welcher Which ones?
Chorus of Invisible Spirits Chorus of Invisible Spirits
tvfikh des Mondes ficl auf's Kraut The milk of rhe moon foll on the Caspar Caspar
Uhui! Uhui! herbs. Uhui! Uhui! Mein Jagdgesdl, My hunring companion,
Spinnweb' ist mit Slut beth<rnt! Spiderwebs dabbed with blood. er nahr, er, der he approaches, who has never before
Eh' noch wieder Abend grmu:. Before another evening darkens> noch nie dcin dunldes Reich betrat. set foot in your dark kingdom.
Uhui! Uhui! Uhui! Uhui!
lst sic todt, die zarte Beaut! wiU she die, the lovely bride. Samiel Samiel
Eh' noch wicder sinkr die Nacht, Before another night falls, Was sein Begehr? What does he want?
ist das Opfer dargebracht! will the sacrifice be offered.
(A clock in the distance strikes twelve. C4 clock in the distance strikes twelve. Caspar Caspar
The circle ofstones is t:ompletetl} The circle ofsJrmes is completed) Freikugdn sind's, auf die er Magic bullecs, in which he puts his
Hoffnung bauc hope.
Caspar Caspar
Samiel SamieJ
Samid! Samid! erschein! Samid! Samiel! appear!
Bei des Zaub'rers Himgebein! By the wizatd's skull-bone, Sechse rrefien, seiben affon! Six strike, seven deceive!
Samiel! Samiel! erschein! Samiel! Samicl! appear! Caspar Caspar
Samiel Samiel Die siebente sei dcin! The seven rh is yours!
Aus seinem Rohr lenk' sie nach From his own gun it wiH aim at his
{steps out of11 rqck) (steps out ofa rock)
Why do you call me? seiner Braud bride.
Was rufst du mich?
Dies wird ihn dcr Vcrzwciflung That wiJI drive him w despair,
Caspar Caspar weih'n, ihn, und den Yater. boch he and his futher.
{throws himselfat SamieLs feet) {throws himselfat Samiels feet) Samiel Samiel
Du weisst, class meine Frist You know that my days of grace
Noch hab' ich keinen Teil an ihr. I side wirh neither parcy.
Schier abgelaufen ist. are coming to an end.

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Caspar Caspar
Melodrama
(tifmid) (tifmid) Caspar Caspar
Geniigt er dir allein? Will he be sufficienc for you? (pausing three times, bowing to the (pausing three times. bowing to the
earth} earth)
Samiel Samiel
Schiitze. der im Dunkel wachc. Hunter, who watches in the darkness,
Das findet sich! Perhaps. Samid! Samid! Hal>' acht! Samiel! Samiel! Pay attention!
Caspar Caspar Steh mir bei in dieser Nacht, Stay with me through this night
Bis der Zauber is vollbradu! until rhe magic is achieved.
Doch schenkst du Frist, If you will granr me grace
Salbe mir so Kraut als Blei, Anoint for me the herbs and lead.
un<l wieder auf clrci Jahr, for anorher three years,
Sego' es sieben, neun und <lrei, BJess the seven, nine and three,
bring ich ihn dir zu Beute dar! I will bring him to you as prey.
Dass die Kugd tiichtig sei! so that the bullet wilJ be fit.
Samiel Sarni el Samiel! Samid! Herbci! Samicl! Samiel! Come to me!
Es sei! Bei den Pforren der Holle! So be ic. By the gates of hell, (The material in the crucible begins to hiss anti bubble, sending forth a greenish
Morgen, Er oder Du! Tomorrow: he or you! flame. A cloud passes ever the moon, obsct1ring the light. Ht casts the first bullet,
(He disappears amidst thunder. Also the skull and knife disappear. In their place which drops in the pmt.}
a small stove with glowing coals is seen.} EINS! ONE!
(The echo repeats: EJNS! Nightbirds crowd around th~ fire.)
--0-
ZWEI! TWO!
Caspar Caspar (The echo repeats: ZWEI! A black bo11r p1tsses. Startled, he counts.)
(He takt~s the ingredients from his {He takes the ingredients from his
DREH THREE!
pouch and throws them in one by one.) pouch and throws them in one by one.)
Hier erst das Blei. Ewas gestossenes , First, then, the lead. Then this (&ho: DRE!! A storm starts to rage. He continues to count tmxiously.)
Glas von zerbrochenen piece of glass from a VIER! FOUR!
Kirchcnfenstern, broken church
{Echo: VIER! Cracking ofwhips and the sound ofgalloping hor.m is heard.
das findet sich. Etwas Quecksilber. window. some mercury,
Caspar is more and more alarmed.)
Drci Kugeln, die schon einmal three balls thac have already hit che
gerroffen. Das rechte Auge eines mark The right eye of a FONF! FIVE!
Wiedehopfs, das linke eines Luchses. lapwing, and che lcfr of a lynx. (Etha: FONF.I Dogs bllrking tmd horses neighing are heard: the devil's hunt.)
Prqbatum est! Und nun den Probatum est! Now to bless the
Wehe! Das wilde Heer! Woe is me! The wild chase!
Kugelsc:gcn! bullets.
--0-- Chorus Chorus
Durch Berg und Thal, Through hiH and dale,
durch Scbiucht und Schacht, through glen and mire,
dutch Thau und Wolken, rhrough dew and night!
Sturm und Nacht! scorm and night!
Durch HO.hie, Sum pf und Erdenklufr, Through marsh, swamp and chasm,

~11Af\.,..., 'T"'l-- 'T"'---L.:-- /""..-...---.,...-... ,

<lurch Ftmer, Erde. See und Luft, through fire, earth, se-a and air, Tristan und Isolde
Jo ho! Wau wau! Jo ho! Wau wau1 Yo ho! \Y/ow wow! Jo ho! Wow wow!
(1859)
Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho! Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho~
Richard Wagner
Caspar Caspar Librerro by the composer
SECHS! SIX!
ACT ONE
(Echo: SECHS! Deepest darkness. The strmn lashes with terrific force,)
Scene Five
Samiel! Samid! Samid! Hilfl Samid! Samicl! Samiel! Help!
{Samiel appears.) (Samiel appears.) Sailors Sailors
(outside) (outside}
Samlel Samiel
AufdasTau! Haul the line.
Hier bin ich! Here I am. Anker ab! Drop rhc anchor.
(Caspar is hurled to the ground) {Cttspar is hurled to the ground.)
Tristan Tristan
Max Max (srarting wildly) {starting 1uiUly)
(nearly fusing his balance from the impact ofthe storm; he jumps out ofthe magic tos den Anker! Drop the anchor!
circle and grips a dead branch, shouting) Das Steuer dem Strom! Stern ro rhe current!
SamieH Samiel! Den Winden Segel un<l Mast! Sail and masc to the wind!
(He t1ikes the cup .from Isolde) (He takes the cup .from Isolde)
(The stonn mddenly dies down. lmtead ofthe dead tree, the black hunter appears
Wohl keno' ich Irlands Konigin, Well know I Ireland's Queen,
before Max. grabbing his hand.) und ihrer Kunste Wunderkraft: and her art's magic.
Samiel Samiel den Balsam niitzt' ich, den sie hot: The balsam I used thac she brought.
den Becher nehm' kh nun. The goblet I now rake so that
Hier hin ich! Herc I am.
<lass ganz ich heut' genese. I might altogether today recover.
(Max makes the sign ofthe cross as he is thrown to the ground. The clack strikes Und adm:: auch des Siinnc e.i<l's. And heed also the oach of atonemcm,
one. Dead silence. Samiel has disappeared. Caspar remains motionless, face to the den ich zum Dank dir sage. which I thankfully made to you.
ground. Ma;( rises convulsively.) Trisrans Ehre, hochste Treu! Tristan's honor, highest truth!
Tristans Elend, kiihnster Trotz! Tristan's anguish, brave defiance!
--0--- T rug des Hcrzens! Betrayal of chc hearc!
Traum der Ahnung: Dream of presemimenc,
ew'ger T raucr einz'ger Trost:: eternal sorrow, unique solace,
Vergesscns gtit'gcr Trank, forgening's kindly draught,
dich trink' ich sonder Wank. I drink without wavering.
(He sits and drinks) (He sits and drinks)

Isolde Isolde
Betrug auch hicr? Betrayed even in chis?
Mein die Halfte! The half is mine!

r8'1100'7 Tho. T~"'3.f'-hino i"Amn.g_n·u '"l11

(.She wrests the c11-p ftom his hand) (She wrests the cup ftom his hand) Tor'ger Treue trugvoHcs Werk Misleading 1ruch, deceitful work
Verrater! kb crink' sie dir! Traitor, I drink to you! Bluht nun jammerod cmpor! now blossoms pitifuHy upward.
(She drinks, nnd then throws ttway the cup. Both, seized with shuddering, gaze at (They break fiwn their embrace.) (They bmtk ftam their embrace.)
er1d1 other unth deepest 11.gitation, still with Jtijfderm:1mor, as the expression t>f
Tristan Tristan
defiam:e ofdeath fades into a glow ofpas.sion. Trembling grips them. 11Jq
convulsively clutch their hearts and pass their hands over tbefr brows. Then they {bewildered) (bewiklered)
seek eru:h other with their eyes, sink inw confusion, rmd once more t11.rn with Was rraumte mir What did I dream
reneUted longing toward e11ch other.) von Tristans Ehrd of Tristan's honor?

Isolde Isolde
Isolde Isolde
{with wtwering voice} (with wavering voice)
Was rraumte mir Whac di<l I dream
von lsoldes Schmach? oflsolde's disgrace?
Tristan! Tris can!
Tristan Tristan
Tristan Tristan
Ou rnir vcdoren? Are you lost to me?
{overwhelmed) (overwhelmed)
I_solde! Isolde! Isolde Isolde
Isolde Isolde Ou mich vcrstossen? Have you repulsed me?
{sinking on his chest) (sinking on his chest} Ttistan Tristan
T reuloser Holder! T rcacherous lover!
Tri.igenden Zaubers Tuckische List! False magic's nasty trick!
Tristan T.-istan
Isolde Isolde
Sdigste Frau! Divine woman!
Torigen Zi.imes Eides Orau' n! Foolish wrath's vain menace!
{He embraces her with ardor. They {He embraces her with ardor. They
remain in silent embrrJce.) ~emain in silent embrace.) Tristan Tristan

AU the Men All the Men Isolde! Si.isseste Maid! Isolde, Sweecesc maiden!
{outside) (outside) Isolde Isolde
Heil! Heil! Hail! Hail?
T risran! Tramesrer Mann! Tristan; most bdoved man!
Konig Marke! King Mark!
K<>i1ig Marke, Heil! King Mark 1.:>lil! Both Both
Brangane Brangane Wie sich die Herzen wogcnd How, heaving, our hearts are
(who, with 1tvertedface, full ofconfi1sion and horror, had leaned "'ver the sitk erheben, uplifted!
turns to see the pair sunk into 11 lave embrace, and hurls herself, wringing her wie alle Sinne wonnig erbeben! How aH our senses blissfully quiver!
Sclmende.r Minne Longing, passion,
hands. into the foreground)
schwellendes Bluhen, swelling b]ooms,
Wehe!Weh! Woe's me! Woe's me!
schmachtender Liebe sdiges Glilhen! languishing love1 blessed glow!
U nabwendbar cwige Not Inevitable, endless distress,
Jad1 in der Bruse Precipitate in the breast
fur kurun Tod! instead of quick death!
jauchzende Lust! exulting desire!

