Oh quante volte – I Capuleti e Montecchi

Oh! How many times,
Oh! How many I ask you
Crying to heaven
With the ardour of waiting for you,
My desire is a trick!
The rays of your countenance
Are for me, the brightness of the day.
The aura that blows round
Seems to be one of your sighs.

Katia Ricciarelli sings 'Oh quante volte' from Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi.

Nemico della Patria - Andrea Chenier

An enemy of the State?!

It’s an old fable

That people are still blissfully swallowing.

Born in Constantinople? Foreigner!

Studied at Saint-Cyr? Soldier!                          

Traitor! Accomplice to Dumouriez!

And a poet? Corrupter of hearts

And mores!

I once lived joyfully

Without hatred or vengeance

Pure, innocent and strong.

I thought myself a giant

But I’m just a servant

Who’s changed masters.           

An obedient servant to violent passions!

Ah, worse yet! I kill and tremble,

And while I kill, I weep!

Me, a son of the Revolution,                             

The first to hear its cry

For the world, I united that cry to my own.

Have I now lost faith

In that dream of destiny?

Oh how my path

Shone with glory!

The heart’s conscience

Reawakening the people,

Gathering up the tears

Of the vanquished and suffering,

Making the world a Pantheon,

Changing men into gods;

And in one kiss,

In one kiss and one embrace

To love all mankind!

Juan Pons in Giordano's Andrea Chenier.

Met, 1996.

O patria mia – Aïda

Radamès is coming here!          

What does he want to tell me?  I’m trembling!

Ah! If you’re coming to bring me, o cruel man,

The final farewell,

The deep whirlpools of the Nile

Will give me a grave and maybe peace,          

and maybe peace and oblivion.

Oh my country, I will never see you again!

Nevermore! Nevermore will I see you!

O blue skies, o sweet native breezes

Where my morning shone peacefully,

O green hills, o fragrant shores,

Oh my country, I will never see you again!

Nevermore! Nevermore will I see you!

O cool valleys, o this blessed refuge

That once gave me a promise of love,

Now that the dream of love has disappeared,

O my country, I will never see you again.         

O my country, I will never see you again.

Leyla Gencer in Verdi's Aida.

Verona, 1963.

Dalla sua pace - Don Giovanni

My peace depends upon her peace;

That which pleases her gives life to me,

That which hurts her gives death to me.

If she sighs, I sigh as well;

Her wrath is mine, her cry is mine;

And I have no good, if she has none.

Luigi Alva as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Aix, 1960.

Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali – Lucia di Lammermoor

Edgardo

You who unfolded your wings to God

O beautiful, loving soul

Turn yourself back to me, satisfied;

Your faithful one ascends with you.

Ah! If the wrath of mortals

Brings such a cruel war to us,

If we are divided on earth,

May God in heaven join us.

Raimondo

Madman!...

Raimondo, Chorus

Ah! What are you doing?

Edgardo

I want to die, I want to die!

Raimondo, Chorus

Be sensible, be sensible!

Edgardo

No, no no!

Raimondo

What have you done?

Edgardo

I’m coming to you, o beautiful soul…

Raimondo

Wretched man!

Edgardo

Turn yourself back ah! To your faithful one.

Raimondo

Think of heaven!

Edgardo

Ah, if the wrath of mortals

Such a cruel war...
O beautiful soul, may God in heaven join us.
O beautiful, loving soul,
May God in heaven join us.

Chorus

What horror!

Raimondo

O God, forgive him!

Chorus

Oh awful, black fate!
God, pardon this great horror!

Jose Carreras sings the great final aria from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Bregenz, 1982.