Deh, vieni alla finestra – Don Giovanni

We’ll see.

These are the windows.

Let’s sing now.

Come to the window,

O my darling!

Come to dry

my tears.

If you refuse to give me

some restoration,

in front of your eyes

I will want to die.

You have a mouth

sweeter than honey.

You carry

sugar in your heart.

Don’t be, my joy,

cruel with me.

Let me at least see you,

my fair love!

Simon Keenlyside sings the serenade from Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Sogno soave e casto – Don Pasquale

Ernesto
This madness
will overthrow my plans!
Sweet and chaste dream
from my early years, farewell.
I longed for wealth and splendor
just for you, my love:
poor, abandoned,
fallen to a low state,
ere seeing you miserable,
dear, I must renounce you.

Don Pasquale
Really, how original!
That obstinate oaf!
Well, thank goodness,
he seems sober.
Well, I know where his weakness is,
but that is what he wants,
he himself
cannot blame others!

Juan Diego Florez as Ernesto in Donizetti's Don Pasquale. With Ruggero Raimondi as Don Pasquale.

This is just incredibly gorgeous. Florez is the perfect Ernesto.

Zurich, 2007.

Ecco, ridente in cielo – Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Here, laughing in heaven
emerges the beautiful dawn,
and you are not awake yet
you can sleep like this?
Arise, my sweet hope,
come, my dear idol;
Render less painful, oh God,
The arrow that wounds me.
Oh destiny! I see now
that dear countenance;
this loving soul
has obtained mercy.
Oh moments of love!
Oh sweet contentedness!
Precious moment
It has no equal!

Juan Diego Florez sings Almaviva's first aria from Rossini's Barber of Seville. I'm not sure what those hopping Vulcans are supposed to represent.

La Scala, 1999. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.

Si può – Pagliacci

May I? I may
Ladies! Gentlemen!
Excuse me if I alone introduce myself
I am the Prologue:
Since yet in the scene
The author uses ancient masks;
In part he wants to bring back the old customs,
And send me back to you.
But not to tell you as before:
“The tears we cry are false!
Of spasms and our martyrs
Do not be alarmed!”
No! No. The author has sought instead
To depict a glimpse of life.
He believes utmost that the artist is a man
And that he must write for men,
And be inspired by the truth.
A nest of memories
Was singing at the bottom of his soul one day,
And he wrote with genuine tears,
And his sobs beat the tempo!
And so, you will see love
As human beings love each other;
You will see the sad fruits of hate.
The spasms of pain,
Shouts of rage, you will hear,
And also laughter!
And you, rather than
Our poor actors’ changes,
Consider our soul,
Since we are men of flesh and bone,
And from this orphan world
We breathe the same air as you!
I’ve told you the concept...
Now listen as it is carried out.
Let’s go. Begin!

Tito Gobbi as Tonio in a 1946 film version of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

O del mio dolce ardor – Paride ed Elena

Oh my sweet ardor
Coveted object,
The air that you breathe,
I breathe at last.

Everywhere I turn, I see
Your vague semblance
Painting in me love:
My thought imagines
The most joyful of hopes;
And with this desire

Filling my heart
I’m looking for you, calling you, I hope and I sigh.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings this aria from Gluck's opera Paride ed Elena.

Moscow, 1991.