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ffe.ll\0"7 Tl...o. T.o.4""1o~i..;...,....,.. 0r.._.... ...... ~._,,
Isolde! Tristan! Isolde! Tristan! Kurwenal Kurwenal
Tristan! Isolde! Trisran~ fsotdd Der Konig! The King.
Welten emronnen Escaped from the world,
du mir gewonnen! you have w-0n me. Tristan Tristan
Du mir einzig bewusst, You, my only thought, Welcher Konig? Which King?
hochsce Liebeslust! highest love's desire! (Kurwmal points over the side. (Kurwenal points over the side.
(11n curtains are now drawn wide apart. The entire .ship is filled with knights Tristan stares stupefied at the shore.} Tristan stares st1tpefied at the shore.)
and sailors, who Joyfidly signal the shore front aboard. Nearby is mm 11. cliff
croivned by a castle. Tristan and Isolde remain lost in mutual contemplation, All the Men All the Men
unaware ofwhat is taking pince.) (waving their hats) (waving their hats)
Brangane Brangane Heil! Konig Marke! Hail, King Mark!
(to the women, who at her bidding (to the women, who at her bidding Jsolde Isolde
ascendfrom below) ascend.from below)
Schnell den Mantel, Quick. che cloak, {confased) {confused)
den Konigsschmuck! t:he royal robe. Marke! Was will er? Mark! What does he want?
(rushing between Tristan and Isolde) (rushing between Tristan and Isolde) Was isc, Brangane! What is that, Brangane?
Unsel'ge! Aufl Up. unformnate pair! Up! Welcher Ruf? What is che shouting?
Hort, wo wir sind. See where we arc!
Brangane Brangane
(She puts the royal dt){tk on Isolde, (She puts the ro)'ltl cloak on Isolde, who
who does not notice anything.) t/Qes not notice 1mythi11g.) Isolde! Herrin! Fassung nur heut! Isolde! Miscress, ger hold of yourself.

AU the Men AU the Men Isolde Isolde

Heil! Heil! Hail, hail! Wo bin ich? Leb' ich? Where am I? Am I alive?
Konig Marke! 'King Mark! Ha! Welcher Trank? Oh. whar drink was ic?
Konig Marke, Heil! King Mark, hail! Brangane Brangane
Kurwenal Kutwenal (despairingi)~ (despairingly)
(11dv1111cing cheerfully) (arlvancing cheerfully) Der Liebemank! The love potion.
Heil Tristan! Hail. Tristan! Isolde tsolde
glticklicher Held! Fortunate hero!
(stares, frightened, at Tristan} {stares, .frightened, at Tristan)
Mic reichem Hofgesinde With splendid com-tiers .
Triscan! Triscan!
dort aufNachen Naht Herr Marke. there in the skiff Mark approaches.
Heil! wie die Falm ihn freut, Ah. how the ride delights him~ Tristan Tristan
dass er die Braut sich freid for soon he wm be wooing the bride.
Isolde! Isolde!
Tristan Tristan
Isolde Isolde
(looking up, betvilderul) (looking up, bewildered)
(She fi,Jfs, fainting, upon hi» chest.) (She falls, jitinting. t1pon his chm.)
Wer naht? Who comes?
Muss ich leben? Must I live?

~'IA£\.,_, r'1""L- T - - - L . : __ f'"'\...,.._..._J'l.._.,.~

Brangane
{to the women)
Helft der Herrin!
TriStan
0 Wonne voller Tlicke!
0 Ttuggewdhtcs Gltickd
AU the Men
(in a general acc!.amntion)
Heil dem Konig Komwall, Heil!
(People have climbed over the ships side, others have extended a bridge, and the
atmosphere is one ofexpectation ofthe arrival ofthose that have been awaite~ 11.S
the curtain falls.)
-0--
ACT THREE
Scene Three
Isolde
(unconscious ofall around her, turning
her qes on Tristan sbody with rising
inspiration)
Mild und leise wie er lachdt,
wie das Auge hold er offnet-
seht ihr's, Freunde? Seht ihr's nicht?
lmmer Hchter wie er leuchtct.
stem-umstrahlet hoch sich hebt?
Seht ihr's niche?
Wie das Herz ihm rnutig schwiUt.
voll und hehr im Busen ihm quiUt?
Wie den Lippen, wonnig mild,
sUBer Atcm sanft entweht--
Freunde! Seht!
Fiihlt und seht ihr's nicht?
Hor' ich nur diese,Wcisc,
die su wundervoll und leise.
Wonne klagend, alles sagend.
Brangane
mild versohnend aus ihm lonend, reconciling, sounding from him,
(ta the women) in mich dringer, auf sich schwinget, piercing through me, rising upward,
Help your mistress!
hold crhaJlend um mich klinger? echoes fondly round me ringing?
Tristan Heller schallend, mid1 umwallend, Ever clearer, wafting round rnc,
sind es Wellen sanfrer Lilfre? arethey waves or gentle breezes?
0 rapture full of cunning!
0 fraudulently WQn good fortune! Sind es Wogen Are they clouds of
wonniger Dufre? gladdening perfumes?
AHtheM~n Wie sie schwellen, mkh umrauschen, As chey swell and murmur round me,
(in d general acclamation) soil ich aunen, soil ich lauschen? shall I brearhe thern, shall I Jisren?
Hail the King! Hail, Cornwall! Soll ich schiurfon, unccrtauchen? ShaJl I sip chem, plunge beneath them,
Siif~ in Otifren mich verhauchen? breathe my last amid their fragrance?
In dem wogenden Schwall, In the billowy surge,
in dem tonenden SchaU, in the ocean of sound,
in des Wdt-Atems wehendcm AH, in rhe World Spirit's infinite AH,
ertrinken, versinkcn- to drown now, descending,
unhcwuBt-hochscc Lust! void of thought-highest blisi>!
(Isolde sinks, as iftmmjigured, in Brangiine smws upon Tristan sbody. Pro-
found emotion and griefofthe bystanders. Mark invokes a blessing 011 the dead.)
Isolde
(unconscious ofall arottnd her, turning -0--
s
her eyes on Tristan body with rising
inspiration}
See him smiling, softly, gently,
see the eyes that open fondly,
0 my friends l1ere, don't you see?
Ever lighter how he's shining,
borne on high amid che stars?
Don't you see?
How his heart so biavdy swells~
fuU and calm it throbs in his breast!
How from lips so joyful-mild
sweet the breath that softly stirs-
Friends! See!
Don' c you fed and see?
Is it only I who hear these
gentle, wondrous strains of music,
joyously sounding, telling all things,
0'\1007 Th.P TP<:>L'hina rl\mn>lnv
">17
 Salome Schweigsame, listge Egypter und Silent subtle Egyptians and brutal,
(1905) bmi:ale, ungeschlachre Romer mit coarse Romans wirh their uncouth
ihrer plumpen Sprachc, jargon.
Richard Strauss
0, wie ich diese Romer hassc! Al1, how l load1e the Romans!
Librecto by Hedwig Lachmann
Page der Herodias Page of Herodias
Narraboth Nanaboth
Schred<liches wird gcschehn. Warum Something terrible will happen,
Die Prinzessin crhebt sich! Sic 111e Princess rises! She is leaving the
siehst du sie so an? Why do you look ac her?
vcrlasst die Tafel. Sie ist sehr erregt. table! She looks very troubled. She is
Sie komrnt hierher. coming this way. Salome Salome

Page der Herodias Page of Herodias Wie gut isc's, in den Mond zu sehn. How good to see the moon! She is
Er ist wie eine silbemc Blume, kiihl like a silver flower, cold and chaste.
Sieh sie nicht an! Do not look ar her.
und keusch. Ja, wie die Schonheit Yes, I am sure she is a virgin, she has
Narraboth Narraboth einer Jungfrau, die rein gehlicben isc. a virgin's beauty.

Ja, sie kommt auf uns -zu. Yes. she is coming towards us. Stimme des Jokanaan Voice of John

Page der Herodias Page of Herodias Siehc, der Herr is gckommen, des The lord hath come. The son of
Menschen Sohn ist n:ahe. man barb come.
lch bittc dich, sieh sie niche an! I pray you nm co look at her.
Salome Salome
Narraboth Narraboth
W er war <las, der hi er gerufen hat? Who was that who cried om?
Sic ist wie dne verirne T auhe. She is like a dove that has maycd.
Iweiter Soldat Second Soldier
~ Der Prophec, Prinzcssin. The prophet, Princess.

(Salome enters, very excited.) Salome Salome

(Salome enters, very exdted)
Ach, der Propher. Der, vor dem dcr Ah, chc prophet! He of whom the
Salome Salome Tccrarch Angsc hat? Tetrarch is afraid?
Ich will nicht blieben. Ich kann nicht I will not stay. I cannot scay. Why
does the Tetrarch look at me aU the Zweiter Soldat Second Soldier
bleiben. Warum sieht mich der
T ccrarch fornvahrend so an mit seinen while wirh his mole's eyes under hls Wir wissen davon niches, Prinzessin. We know nothing of chac, Princess.
Maulwurfsaugen untcr den zuckenden shaking eyelids? Ir is strange that the Es war dcr Prophet Jokanaan der hier le was che prophet Jokanaan who
Lidern? Es ist sdrsam, dass der Mann husband of my mother looks at me rief. cried out.
mciner Mutter mich so ansiehr. like that.
How sweer the air is here. I <.-an Narraboth Narraboth
Wie silss is hier die Luft. Hier kann
ich at men. Da drinnen sitzcn Juden breathe here. Within there are Jews Bdicbt es Euch, dass ich eure Santee ls it your plea.sure chat I bid chem
aus Jerusalem, die einander uber ihre from Jerusalem who are tearing each holcn lasse, Prinzessin? Die Nachc isc bring your licrer, Princess? The nighc
narrischcn Gebrauche in St:Ucke other in pieces over their foolish schon im Garten. is fair in the garden.
reissen. ceremonies,

~ .. {"\f\.,.., Tt... ...... 'T'.o.,....""h.; ... ""' 0n.mng,nl.1

'JlQ
Salome
Er sagt schreckliche Dinge Uber
meinc Muccer, nicht wahr?
--0--
{The prophet comes ()fl.I ofthe cistem. Stz!ome looks at him and step.f slowly back.)
Jokanaan
Wo ist er. dessen Silndcnbcchcr jaczt
voll ist? Wo ist er, der eines T ages im
Angesicht aJles Volkes in einem
Silbcrmantd sterben wird?
Heisst ihn hcrkommeu, auf Jass er
die Stirn me Dessen hore, der in dcr
Wusce und in den Hauscrn der
Konige gekilndet hat.
Salome
(Rising)
Waist du mir wirklich alles gebcn, was Will you indeed give me whatsoever
ich von dir begehre, Tetrarch?
Herodias
Tanze nicht, meine Toduer.
Herodes
Alles, aUes, was du von mir begehren
wirst; und wars die Halfte mdnes
Konigreichs.
Salome
Du schwom es, Tetrarch?
Herodes
kh schwor' es, Salome.
Salome
Wobei willst du <las beschworen,
Tetrarch?
/F;\1l\l\"'7Tt...,.,..T,.,.. ..... ,..,:J... ; ...... rrr"..-... ........ -n...,_,,
Sato me
Herod es
He says terrible things abour my
mother, <loe.s he not?
Bei meinem Leben, bei meincr
Krone, bci meincn Goncm.
Herodias
Tanze niche, meine Tochter!
John He rodes
Where is he whose cup of abomina~ 0 Salome, Salome, rain fnr mich!
rions is now full? Where is he, who in
Salome
a robe of silver shall one ,fo.y die in the
face of all the people~ Bid him come Du hast cinen Eid geschworcn,
forth, char be may hear the voice of Tetrarch.
him who hath cried in the waste
Herod es
places and in the houses of kings.
lch habe eincn Eid geschwore.1i.
--0-- Herodias
Meinc Tochter, tanze nidn.
Salome Herodes
(Rising) Und war's die Halfre meines
Konigreichs. Du wim schon sc:in als
I shall ask, Tetrarch? Konigin, unermesslich schon. A11! es
isr kalr hier. Es wdu ein cisger Wind,
Herodias
und ich hore ... warum bore ich in
Do not dance, my daughter. der Luft diescs Rauschen von
Fliigeln? Ah! Es isr doch so, a!s ob ein
Herod
ungeheurer schwarzer Vogel Uber der
Everything, whacsoever you desire l
Terrassc schwebtd Warnm kann ich
wHl give it you, even to che h~lf of ihn nicht sehn, diesen Vogel? Dieses
my kingdom. Rauschen ist schrecklich. Es ist ein
Salome schneidendcr Wind. Aber nein, er ist
nichr kale, er ist heiss. Giessr mir
You swear it, Tetrarch?
Wasser uber die Hande, gebt mir
Herod Schnee zu essen, macht mir den
I swear it, Salome. Mamd los. Schnell, sdrneH, machc
mir den Mantel los! Doch nein! Lasst
Salome ilm! Dieser Kranz drtickt mich. Diese
By whac will you swear, Tetrarch? Rosen sind wie Feuer.
tal 007 Thf' TPl'll"hino romnl'ln'1
Herod
By m.y life, by my crown, by my
gods.
Herodias
Do not dance, my daughter.
Herod
0 Salome, Salome, dauce for me!
Salome
You have sworn, Tenarcb.
Herod
I have sworn, Salome.
Herodias
My daughter, do nor dance.
Herod
Even to the haJf of my kingdom.
Thou wilt be passing fair as a queen.
Ah! it is cold here. There is: an i<.y
wind, and I hear ... wherefore do l
hear in che air this beating of wings?
Ah! one might fancy a bt•ge black
bird hovers over the rerrace.
Why can J not see it 1 rhis hird? The
beat of irs wit~gs is [enible. fr is a
chill wind. Nay, but ir is not cold, it
is hot. Pour water on my hands.
Give me snow to eat, Lot)sen my
mantle.
Quick, quick, loosen my mande.
Nay, bur leave it. It is my garland of
roses chat hurts me. The flowers are
like fire.
(He tears the wreath from his head and (He tears the wreath from his head
throws it on the table.)
Ah! Jetzt hnn ich atmen.
Jetzt bin ich gllicklich.
Wiltse du fi.ir mich tanzen, Salome?
Herodias
Ich will ni.chc haben, dass sie ran:re!
Salome
Ich wlll fiir dich tantcn.
(Slaves bring perfomes and the seven veils and take offthe sandals ofSalome.)
Stimme des jokanaan
Wer isr Der. der von Edom komrnt,
wer ist Der, der von Bosra komnu.
dessen Kleid mir Purpur gefarbr ist,
dcr in der Schonheit seiner
Gewander leuchrec, der machrig in
seiner Grosse wandek, warum ist
dein Kleid mit Scharlach gefleckt?
Herodias
Wir wollcn hineingehn. Die Scimme
dieses Menschcn macht mkh
wahnsinnig. kh will nicht haben,
dass mdnc Tochcer tanzt, wahrend
er imrner daz.wischen schreic. kh
will niche haben. das..~ sic tanzt,
wahrcnd du sie auf solche Art
ansiehst. Mit einem Wort~ ich will
niche haben, dass sic tan:z.t.
Hero.des
Steh nkht auf, mein Weib, mcine
Konigin. Es wird dir nichts hdfen,
ich gehe nicht hittcin, bevor sie
getanzt hat. T anze Salome, ta.oz for
mi ch!
{f')l 007 Th,,. TP<tl".hina f'l\mn<inv
Heroclias Herodias
nnd throws it on the table.)
Ah! I cm breathe now. Tanze nicht, meine Toc:hter! Do not dance. my daughter!
Now I am happy.
Salome Salome
Will you not dance for me, Salome?
Ich bin bereic, Tetrarch. I am ready, Tetrarch.
fferodias
(Salome dances the da.nce ofthe seven veils.)
I wiH nor have her dance.
Salome ----o----
I wiU dance for you.
Herodes Herod
Voice of john
Sie ist ein Ungeheuer, deine She is a monster, your daughter. I
Who is this cometh from Edom, Tochter. lch sage dir, sie ist cin reil you, she is a monster!
who is this who cometh from Bozra, Ungeheuer!
whose raiment is dyed with purple,
who shinerh in the beauty of his
garments, who walketh m.ighty in his
greatness? Wherefore is thy raiment
scained with scarlet?
Herodias
Let us go within. The voice of that
man macldens me. I will noc have
my daughter dance while he is
continually crying out. I will noc
have her dance while you look at her
in chis fashion. In a word) I will not
have her dance.
Herod
Do nor rise, my wife, my queen. It
wiU avail thee nothing. I wiJl not go
within till she hath danced. Dance,
Salome, dance for me!
{fi)t007 Th,,. TP<>l"hina f'nmn<>nv
Herodias Herodias Ruslan and LyudmiUa
Meine Tochtef Irnc recht getan. kh l approve of what my daughcer has (1842)
mochte jem hier hleiben. done. And I will stay here now.
Mikhail Glinka
Herodes Herod Libretto by Valerian Shirkov and the composer
(Rising) (Rising)
ACT ONE
Ah! D.i sprichr meines Bruders Ah! There speaks the incestuous
Weib. Komm, ich will nicht<ln wife! Come! I will noc stay here. Chor Chorus
dresem One bleiben. Komm. sag ich Come! I cell thee. Surely some Lei' tainstvenuyj! Upoicel'nyj! 0, mysrerious wonderful god of love!
dir! Sicher, es wird Schreckliches terribJe thing will befall. Let us hide Ty voscorgi l' cs v serdce nam. You pour ecstasy into our hearcs;
geschchn. Wi r woHcn uus i m Palast ourselves in our palace, Herodias, I Slavim vlast' cvoju i mogucestvo, We glorify your power and strength,
verbergen, Herodias, ich fange au z.u begin co be afraid. Mannessab, Neizbez.nye na zemle! which cannot be avoided on eanh!
erziccern. Mannassah 1 Issachar, lssachar, Oz..ias, put out the rorchcs. Oj Diclo Lado! Ld'l 0, god of love, god of love!
Ozfas, loschc die Fackdn aus. Hide the moon! Hide the stars! Ty pecaf nyj mir prevrascaes' nam You transform our sad world
Verbergt den Mond, verbergt die Some terrible thing will befall. V nebo inco a heaven
Sterne! Es wird Sduecklichcs Radostej i utech. of happiness and pleasure.
geschehn. V noc' glubokuju, In the de-pths of night,
(The sklves put out the torches. The stars dis11ppellr. A grMt hftlck cloud crosses Crez bedy i strach, through disasters and fear,
the moon and conceals it completely. 11;e stage becomes very dark. The 7etrarch K lozu roskosi nas vedes. you lead us to a bed of luxury.
begins to climb the staircase.) I volnues gtud' sladomastiem, You fill our souls wich passion
Salome Salome 1ulybku sles' na usta. and send a smile co our lips.
Ah! Ich habe <leinen Mund gekiisst, Ah! I have kissed thy momh, Oj Dido Lado! Lel'! 0, god of love, god of love!
Jokanaan. Ah! Ich habe ihn gektissr, Jokanaan. Ah! I have kissed thy No, cudesnyj Lel', But miraculous god of love,
ddnen Mund. es war ein bicccrer mouch. There was a bircer rasre on Ty bog revnosri: you arc also the god ofjealousy,
Geschmack auf deinen Lip pen. Hat thy lips. Was it the casce of blood? Ty vlivaes v nas mscen'ja zar. who pours the fever of revenge into us.
es nach Blue geschmcckr? Nein! No! But perchance it is che rnste of I prestupnika ty na loze neg And on his bed of languor
Doch es schmecktc vieUeichr nach love.... They say rhat love hath a Predaes vragu bcz meca. you betray rhe unarmed criminal to his
Liebe.... Sie sagen, Jass die Liebe bitter tasce.... Bur whac of that? Tak ravnjaes' ty skorb' i radosri, enemy. Thus you even out sorrow and
hitter schmed~e.... AUein was cut's? What of that? l have kissed thy Ccoby neba nam nc zabyt'. joy. so thac we do not forger the gods.
Was rur's? kh habe deinen Mund mouch, Jokanaan. I have kissed chy Dido Lado! Lel'! 0, god oflove!
gckusst} Jokanaan. lch habe ihn mourh. Vse velikoe, vse prestupnoc AU that is great, all that is criminal
gekussr deinen Mund. Smermyj vedaer crez tebja; mortals learn from you.
(A moonbeam falls on Salome. covering ber with light.) Ty za ro<linu You lead us into che terrible battle
Herodes Herod V bicvu srrasnuju, rn protect our land,
(Turning nmnd and seeing Salome) (Turning round and seeing S1dome) Kak na svedyj pir nas vedes; as if leading us to a wonderful feast.
Man rote dieses Weih! KiJl chat woman! Ucelevsemu ty venky klades' You place a garland oflaurels
(The soidim rush fonvard and crush beneath thdr shield> S1tlorne, daughter of Lavra vecnogo na glavu. on the brows of the survivors,
Herodim. Pt-incesJ ofJuda ea.) A kro pal v boju zu otecestvo, and you prepare a wake for those
--0-- Tri:inoj slavnojy usladis'! who fell in che battle for the fatherland

/?i\lC\{\"7 TL....-.. T.o..n..r..h;.,......,. l"r...rvt.-~n·u

©1997 The Teachin!!. Comoanv. ')').:;;

Ld' cainstvennyj, usladitd'nyj.
Ty vostorgi i'es' v serdce nam!
{L1 short but loud thunderclap is heard.
The stt1ge dt1rkms.)
-0--
Rondo
farlaf
Blizok ui. cas corzescva moego;
Nenavismyj sopernik ujdet daleko
()t nas!
Vitjaz', naprasno
_Ty isces' knjaznu,
Do nee ne dopustic volsebnicy vlast'
rebja.
Ljudmila, naprasno ry places' i
stones', i milog-0 ser<lcu na.prasno ty
zdes': Ni vopli, ni slez.y, nicco ne
pomoz.et! Smkis'sja pred vlast'ju
Nainy, knjaz.na!
Blizok uz cas torzesrva mocgo, etc.
Ruslan, zabud· ry o Ljudmile!
Ljudmila, zenicha zabu<l'!
Pd mysli obfadat' knja:moj
Serdce radosti oscuscaet
I zaranee vkusaet:
Sladost' mesti i ljubvi.
Bhzok uz cas tonestva moego, etc.
V zabot.ach. v trevoge, dosade i
grusti
0, mysterious wonderful god of love!
You pour ccscasy into our hearts!
(A short but loud thunderclap is heard.
The stage darkens.}
farlaf
The hour of my triumph approaches.
My hated rival wat go far away
from us.
0, knight, you are wasting your rime
in search of rhe princess.
The witch's power will not let you get
co her!
Lyudmila, your rears and groans arc a
waste of time, and you wait for your
dear one in vain! Neither howls nor
rears will do any good! Submit to
Naina's power, princess!
The hour of my triumph approaches.
etc,
Ruslan, forget about Lyudmila.
Lyudmila, forget your fiancce.
At rhe very rhought of possessing the
princess my heart 1eaps with happiness,
ancl l am already beginning to feel
the sweetness of revenge and love.
The hour of my triumph approaches,
etf.
In tr.i.vail, in anguish, annoyance, and
sadness
Skicajsja po svem, m-0j duabryj
sopernik! Bejsja s vragami, vlazaj ua
tverdyni!
Ne trudjas' i ne zaborjas,
Jana namerenij dostignu,
V zamke <lcdov ozi<laja povdcnija
Nainy. Ne dalck 1.elannyj den',
Den' vostorga i ljubvi!
Ljudmila, naprasno, etc.
Ulizok uz cas wrzesrva moego} etc.
V 1.aborach, v trevoge, etc.
Blizok uz. cas rorzestva moego, ~tc.
-0--
Aria
Rusi an
0, zizni otrada mb.daja supruga!
Uzel' ty nc slysis'
Srenanija druga?
No serdce ce trepescet i b'etsja,
Ulybka porchaet
Na milych ustach.
Ncvcdomyj strach
Mne dusu ter1..aed
0 drugi! kot znaet,
Ko mnc li ulybka lecit,
I serdce po mne li drozit?
--0-
!Ell 007 The Teaching: Comnanv.
wander the world, my brave rival!
Fight enemies, storm fortresses!
Without working or worrying,
sitting in the castle of my forefuthers,
awaiting che commands of Naina
the desired day approaches.
The day of ecstasy and love!
Lyudmila, your tears, etc.
The hour of my triumph approaches,
etc.
In ti-avail, in anguish, ere.
The hour of my rriumph approacht..'S,
etc.
Ruslan
0 love of my life, young wife!
Can you really not hear
rhe groans of your beloved?
Bur her heart heats and flutters.
and a smile plays
on her beautiful lips.
An unknown fear
torments rn.y soul!
0, friends! Who knows
whether her smile is for me,
whether the heart beats for me?
227
 Boris Godunov Do niscego sJepca, to blind beggar,
(1874) Vsem vol'nyj vchod, let everyone enter,
Modest Mussorgsky Vse, gosci dorogie! you are all wckomd

Libretto by the composer

Bojare Boy ars
Da zdravsrvuec car' Boris Long live Tsar Boris
Feodorovic! Feodorovich!
Narod The People
Da zdravscvuet! Long may he live!
Uz kak na nebe solncu krasnomu Like the tadianc sun in the sky>
Slava, slava! Glory, gloryl
Uz. kak na Rusi carju Borisu Glo1.y. glory, glory co rhe Tsar,
Slava, Slava, Carju Slava! To Boris, the Tsar of Russia!
Slavat Slavat Slava! Slava! Glory! Glory! Glory! Glory!
Boris Boris
(from the porch) {from the porch)
Skorbit dusa. My soul is sad.
Kako j-to strach nevol 'nyj Some sort of involuntary fear
Zlovesdm prcdcuvstviem has gripped my hcan
Skoval mne serdce. with a sense of evil foreboding.
0, pravednik, o, moj 0, Righteous One, oh sovereign
orec derzavnyjl Father of mine!
Vor.t.ri s nebes na slezy Look down fron1 heaven on che
Vernych slug rears of your faithful servants
1 nisposli ty mne svjascennoe and send me a holy blessing
Na vlase blagosloven'e: for my rule:
Da budu blag i praveden, Lee me be good and righteous
kak ty; as you are;
Dav slave pravlju svoj narod ... may l rule my people in glory ..•
Teper' poklonimsja Now let us pay our respects
Pocijuscim vlastiteljam RossiL to the pasc rulers of Russia now
deceased.
(nuy'estit:ally) (majestically)
A tam sz.yvat' narod na pir, And now invite the people to the
Vsech, ot bojar, feast, all from boyar
-0--
Vaarlam's Song
Vaarlam Vaarlam
Kak vo gorode byio, Here's what happened at che
vo Kaz~mi, town of Ka·i:an,
Groznyj car' piroval, Ivan the Terrible was feasting
Da vesdilsja, and making merry.
On tatarej bil He had given the Tatars
nescadno, a ruthless beating
Ctob im bylo da ne povadno to teach them a lesson not to
'Idol' po Rusi guljat'. go wandering over Russia again.
The Tsar came dose,
Car' podchodom podchodiJ
Da pod Kazan> gorodok; to the little town of Kazan.
On podkopy podkopal, He dug some trenches
Oa. pod Kazanku reku. under the river of Kaz.an.
Kak catare-to po gorodu pochazivajut, As the Tatars strolled about town
Na carja Ivana-to pog1jadyvajut, they stole glances at Tsar Ivan,
Zli tatarove! those evil Tatars!
Groznyj car' oc zakrudniJsja. Ivan the Terrible became sad,
On povesil golovusku he bung his head
Na pravoe pleco. on his right shoulder..
Uz. kak sral car' puska.rej sz.yvat', The Tsar sent for the gunners,
Puskarej vse zaz.igal'scikov, che gunners with aU their guns,
Zazigal 'scikov! the gunners with all their guns!
A bright wax taper started smoking,
Zadymilasja svecka vosku jamva,
Podchodil molodoj puskar' a young gunner
Ot k boccckc. wenc up to t:he barrel.
A i s porochom-to bocka And the barrel of gunpowder
ZakruziJasja. started rolling.
Oj! Po podkopam pokatilasja, Help! It rolled along the trenches
Da i chlopnula. uncil it exploded.
Zavopili, zagaldeli zii tatarovc, The evil Tatars shrieked and

11'\1007 Ths> Ts><>l'hino rnmn,;,nv

tell 997 The Teachim! Comnanv. ')'JQ

Blagim matom ;wlivlisja.
Poleglo catarovej c' ma t' muscaja,
Poleglo ich sorok rysjacej dacri tysjaci.
Tak~to, vo gorode bylo,
bo Kazani ... E!
--0---
ACT FOUR
Scene Two
Boris
Proscaj, moj syn, urniraju ...
Sejcas ty ai.rstvovat' nacncs'.
Ne sprasivaj, kakim putem
Ja carsrvo priobrel ...
Tcbc ne nmmo :mat'.
Ty carscvova.t' po pravu bu<les',
Kak moj naslcdnik,
Kak syn moj pervorodnyj ...
Syn moj! Ditja moe rodnod
Ne vverjajsja navctam
llojar krnmol'nych,
Zorko sledi za idl snoscn'jami
Tajnymi s Litvoju, .
Ii.menu karaj hcz posca<ly,
Be;~milosti karaj;
Su:ogo vnikaj v sud narodnyj,
Sud ndiccmernyj;
Stoj na srra1.c borcom
Za veru pravuju,
Svjato cd svjatych ugoclnikov
boz' ich.
Scstru tvoju, carevnu,
Sberegi, moj syn.
Ty ej odin chranitel' ostaes'sja ...
Nasej Ksenii, golubke ciswj.
(almost spoken)
tell QQ7 The. Te.achin2: Comnanv.
screamed, cursing in foul language.
Hordes ofTacars fell,
Forry-rhree 1housand Tatars felt
Thar's what happened
in Kazan ... Hey!
Boris
Farewell, my son, I am dying ...
Now you will begin yottr rdgn.
Do not ask me by what m<:aus
I obtained the crown ...
You need not to know.
You wiH be a lawful ruler,
as rny successor,
as my firsrborn son > ••
My son! My dear chiJd!
Don't believe the slander
of che sedit[ous boyars,
keep a sharp wacch on tbeir secret
dealings with Lithu3.ni:a.
Punish treason harshly,
punish widiom mercy;
dosely follow the judgment of
the people, chcy are impartial;
defend and guard
the righteous faich,
honour and respect the holy saints
of che Lord.
Look afrer your sisccr,
the Tsarevna, my son,
you are now her only guardian ...
Our Xenia, the innocent: dove
(almost spoken}
Gospodi! Gospodi! Oh Lord! Oh Lord!
Voxui, molju, Look down, I pray,.
Na sfozy gresnogo occa; upon the tears of a sinful father;
Ne za sebja molju, I mn not prnying for myself,
Ne za sebja, moj Boze! not for myself, my Lord!
S gornej nepdstupnqj vysocy prolej l~rom your inaccessible height
Ty blagod<ltnyj svet na cad mokh, pour down your blessed light
Nevinnych ... krotkich, cistych ... upon my chjJdrcn, my innocent ...
sweer ... pure children ...
Sily nebesnye! Oh, heavenly powers!
Strazi trona prcdvecnogo ... Guardians of the eternal throne ...
(he embraces his son) {he embraces his son)
Krylami svedymi vy ochranire With your bright wings protect
Moe ditja rodnoe ot bed my dear child from aH evils and
i zol ... or iskusenij ... calamity ... from temptation ...
(He hu.gs his son and kisses him. Long- (He hugs his son and kisses him. Long-
sustt1ined chime ofa bell and detlth susttlined rhime af11 belt and death
knell) knell)
Boris Boris
Zvon! Pogrebal'nyj zvon! Abcll!AkndH
Pevcie (Monachi) Chorus (Monks)
(ojfit1tge} (offitage)
Plac:'te, plac'te Jjudie, \Vccp, weep, oh people,
Nest' bo ziznj v ncm there js no Jife in him any more,
I nemy usca ego his lips are sHenr
I ne dast otveca. and he wiH never give an answer.
Plac'te. Alliluija! \XTeep. Alleluia!
(The boyars and the chorus come onto (The boyar's and the chorus come onto
the stage.) the stage.)
Boris Boris
Nadgrobnyj vopl', schima ... Funeral wails, the monastic order ...
Svjataja schima ... The holy monastic order ...
V monachi car' idet. The Tsar is joining the monks.
Feodor Feodor
Gosudar', uspokojsja! Your Majesty, calm down!
Gospod' pomozcc ... The Lord wiU help ...
telJQQ7 ThP. TP.i:tr.hinu romni:tnv
Botis Boris
Net! Net, syn moj. No! No, my son. losca
Cas moj probil ... my time has come ... (1900)
Giacomo Puccini
Pevde Chorus
Ubtetw by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi IHica
Vizu mladenca umirajusca I can see the dying child,
l rydaju, pfacu, an<i I weep and sobJ ACf TWO
Mjatetsja, trepescet on i k he cusses and turns and
ln rhc Farnese Palace. Scarpia' s rootn on the upper floor. The rn.hle is laid for
pomosd vzyvaet calls for help,
supper. A large window gives onco rhe courtyard of the Palace. It is nighc.
I net emu. spasen>ja ... bur nothing can save him ...
(they stop) (they stop) Scarpia Scarpia
Boris Boris (fie fr sitting 11t the table, having supper. From time to time he interrupts his
me1tl to reflect. He t11kes P watch from his pocket, n.nd in his restless demeanor he
Boze! Bozd Tjazko mne! Oh Lord! Oh Lor<l! I feel terrible!
betrr.1ys a feverish anxiety.}
Uz.e I' grecha There is nothing I can do now
co atone for my sin! T OSC.1. e un bu on fako! Tosca is a good decoy!
Nezamolju!
Cereo a quest' ora By now my bloodhounds must
0~:daja smerr'! Oh evil dearhl
i miei segugi le have sunk their teeth into their
Kak mucis' ty zestoko! How crud are your torrnems!
due prede azzannano! two quarries!
{he jumps ttp) {he jumps up)
Doman sul pako vedra 1'aurora T omonow's dawn will see
Povremenite .. , ja cal esce! Wait a minme ... I am still Tsar!
Angelotti e ii bel Mario Angelotti and the handsome
{he seizes his heart tmd falls into (l (he seizes his heart and foils imo a
al laccio pendere. Mario hanging on the gaHows.
chair) chair)
(He rings a handbell: Sciarrrme (He rings fl handbell: Sciarrone
Ja car' esce ... Boze! Smen'! I am st:iH Tsar ... Oh Lord! Death!
appears.) appears.)
{spoken) {spoken)
Tosca e a palazw? Is Tosca in the Palace?
Pwsd menja! Forgive me!
{to the boyars, pointing to his son) {to the hoyars, pointing to his son) Sciarrone Sciarrone
Voe, vot car' vas ... Here, here is your Tsar ... Un ciambdlan nc uscia pur A footman has just gone to
car' ... your Tsar .. . ora in traccia. fetch her.
Prostite ... Forgive me .. .
(in a whisper) (in a whisper) Scarpia Scarpia
Prostite ... Forgive me ... {ptlinting to the window) (pointing to the window)
Apri. T arda ela nocce. Open ic. The hour is late.
Bojare Boyars
(From the lower ffeor, where rhe Queen ofNaples, lvfaria CarolituJ, is giving a
(in a whisper) (in a whisper) great entert(linment in honor of General Mehu, is heard the sound <fan orches-
Uspne! He has died! tra)
Alla cantata ancor manca The diva is not here yet for
la Diva, the cantata,
--0-- e strimpellan gavotte. and they're fiUing in with gavottes.

(C)l 997 The Teachine: Comoanv. 233

(ta Sciamme) {to Sciarrrme) Scarpia Scarpia
Tu anenderai la Tosca in You wiU wait for Tosca at Ov'e Angeloni? Where is Angeloni?
sull'enrmra; the entrance
le dirai ch'io l'aspetco and tell her chat I expect her Cavaradossi Cavaradossi
finita la camaca ... when che cancaca is over ..• Non lo so. I don't knmM.
o meglio ... or still better ...
(He rises. and hurriedly writes a note.} (He rises and hurriedly writes a note.) Scarpia Scatpia
le darai quesro biglietco. you will give her this note. Negme d'avergli dace Do you deny having given him
(Sciarrone goes out, Scarpitl re.tums to {Sciarrone goes out. Scarpia returns to dbo? food?
.the table and pours himselfa drink) the table and pottrs himselfa drink.)
Cavaradossi Cavaradossi
Ella verra ... ShewiUcomc ...
per amor <lei suo Mario! for love of ber Mario! Nego! 1 do!
Per amor dd suo .Mario For love of her Mario
Scarpia Scarpia
al piacer mio s'arrendara. she will submic co my p]easure.
Ta1 dei profondi amori e la The depth of her mise1y E vcsri? And clothe/'>?
profonda miseria. Ha piu forte will match the depth of her love.
Cavaradossi CavaYadossi
saporc la conquista vioJema A forcihle conquest has a keener
che ii mellifluo consenso. relish rhan a willing surrender. Nego! I ckny it.
lo di sospiri e di lartiginose I find no <lelighc iu sighs and
Scarpia Sc:arpia
albe lunari poco m'appago. sentimental moonlight serenades.
Non so i:rarre a<.:cordi I cannoc rhrum chords on a E asilo nella villa? And shdccring him in your vHla?
di chir:arra, ne oroscopo di guitar, nor tell fortunes from E che la sia nascosro? And thar he is bidden there?
fior. ne farl'occhio di pesce, flower petals, nor make sheep's~
Cavaradossi Cavaradossi
o tubar come tortora! eyes or coo Hke a curdcdove!
Bramo. La cosa bramara I have strong desires. I pursue Nc::go! nego! I deny everyrhing.
pcrseguo, me ne sazio e via la what l desire. glut myself with it
Scarpia Scarpia
getco volio a nuova and discard it, cuming ro a new
esca. diversion. Via, Cavaliere, rifleuere: Come, Cavaliere, reflect:
Dio creo diverse bdta 1 God created diffcrcm beauties saggia non ecotesca this obstinance of yours
vini diversi. Io vo' gustar and differem wines. 1 wish co savor osrinarezza vosrra. Angoscia is unwise. Prompt confession
quanto piu posso ddl'opra divina! all I can of what heaven produces! gmndc, pronta confossione could :save you much anguish.
(He drinks.) (He drinks.) evharal Io vi consigllo, dite: I advise you to tell me:
dov'e dunque Angelotti? where is Angelotti?
-{]- Cavaradossi Cavaradossi
Non lo so. I don't know.
Scarpia Scarpia
Ancor l'ult:ima volta. Once more and for the last time:
Dov'e? where is hd

0\100'7 Th.a. T.a.a.t"'h1.nn f"Amn.'::l.rl'l/

((')]QQ7 ThP TP<>r-hina f"'Amn<>nu
 Cavaradossi Cavaradossi
Non lo so! I don't know! --0--

Spoletta Spoletta Scarpia Scarpia

{aside) (aside) Orsi1, Tosca, padate. And now, Tosca, speak our.
0 bd tratti di corda! Now the cords will be tightened!
(Enter 1'Qsc11, anxiously) (Enter Toset1, anxi()usly~ Tosca Tosca
Non so nuUa! I know nothing!
Scarpia Scarpia
Eccola! Ah, there she is! Scarpia Scarpia
Non vale queila prova? That test was not enough?
Tosca Tosca Roberti, ripigliamo ... Roberti, repeat the treatment ...
{seeing Cavaradossi, rum to emlm1.ee (seeing litvaradossi, runs to embrace
him) him) Tosca Tosca
Mario, cu qui?! Mario, you here? No! Fetmate! ... No! Stop!

Cavaradossi Cavaradossi Sc:atpia Scarpia

(under his breath to Tosca, who gives a (under his breath to 1oscti, who gives 11. V oi parlerete? Will you speak?
sign that she hllS understocul) sign that she has understood)
Tosca Tosca
Di quant:o la vedesti, tad, Say nothing of what you have seen
o m'ucddi! rhere> or it: will mean my death! No ... mostro! No ... you monsrer.
lo Strazi .
, . f' U<::ddi! You are torturing him, killing him!
Scarpia Scarpia
Scarpia Scarpia
Mario Cavaradossi, qual Mario Cavaradossi, the judge
Lo strazia qud vostro That si1ence of yours
testimone ii Giudice v'aspctta, is waiting to rake your deposition.
silenz.io assai piU. is harming him far more.
(t() Roberti) (to Raberti}
Pria le forme ordinarie. lndi. . . First che usual way. Afterwards ...
ai mid cennL as I indicate.
(The Judge g()es into the tenure chamber; the others foiluw, leaving Tosca and
Scarpia alo1u. 5poletta withdmws to the duor at the b1uk ofthe room.)

---{}--

,.,'lL tel1997 The TeachinQ Comnanv_ (C)l QQ7 The TeachinP- C:omnanv ,.,".!..,
Tosca Tosca
cessate ii martid Cease chis torment!
Tu ridi ... LU ridi aH'orrida You laugh ... at this terrible
suffering?
E troppo soffir! It is too much to s•1fff'r!
pena?
Ah! non posso pii1! Ah! I cannot bear it!
Scarpia Scarpia
La voce di Cavaradossi Cavaradossi's voice
Mai Tosca alb. scena piu uagica Tosca was never more tragic
fu. Aprice le pone che on che sragd Open the doors so Ahimel Ah!
n'oda i lamenri. chat she can hear his cries! {Tosca again turns imploringly to Scarpia, who sigm to Spoletta to let her
(Spoletta opens the door, pladng (Spoktta opens the door, pla.cing approach. She goes to the open door nnd, ten'ifi.ed at the sight ofthe dreadfid
himselfdiret:tly before it.) himselfdirectly before it.) scene, addresses Cavaradossi.)

La voce di Cavaradossi Cavaradossi,s voice Tosca Tosca

Vi sfido! l defy you! Mario. consenti ch,io parli? ... Mario, will you lee me speak?

Scarpia Scarpia La voce di Cavaradossi Cavaradossi's voice

Piu fonc, piu forte! Harder, harder! No, no! No, no!
1
la voce di Cavaradossi Cavaradossi s voice Tosca Tosca
Vi sfido! I defy you! Ascolta, non posso pii1 ... Listen: l can bear no niore ...
Scarpia Scarpia La voce di Cavaradossi Cavaradossi's voice
Parlace! Speak!
Stoh:a, che sai? Don't be silly! What do you know?
Tosca Tosca che puoi dir? What can you say?

Che<lird What can 1 say? Scarpia Scarpia

Scarpia Scarpia (infariated by Cavaradossis words, (iJ~furitited by Cavaradossis worrls,

Su, via! Come, quickly! shuuts at Spoletta) shouts at Spoktta}

Ma fareio t:acerd 1v1akc him be quiet!
Tosca Tosca (Spoletta enters the torture-chamber and comes out again short!y after, while
Ah! non so nulla! Ah! I know noching! Tosca, overcome by fearful agitation, falls prostrate on a settee ttnd her voice
Ab! dovrei mentir? f\.fost I rdl lies? broken by st1bs, 'tppeals to Scarpia, who stands impassively in silence.}

Scarpia S<:arpia Tosca Tosca

Dfre dov'e Angeloni? Parlate, su, Say where Angeloni isl Speak out Che v'ho facto in vita mia? \Vhat harm have I ever done you?
via dove celaro sta? now! Where is he hidden? Son io It is I whom you are torturing so!
che cosl tonurate! ... Tormrate You are tormring my soul ...
Tosca Tosca
i'anima ... Si, mi torcurate l'anima! Yes, it is my soul you are torturing!
Ahl piu non posso! Ah! Ah! I cannot bear ic!

tC.llQQ7 ThP. TP.::iP.hinP-C:omnanv ©1997 The Teachin!?. Comnanv. T~Q

 (Cavaradossi, who htts been listening with growing tmxiety to Sciarrone's words.
Spoletta Spoletta
in his enthusiasm finds the Jtrength to rise and confront Scarpia menacingly.)
(n,mttering a prayer) (muttering a prayer)
Judex ergo cum scdebit Judcx ergo cum sedebit Cavaradossi Cavaradossi
Quidquid facet: apparebic, Quidquid laret apparebit> Victoria! Vittoria! Victory! Victory
NH inulmm rcmancbit. Nil inulcum remanebic. L'alba vindice appar Let the dawn of vengeance appear
(Scarpia, profiting by Tosca's prosmuion, goes to the torture-chamber and signals che fa gl i em pi tremar! ro strike terror into our foes!
for the torture to recommence.} Liberca sorge, crollan Lee freedom arise
tirnnnidi! and tyrants be overthrown!
la voce di Cavaradossi Cavaradossi's voice
Tosca Tosca
Ah! Ah!
(in despair, holding Cavaradossi close, (in despair, holding C'Avaradossi cl.ose,
Tosca Tosca trying to calm him) trying to calm him)
s
(At Cavt1radosJ·i a)' she leaps up and (At Cavlll"llfiossi's cry she leaps up and Mario, mci. pieta di me! Hush, Mario, for my sake!
in a st~fl.ed voice hurriedly says to in tl stifled voice hurriedly says to
Cavaradossi Cavaradossi
Scilrpit1:} Scarpia)
Nel pozzo ... nd giardino ... In the well ... in the garden ... Del sofferro man:ir You shall see me rejoice
me vcdrai qui gioir ... for the anguish l have suffered ...
Scarpia Scarpia ii tuo cuor rrema, o Scarpia, Let your hci:m falter,
La e l'Angeloui? Angelotti is there? carnefice! 0 Scarpia. you butcher!

Tosca Tosca Scarpia Scarpia

Si ... Yes ... Braveggia, urla! T' affretta Bluster and bawl!
a palesanni ii fondo Hasren to reveal to me
Scarpia Scarpia dell' alrna ria! the depths of your infamous soul!
Basca, Roberti. That will do, Rohcni. Va! Moribondo, Go! The gallows awaics you,
ii capcsrro t' aspctta! half dead as you already arc.
Sciarrone Sciarrone (shouts to the police) (shouts to the police)
(t1ppearing at the door) {apj1earing tlt the door) Portatemelo via! T akc him out of here!
E svenuto! He has fainted! (Sciarrone and the police-agents seize Cavtlradossi and drag him towards the
door. Tosca tries to oppose them with aU her strength, clinging to M11rio.)
Tosca Tosca
(to Scarpia) (to Swy1ia) Tosca Tosca
Assassino! ... Voglio vederlo ... Murderer! ... I want to see him ...
Ah .. , Mario, Mario ... Ah ... Mario, Mario ...
Scarpia Scarpia con te ... I wiH go wich you ...
Porcatelo qui. Carry him in.
Scarpia Scarpia

--0--- (pushing her back and closing the door} (pushing her back and clming the door)
Voi no! Not you!

11"l1007 ThP TP<>l"hina l'omn<>nv ©1997 The Teachin!! Comnanv_ '')A 1

 "Vissi d'Ane"
---0-
Tosca Tosca

Tosca Tosca (Overcome by grief, she falls onto the (Overcome hy grief, she falls onto the
settee. Scarpia coldly continues to gaze settee. Smrpirl cold(y continues to gaze
(sits filcing Scarpi11, looking him (sits facing Sm1J1ia, looking him
ttJ her.) at her.)
.rtmight in the qe) straight in the eye}
How much?
Vissid\me, I have lived for art,
Quanto?
vissi d'amorc, I have lived for love,
Sc:arpia Scarpia non foci mat male a<l ani ma viva! and never harmed a living souH
Quanto? How much? Con man furciva qu:mte In secret I have given aid to as
mi!icrie conobbi, aiutaL many unfortunates as I have
Tosca Tosca Sempre con fe' sh1cera known. Always a nue heiiever~
II prezw! Whar's your price? la mia preghiera I have offered up my prayers
ai sam:i tabcroacoli sali, at the holy shrines;
Scarpia Scarpia sempre con fe' sincera alway!i a true hdiever,
Gia. Mi dicon venal, Ah! They call me venal, diedi fiori agli altar. I have laid flowers on rhe altar.
ma a donna bella non mi vendo hue I don't sell myself Nell'orn cld dolore In my hour of tribulation
a prezzo di rnoneta. to lovely ladies for mere money. perche, perche, Signore, why, 0 Lord, why
Se la giurata fode devo If I have to betray my sworn pen::he me ne rimuneri cos!? hast Thou repaid me elms?
rradir, ne voglio loyalty, I choose Diedi gioidli delta Madonna l gave jewds for the Madonna's
altra merccde. a different payment. al manto, e diedi il canto agli mantle, and offered my singing
Quest' ora io l'accendeva. l 've been waiting for this moment. astri, al ciel, che ne ridean to the scarry heavens, that they
Gia mi suuggca Love ofthe diva piu beHi. might smile more brightly.
!'amor ddla diva! . . . has long consumed me! ... Nell' ora <lel dolor In my hour of tribulation
Ma poc' anz.i ti mirai But a while ago I saw you perche, perche, Signore, why, 0 Lord, why
qual non ti vidi mail as l had never seen you before! perche me ne rimuneri cos!? hast Thou repaid me thus?
Quel cuo pian.to era lava ai sensi Your tears flowed like lava
miei e il tuo sguardo on my senses, and your eyes,
che odio in me dardeggiava, which darted hacred ac me, ---0-
mie brame inferociva! ma<lc my desire alt the fiercer!
Agil qual leopardo t'avvinghiasri When, supple as a leopard, you
Scarpia Scarpia
all'amante, ah, in queU'istante dung co your lover, ah, in chat mo-
c'ho giunna mia! ment I swore you should be mine! Io tenni la pmmessa ... I have kept my promise ...
{He advances upon Tosctt with open arms; she, who had been listening motion- Tosca Tosca
lesr, petrified, w his /,ucivfous words, suddenly rises and takes refuge behind the
Non ancora. Not yet.
settee.)
VogHo un salvacondotto, onde I want a safe-conduct so
Tosca Tosca fuggir dallo Stat<> con lui. that I can Aee the State with him.
A.ht Ah!
Scarpia Scarpia
---0- Partir duuque volece? Then you want to leave?

ff'\100"7 Tho T.t.:U::J.f"'ohino rnmn!lfl'U ©1997 The Teaching Comoanv. ?41

Tosca Tosca soccorso ... muoio ... Help! ... I'm dying! ...
St per sempre! Yes, for good!
Tosca Tosca
Scarpia Scarpia It soffoca il sangue? Ah! Is your blood choking you? Ah!
Si adempia ii voler voscro. You shall have your way. E ucciso da una donna ... Slain by a woman! ...
(He goes to a desk and begins to write, {He goes to a desk and begins to write, M'hai assai You tortured me so!
breaking ()ffto ask Tosca) breaking offto ask Tosca) torturata! Odi ro ancora? Parla! Can you still hear?
E qual via scegliete? Which mad will you rake? Guardami! Speak! Look at me!
Son Tosca, o Scarpia! This is Tosca, 0 Scarpiaf
Tosca Tosca
La piu breve! The shortest! Scarpia Scarpia

Scarpia Soccorso! ... aiut:ol Help! ... Help!

Scarpia
Gvitavecchia? Civicavecchia? Tosca Tosca

Tosca Tosca Ti soffoca il Are you choking in your own

SL Yes. sangue?. . . blood? ...
Muori, dannato! muori!! muori!!! Die you fiend! Did Die!!
(While Scarpia is writing, Tosca approaches the trible anrl with a trembling hand
takes the gl.ass ofSpanish wine poured out by Scarpia; but as she raises it to her Emono . . . He is dead! ...
lips she perceives on the t1zble a sharp-pointed knife. She casts tl rllpid glance at Or gli perdono! . . . Now I forgive hjm ...
Scarpin who flt that moment is busy writing. and with infinite caution succreds {Without taking her eyes of!Scarpias body. she goes to the table, takes tl bottle of
in t11king possession ofthe knife. She hides it behind her, leaning on the table 1md water and. dipping a napkin in it, washes her fingers: then she rearranges her
watching Sc11rpia. H1wingfinished writing the safe-cond1Kt 1md put his setd to it, hair in front ofthe mirror. Remembering the safe-conduct, she looks for it on the
he folds the paper; then opening his ttrms, he 11.dvances on Tosca to embrace her.) desk but cannot find it: she searches elsewhere and finally sees it clutched in
Scarpia sstiffening hand She lifts his arm, then lets it fail inert after having
Scarpia Scarpia
taken the safe-conduct, which she hides in her bosom.)
Tosca, finaimemi mia! ... Tosca, at last you are mind
(But his tarte ofrapture ch1mges to a (But his tone ofrapture L·hanges lo a E avanri a lui tremava tuna Roma! And all Rome used to cremble before
terrible cry; Tosca bas stabbed him to terrible cry; Tosca ht1s stabbed him to him!
the heart.) the heart.) (On the point ofleaving, she changes her mind; she goes and takes the two candles
Maledetta!H A curse on you! from the wall-bracket on the left and lights them from the candlesticks on the
table, which she then extinguishes. She pltices one candle to the right ofScarpias
Tosca Tosca
head, the other to the left. She f,<!oks round again and, seeing a crucifix, takes it
Quesro eil bacio di Tosca! Thar was Tosca's kiss! from the wall and. carrying it reverently, kneels down and places it on Scarpia s
(Scarpi.i, stttgi,ering, tries to clutch at (Scarpi(l, stag,ering, tries to dtttch tlt breast. She rises and very cautiously goes out, closing the door behind her.)
Tosca~ who recoils itt terr()r.) Tosca, who recoils in terror.)

Scarpia S<:arpia

Aiuto ... muoio ... Help! ... rm dying! , .. --0--

~1nf'\"'7 t.....:.--
TL ...... T ................. f'""lr.._..._o__,, f'r\1007 ThA T.a.o.f'ohinn f"'1Amn."3:nu
 Capriccio
(1941)
Richard Strauss
Ubretto by Clemens Krauss and the composer
Olivier
Tanz und M usik stchcn im Bann des
Rhychmus, ihm unreiworfen seit
ewiger Zcit.
Flamand
Dcincr Verse Mass isc cin weit
scarkerer Zwang.
Olivier
Frei schaltet in ihm des Dichters
Gedanke! Wer zicht da die Grenze
zwischen Form und Gehah:?
Flamand
In irdischer Form ein UnfaBbar-
Hoheres: Musik! .Sie erhebr sich in
Spharen, in die der Ged<lnke nicht
dringt.
Olivier
Niche in unfassbaren Klangen., in
kfo.rer Sprache forme kh meine
Gedanken. Dies ist der Musik for
immer verwehrr.
Flamand
Mein Gcdanke is die Melodie. Sie
ki.indec Tieferes, cin
UnaussprechHches! In einem Akkord
erlebst du cine Wdr.
Direktor
Sie screiten um dne Rangordnung
0\100'7 ThP TP<il'hino rommmv
Olivier {Poet)
Music and dance are the slaves of
rhyrhm, they have served it sii1ce the
beginning of time.
Flamand (Composer)
There is more con~traint in the
restrictions of verse,
Olivier
Freedom of ideas is given to poets.
Who sees any boundary between
contenr an<l form?
Flamand
Music is in every respect more full of
meaning, it ascends in spheres which
you c.·mnot invade with the mind.
Olivier
Not in musical abstraction bur in
the dearest language can I express
what I'm thinking . This is what your
music can never achieve,
Flamand
My ideas exist as melodies, and what
they mean co me is inexpressible. In
one single d1ord you feel aU che
world,
La Roche (Director)
They are fighting; each one daims
ihrer Kunscc:. Vcrlorene Miihe! Im
Bereich meiner Buhne dienen sic allc.
Graf
Schon sind wir inmitren der
Diskussion iiber das Streit-Thema
unsercr T age.
Flamand
Musik is einc crhabenc Kunst! Nur
unwilling dicnr sic dem Trug des
Thcaccrs.
Grafin
Nichr T mg! Die Bilhne enthi.ilk uns
das Gcbeimnis <ler Wirklichkeil. Wie
in cinetn Zauberspiegel gevvahren wir
uns selhst. Das Theater ist das
ergreifende Sinnbikl des Lebcns.
Direktor
Seine obcrste Gocrin: Phantasie. Ihr
uncertan aHe Ki.insce: Poesie, Malerei,
Skulptur und Musik. Und wo war'
eure Sprache, w.as sind eure Tone
ohne Deklamarion und Gesang?
Ohne die DarsteHung durch den
Akreur, den Zauber seiner
Personlichkeit, ohne sein Kosclim?
He? Ohne seine Maske?
Clairon
Jawohl, ganz. rec ht!
Direktor
Ihr uberscham euren Schreibtisch!
©1997 The Teachin!! Comnanv.
more importance for his art. I could
spare them the trouble! In rhe realm
of my stage they are nothing but
servants.
Count
Again we arrive at the argument,
always a topic for wide discussion.
Flamand
I find in music exalted an, rductant
co serve rhe domain of the theatre.
Countess
My friendt The theatre unveils for us
rhe secrets of reality. Ever in its
magic mirror we discover ourselves.
The theatre moves us because it is
reality's symbol.
La Roche
Ir is ruled by rhe godd<:ss of inven-
r.ion. All the arcs are her servants: be
it poetry, be ic paincing. sculpture or
music. \"q°hat would become of your
language, and what of your music if
no actors were there m perform?
Lacking the arr of the actor, his
magic personality, lacking aH these
where would you be? Eh? Or
without his coscume?
Clairon (Actress)
Indeed!
la Roche
You overvalue your labors.
')Ll.'7
Olivier
Der dichcendc Geise isr der Spiegel
<ler Welt. Poesie ist die Murrcr aUer
Kiinscd
flamand
Musik ist die Wurzel, der aHes
encquillt. Die Klange der Natur
. singcn das Wiegenliecl allen Kunsren!
Olivier
Die sprache des Menschen allcin ist
der Boden. <lem sic cntspriessen.
Flamand
Der Schmenensschrci ging der
Sprache voraus!
Olivier
Doch das Leid zu deuten vermag sie
allein. Der wirklichen Tiefe des
Tragischen kann nur die Dichtkunst
Ausdruck verleihen. Nie kann sie sich
in Tonen offenbaren!
Grafin
Das sagt: lhr jem, in dem Augenhlick, How can you say such a thing today
wo ein Genie uns lehrr, daB cs cine
musikalische Tragodie gibe?
Olivier
The poet's idea is the mirror of life.
AH the arts muse call poeuy their
morher!
Flamand
But music is the root from which
everything springs. And Nature's
voices sing all other arts to sleep in
1heir cradles.
Olivier
The language of mankind alone is
the soil where arr can be nourished.
flamand
The uy of pain preceded aH speech!
Olivier
But in language only can pain he
defined. Tragedy finds its expression
only when a poet pm:s ir inco words.
Music has not the power co reveal ic.
Countess
just when a genius proves it is
possible to write a musical tragedy?
Clairon
Etwas absonderJich, dieses Geschopf
aus Toncn und Worten.
Graf
(interm.pting her)
Und Rezitadvcn! Und Rezicaciven!
Olivier
K-0mponist und Dichcer, einer vom
andern schrccklich behindert
verschwenden unsagtiche Mtihen,
um es z.ur \Xldr zu bringcn.
GTaf
Einc Opcr is ein absurdes Ojng.
Befehle werden singcnd erteilt, iibcr
Politik im Duett verhandelt. Man
tanz.t um cin Grab, und Dokhstiche
werden melodisch verabreicht.
--0--
Clairon
Somewhat peculiar, chis combina-
tion of music and language.
Count
{interrupting her)
And recitatives! And recitatives!
Olivier
The composer and poet, dreadfully
hampered each by the other, are
wasting unspeakable labor in giving
birth to opera and acting as its
midwives.
Count
Every opera is in jrself absurd: a
murder plot is hacchcd in a song; all
affairs of state are discussed in
chorus; chey dance round a grave
and suicide takes place to musk.

Graf
Halt! Noch ejn.en Schriu: un<l wir
stt!hen vor (icm Ahgrnnd! Schon
st:ehen wir dcr "Opcr" Aug in Aug
gegenuber.
Count
Stop! One more step and we stand
before the abyss. 1 fear that we are
standing face to face with an opera.

Grafln Countess
Ein schoner AnhHck, A charming vision,
ich. wag' es zu sagen, I venture co say.

(C)l 997 The Teachin!! Comnanv ')AQ

 Timeline
. 1440 ............................................. Josquin des Prez born (d. 1521).
. 1546 ............................................. Giulio Caccini born (d. 1618).
i561 ................................................ Jacopo Peri born (d. c.1633).
I
/562 ................................................ Ottavio Rinuccini born (d.1621).
[567 ................................................ Claudio Monteverdi born (d. 1643).
I
573-1592 ...................................... Florentine Camerata.
588 ................................................ English defeat Spanish Armada.
[ 598 ..................................... ........... Daphne, considered first opera, by Peri
~600 ::~::idice
................................................
11604 ................................................ Shakespeare's Othello.
I
:1607 ................................................ Monteverdi's Orfeo.
11618 ................................................ Beginning ofThirty Years' War.
1630 ................................................ Boston founded by Puritans.
1632 ................................................ Jean-Baptiste Lully born (d. 1687).
1649 ................................................ King Charles I of England beheaded.
1660 ................................................ Alessandro Scarlatti born (d. 1725).
1661 ................................................ Louis XIV becomes King of France.
1675 ................................................ Antonio Vivaldi born (d. 1741).
. 1683 ................................................ Jean-Philippe Rameau born (d. 1764).
1685 ................................................ Revocation of Edict ofNantes in
France.
1687 ................................................ Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica.
1688 ................................................ England's Glorious Revolution.
1698 ................................................ Pietro Metastasio born (d. 1782).
1710 ................................................ Giovanni Battista Pergolesi born
(d. 1736) .
1712 ................................................ Jean-Jacques Rousseau born (d. 1778).
1714 ··············--·------ Christoph Willibald von Gluck born
(d. 1787).
1715 ................................................ Scarlatti's Tigrane.
1719 ................................................ Rediscovery of Pompeii.
1733 ................................................ Pergolesi's La serva padrona.
1751 ................................................ First volumes ofFrench Encyclopedia.
1756 ................................................ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born
(d.1791).
1776 ................................................ Declaration of Independence.
1781 ................................................ Mozart's ldomeneo.
1786 ................................................ Mozart's Marriage ofFigaro.
1786 ................................................ Carl Maria von Weber born (d. 1826).
1788 ................................................ Arthur Schopenhauer born (d. 1860).
1789 ................................................ French Revolution begins.
1791 ................................................ Mozart's The Magic Flute.
1791 ................................................ Giacomo Meyerbeer born ( d. 1864).
1792 ................................................ Gioacchino Antonio Rossini born
(d. 1868).
1797 ................................................ Gaetano Donizetti born (d. 1848).
1801 ................................................ Vincenzo Bellini born (d. 1835).
1804 ................................................ Mikhail Glinka born (d. 1857).
1808 ................................................ Goethe's Faust.
1813 ................................................ Giuseppe Verdi born (d. 1901 ).
................................................ Richard Wagner born (d. 1883 ).
................................................ Battle of Waterloo.
!C'l1QQ7 ThP. TP.llchini:> C:omnl'lnv ').<;:J
1833 ................................................ Aleksandr Borodin born (d. 1887). 1920 ................................................ League of Nations formed.
1835 ................................................ Cesar Cui born (d. 1918). 1939 ................................................ Beginning of World War II.
1837 ................................................ Mili Balakirev born (d. 1910). 1941 ................................................ Strauss's Capriccio.
183 8 ................................................ Queen Victoria crowned.
1838 ................................................ George Bizet born (d. 1875).
1839 ................................................ Modest Mussorgsky born (d. 1881 ).
1841 ................................................ Saxophone invented.
1842 ................................................ Glinka's Russian and Lyudmila.
1844 ................................................ Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov born
(d. 1908).
1848 ................................................ Communist Manifesto by Marx and
Engels.
1853 ................................................ Crimean War begins.
1858 ................................................ Giacomo Puccini born (d. 1924).
1859 ................................................ Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.
1861 ................................................ Russian serfs emancipated.
1863 ................................................ Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
1864 ................................................ Richard Strauss born (d.1949).
1868-1869 ...................................... Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.
1869 ................................................ Opening of Suez Canal.
1870 ................................................ Franco-Prussian War.
1877 ................................................ Invention of phonograph.
1900 ................................................ Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams.
1900 ................................................ Puccini's Tosca.
1901 ................................................ Boer War.
1905 ................................................ Einstein's Special Theory ofRelativity.
1918 ................................................ Armistice ending First World War.

IAI007 ThP TP<:>rhino rl\mn<:>nv ')<;:'.2

 Glossary
~ria: The general term for an extended solo in opera-the equivalent of a
soliloquy-which brings the action and "real time" to a temporary halt, and
Pi which the character expresses his or her feelings about the action and
events just described. Arias generally have a high melodic profile and are
~pically accompanied by the full orchestra.
I
~ria da capo: A baroque aria form schematized as A-B-A'. An initial
busical phrase (A) is followed by a contrasting passage (B). The initial
bhrase is then recapitulated but now embellished and ornamented by the
!singer.
arioso: A sung passage with enough melodic contour to sound aria-like, but
which has a syllabic sort of setting and the narrative quality of a recitative.
l
1
lbaritone: The middle category of male voice, higher in range and lighter in
!timbre than bass, but lower and heavier than tenor.
bass: The lowest category male voice-rich, dark, heavy, and powerful.
basso profundo: An unusually deep bass voice.
bel canto opera: A style of early-19th-century Italian opera that stresses
simple, songlike melodies and harmonic accompaniment and that cultivates
a highly decorous style of singing.
cadenza: A florid, improvised passage to be performed by singers before
the final bars of an aria or movement.
castrato: A male soprano whose soprano voice has been preserved by
castration prior to puberty.
. cavatina: A slow and lyric aria meant to display the singer's breath control,
line, and beauty of tone.
coloratura: Literally, "coloration" or "coloring." As used in music, the
term refers to brilliantly ornamented writing for the voice, or to the type of
voice agile enough to specialize in such music.
coloratura soprano: The highest of the soprano voices, characterized by
broad range, clear quality, and exceptional agility.
comic opera: An expression sometimes used in English either as a
translation of the French opera comique or the Italian opera buffa.
~11f\.n,_, 'T'L_ 'T'~--1-.:-- f"""l,,,..._..._...,.....,,.k
commedia dell'arte: Traveling musical companies that originated in 16th-
century Italy. Their performances led eventually to comic opera.
contralto: The lowest category of female voice.
countertenor: An exceptionally high male voice, comparable to the female
contralto.
dramatic voice: A heavier, darker, and more forceful voice than a lyric
voice; used in reference to soprano, tenor, and baritone voices.
ensemble: Continuously sung passages in which any number of singers
may participate. Ensembles were typically used to end acts. They reached
their highest state of development in opera buffa.
Gesamtkunstwerk: "The all-inclusive art form," Richard Wagner's term for
his all-encompassing music dramas.
grand o~era: A spectacular and dramatic genre of opera, developed in
early-19 -century France and designed to appeal especially to the middle
class. This term is often used to refer to 19th-century opera in general.
homophony: A melodic texture in which one melody line predominates
with all other musical material heard as secondary or as accompaniment.
intermezzo: A comic interlude inserted between the acts ofltalian opera
seria during the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th
century.
intermezzo/Intermedio: Musical prologues and interludes inserted into the
spoken Italian dramas of the late 16th century.
leitmotif: A theme or motive associated with a particular person, thing, or
dramatic idea.
libretto: Literally "little book." The verbal text of an opera, written for the
composer to set to music.
lyric opera: An operatic genre that combines opera comique's use of
spoken dialogue and direct, appealing melodies with grand opera's
tendency toward numerous performers and grandiose singing.
lyric voice: A fairly light, warm, clear, and flexible voice; used in reference
to soprano, tenor, and baritone voices.
madrigal: A work for four to six voices that freely mixes polyphonic and
homophonic textures and uses word-painting.
tell 997 The Teaching: Comnanv. ')'\'\
melodrama: A genre of musical theater that combines spoken dialogue polyphony: A melodic texture consisting of two or more simultaneous
with background music. melody lines of equal importance.
mezzo-soprano: The middle category of female voice, between contralto recitative: A style of writing for the voice in which the rhythms and
and soprano. inflections of speech are retained. In opera, it is used for action, dialogue,
and narrative. Recitatives are most typically secco or "dry" (i.e.,
mono phony: A melodic texture consisting of a single unaccompanied
accompanied only by basso continua).
melody line.
ritornello: An instrumental refrain.
music drama: An operatic form created by Richard Wagner. Refers to a
through-composed operatic work which stresses dramatic and psychological sinfonia: An independent musical piece that acts as an introduction or a
content and in which voices and orchestra are completely intertwined and of postlude.
equal importance.
singspiel: German for "sing-play." Refers to a partly sung, partly spoken
opera: A drama which combines soliloquy, dialogue, scenery, action, and German theatrical genre with its roots in popular culture.
continuous (or nearly continuous) music, the whole greater than the parts.
soprano: The highest category of female voice.
opera buffa: A general designation for Italian operas of the middle and late
spinto soprano: The soprano voice lying between the lyric and dramatic
18th century that do not come under the heading of opera seria These
soprano voices and having qualities of both.
productions were melodically simpler and more "popular" than Baroque
opera seria. tenor: The highest category of male voice.
opera comique: A popular French operatic genre that developed tone poem: A purely instrumental work that tells a specific story and
concurrently with grand opera in the early 19th century but employed invokes explicit imagery; a term created by Richard Strauss.
spoken dialogue rather than recitative and featured somewhat less
verismo opera: A genre of opera characterized by dramatic and expressive
pretentious productions than grand opera.
realism and naturalism, especially in the portrayal of people, events, and
opera seria: "Serious" opera of the Baroque era--elaborate and grandiose emotions. This genre was popular among Italian and French opera
productions typically based on subjects from ancient history and/or composers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
mythology.
voci bianchi: Literally, "white voices," referring to those of the castrati.
operetta: Literally, "little opera." During the 19th century, the term came to
word-painting: A compositional technique that seeks to form an expressive
mean a lighter type of opera, usually with spoken dialogue separating the
syntax by matching literary descriptions with corresponding musical events;
musical numbers.
this technique is characteristic of madrigals.
overture: An instrumental prelude to an opera.
parlante: Literally, "talking"; a compositional technique used by Giuseppe
Verdi and other late-19th-century operatic composers in which recitative-
like vocal lines were underlaid with continuous thematic music played by
the orchestra.
pastorate: The style of dramatic poetry that dominated Italian theater in the
late 16th and early 17th centuries, featuring sylvan settings and mild love
adventures and usually ending happily.

0\10.0""7 Th.o. Ta...n.~h.;T"l.LT f""f\.'l'"ril'l"\.".l'l'\'1./

©1997 The Teachin2: Comoanv. ')'\7
 Biographical Notes
Bernard de Ventadorn (circa 1150-1180). Important French troubadour
poet and composer of the second half of the lih century.
Bizet, Georges (1838-75). French opera composer famous for Carmen, his
greatest work and the most popular opera of all time. A master dramatist,
Bizet deftly establishes character and mood through his music.
Boito, Arrigo (1842-1918). Italian librettist and composer. Boito's libretti
for Verdi's Otello and Falstaff are considered among the greatest in all
Italian opera.
Da Ponte, Lorenzo (1749-1838). Italian librettist and poet. Da Ponte rose
to the peak of his achievement with his libretti for Mozart's operas The
Marriage ofFigaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte.
Caccini, Giulio (1551-1618). One of the earliest Italian opera composers
arid a member of the Florentine Camerata.
Gesualdo, Carlo, Prince ofVenosa (circa 1560-1613). Italian lutenist and
composer, famous for his innovations of harmonic progressions and
dissonance.
Glinka, Mikhail (1804-1857). Russian composer regarded as the founder
of Russian musical nationalism. His operatic masterpiece is Ruslan and
Lyudmila of 1836.
Gluck, Christoph Willibald (1714-1787). Major composer who effected a
synthesis of elements of Italian opera and traditional French opera. Essential
features of his operatic style include melodically simple and emotionally
direct arias; recitatives that demonstrate a high melodic content; the use of
dance as integral to the dramatic action; strong reliance on choruses, and a
high degree of integration of dance, chorus and solos.
Hofmannsthal, Hugo von (1874-1929). Great Austrian librettist who
wrote the libretti for many of Richard Strauss's operas.
Josquin des Prez (circa 1440-1521 ). Preeminent composer of the
Renaissance who used both polyphonic and homophonic styles. His
madrigals represent the Renaissance ideal of emotional and character
expressivity.
~1{\l'\,., TL.. ..... T.o..n..1,:J.....;._IT 1"".n..mnan.'1./
Leonin (Magister Leoninus) (circa 1135-circa 1201). Composer and poet
of the Notre Dame school and greatest exponent of florid organum.
Lully, Jean-Baptiste (1632-1687). Major French composer, who laid the
foundation for the French operatic tradition. Lully created a national style
that focused on magnificence, tragic drama and dance. He designed a type
of recitative that was modeled on spoken drama, using one pitch per
syllable and reflecting the flexibility of the French language, with its
continuous changes of meter. His arias tend to be short and limited in vocal
range, with an emphasis on clear enunciation.
Machaut, Guillaume de (circa 1300-1377). Important composer of sacred
and secular music; master of polyphonic technique and musical eloquence.
Mahler, Gustav (1860-1911). Great Austrian composer and opera
conductor of the late romantic era. Although he never wrote an opera,
Mahler was a master of smaller-scale vocal music and his orchestral music
has deep affinities with vocal music in its expressive content.
Metastasio, Pietro (1698-1782). Greatest librettist of the first half of the
18th century. Metastasio standardized his libretti into a formulaic dramatic
procedure and formularized arias into a structure known as the "da capo"
aria. His reforms influenced the development of opera seria.
Meyerbeer, Giacomo (1791-1864). German-born composer who almost
single-handedly established French grand opera. Meyerbeer was famous for
his ability to manage enormous forces on stage. His most famous opera is
Les Huguenots of 1836. His operas have fallen into obscurity because they
lack musical and dramatic substance.
Monteverdi, Claudio (1567-1643). Italian composer credited with the
creation of the first opera, Orfeo of 1607. Monteverdi did not invent opera,
but elevated it to a level of artistic viability and substance it had not
previously enjoyed. His most important contribution to the genre was an
elevated form of recitative: arioso. He was the first composer to use purely
instrumental passages in ensemble numbers in opera. He was in advance of
his time in his use of dissonance and chromatic harmonies and in his ability
to express fundamental emotions through music. Many of his operas are
still performed today.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791). Great Austrian composer of
the classical era. His operas are widely regarded as his greatest contribution
to musical history. A major aspect of Mozart's significance as an opera
composer is his unprecedented genius for musical characterization and
©1997 The Teachirn! Comoanv. 'J'\Q
dramatic momentum. He is a consummate master of complex and subtle
vocal and orchestral manipulation. Mozart's music does not just decorate
the libretto. It creates a whole new drama, revealing subtleties and truths
that go beyond the libretto. It energizes the dramatic action and fleshes out
his characters, imbuing them with an extraordinary range of moods,
emotions, subtlety, unconscious motivation and humanity.
Mussorgsky, Modest (1839-1881). Great Russian composer and member
of the so-called Russian Five, a group of composers who established the
Russian national style of the mid to late 19th century. His opera Boris
Godunov is the pinnacle of Russian opera.
Pergolesi, Giovanni (1710-1736). Italian composer of La serva padrona
(1733), the first important opera buffa that laid the foundation for
subsequent contributions to the genre.
Peri, Jacopo (1561-1633). One of the earliest Italian opera composers and
member of the Florentine Camerata. Peri is known for his operas Daphne
and Euridice.
Puccini, Giacomo (1858-1924). Great Italian composer of universally
popular operas. Puccini was the greatest exponent of the opera verismo
style, which found inspiration in the dark side of human nature. He was a
superb lyricist and consummate dramatist. Among his best-loved and
renowned operas are Madam Butterfly, Tosca and La Boheme.
Rameau, Jean-Philippe (1683-1764). Foremost French composer of the
18th century. Rameau's operas display.much less contrast between aria and
recitative than contemporary Italian operas. Although Rameau's operas are
rarely heard outside France because they are tailored to particular French
tastes, they are worth seeking out for their musical value.
Rinuccini, Ottavio (1562-1621). Italian poet/librettist and member of the
Florentine Camerata. Rinuccini wrote the libretti for the earliest operas:
Caccini's Euridice and Peri's Daphne.
Rossini, Gioacchino ( 1792-1868). Greatest Italian composer of the bel
canto style. Rossini had a great gift for wit, comedy and compositional
innovation. He pioneered the use of strings instead of harpsichord or piano
to accompany recitative. He invented the long, orchestral type of crescendo
known as the "Rossini crescendo." He was a master of orchestral color and
musical characterization. His opera, The Barber ofSeville remains one of
the best-loved and greatest comic operas of all time. Its most famous aria,
...-.. .,. ,,..,..,.__ rr"'l r'T" ~ - -L_: _ _
"Largo al factotum," introduces the character of Figaro and is a brilliant
example of musical characterization.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778). Swiss-born French philosopher and
composer who embraced the Italian opera buffa genre as an example of
opera appropriate to the Enlightenment. His Le Devin du village (1752) is
very close to the popular French tradition of opera comique.
Scarlatti, Alessandro (1660-1725). Founder of the Neapolitan school of
opera, Scarlatti's operas exerted substantial influence on other opera
composers.
Strauss, Richard (1864-1949). Brilliant German composer, whose music
stretches Wagnerian concepts to further limits. Strauss's psychopathological
and erotic masterpiece Salome represents experimental, post-Victorian
trends at the turn of the 20th century.
Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901). Greatest Italian opera composer of the
second half of the 19th century. Verdi's operas endure because of their use
of well-written libretti, their melodic beauty, their focus on human
emotions, their psychological insight, and their unsurpassed dramatic
power. Among Verdi's greatest operas are Rigoletto, La Traviata and
Otello.
Wagner, Richard (1813-1883). Great German composer whose operas
revolutionized music and whose opera, Tristan and Isolde is considered,
along with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the most influential composition
of the 19th century. Wagner developed the concept of the music drama
(Gesamtkunstwerk) as an artistic genre that encompasses all types of art:
drama, music, poetry, dance, etc. He created the leitmotif whereby musical
motives are assigned to characters, things or concepts and he gave the
orchestra unprecedented power as the purveyor of inner meanings and
unspoken truths.
Weber, Carl Maria von (1786-1826). German composer whose opera Der
Freischiitz became the definitive work that established 19th-century German
opera, characterized by the use of spoken dialogue, and plots that hinge on
the supernatural as found in German medieval legend.
Weelkes, Thomas (circa 1575-1623). One of the great English madrigal
composers. Weelkes was a master of word painting.
f""..-..--..-...-.. ... 1
tell 997 The Teaching: Comoanv. 261
 Bibliography Hepokoski, James. Otelia. Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Phillips-Matz. Verdi. Oxford University Press, 1993.
General Sources
Wagner
Donington, Robert. Opera and its Symbols. Yale University Press, 1990.
Magee, Brian. Aspects of Wagner. Oxford University Press, 1988.
Grout, Donald. A Short History of Opera. 2d ed. Columbia University
Press, 1965. Millington, Barry. Wagner. Princeton University Press, 1984.
Grout, Donald, and Claude Palisca. A History of Western Music. 5th ed.
W.W. Norton, 1996.
Hamm, Charles. Opera. Allyn and Bacon, 1966.
Kerman, Joseph. Opera as Drama. University of California Press, 1988.
Mordden, Ethan. Opera Anecdotes. 1985. Reprint, Norton, 1996.
New Grove Dictionary ofMusic, The. Macmillan Publishers, 1980.
Palisca, Claude, ed. Norton Anthology of Western Music. 3d ed. W.W.
Norton, 1980.
Plaut, Eric. Grand Opera-Mirror of the Western Mind. Ivan R. Dee, 199
Schonberg, Harold. The Lives ofthe Great Composers. Norton, 1970.
Weiss, Piero, and Richard Taruskin. Music in the Western World Schirme
1984.

Italian Opera
Kimbell, David. Italian Opera. Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Mozart
Dent, Edward. Mozart's Operas. Clarendon/Oxford University Press,
Heartz, Daniel. Mozart's Operas. University of California Press, 1990.
Mann, William. The Operas of Mozart. Oxford University Press, 1977.

Puccini
Osborne, Charles. The Complete Operas ofPuccini. Atheneum, 1982.

Strauss
Del Mar, Normen. Richard Strauss-A Critical Commentary of His Life an
Works. Cornell University Press, 1986.

Verdi
Budden, Julien. The Operas of Verdi. Cassell, 1973.

?(,') ©1997 The Teaching Company. ©1997 The Teachin!! Comnanv_ "')t;'l