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Saturdee Opry
Links # 128: What Aria Gonna Do?
Javier Camarena
"La Belle Helene" beauty contest
Rene Pape (The devil, you say!)
Leona Mitchell
Saturdee
Opry Links Overture
"La Belle Helene," by Offenbach.
(Great little youth orchestra.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL6OyfAz5pA
1.
What aria gonna do? Something lilting, something lyrical, something poignant,
something raging, or. . .something goofy? Sometimes operatic arias sound very
grand, but are about nothing profound. They can even be flighty, silly. Here,
from Offenbach's "La Belle Helene" (a comic operetta about Helen of Troy), is
"Au Mont Ida," which always sounds absolutely heroic---yet is just the main
character relating the story of a mythical beauty contest among three goddesses.
Huh. The tenor is Juan Diego Florez.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXnlyLSMTxI
About the operetta:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_belle_H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne
French:
http://www.impresario.ch/karaoke/show_karaoke.php?id=355
Translation:
PARIS
At Mount Ida, three Goddesses
quarreled in a wood.
What is, said these Princesses,
the most beautiful of the three of us?
Evohe, that these Goddesses,
to enthrall the boys,
evoked, that these Goddesses
have funny ways.
A young man passes through this wood,
a young, handsome and handsome man
His hand was holding an apple,
you can see the picture.
Ah, hello, eh! The handsome young man,
im instant, stop,
and please give the apple
to the most beautiful of us.
Evohe, that these Goddesses,
to enthrall the boys,
evoked, that these Goddesses
have funny ways.
One says: I have my reserve,
my modesty, my chastity,
give the price to Minerva,
Minerva deserved it.
Evohe, that these Goddesses,
have funny ways.
The other says: I have my birth,
my pride and my peacock.
I have to prevail, I think,
give the apple to Juno.
Evohe, that these Goddesses,
have funny ways
to enthrall the boys,.
The third, ah, the third!
The third says nothing;
She got the price all the same,
Calchas, you can hear me!
Evohe, that these Goddesses,
to enthrall the boys,
evoked, that these Goddesses
have funny ways.
2.
Sometimes operatic arias sound very grand, and are about rather potent topics.
Here, from Gounod's "Mefistofele," the (rather well dressed, disguised) devil
himself sings triumphantly of how humans are forever controlled by greed and
other base impulses. A masterpiece of commentary for our time. "Le Veau d'or"
("The Golden Calf.") The baritone is Rene Pape. With English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRuGNal1ie0
Setting: A celebration in a public square in a German city, 16th century
Synopsis: Appearing in the midst of a celebration by Valentin, Wagner, and their
student friends, Mèphistophélès sings a song about greed and men's
susceptibility to it. He finishes by singing that Satan is behind it all.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=372
3.
Annnd, sometimes operatic arias are just plain frivolous. Here is one of the
fluffiest of all, “Ah! quel diner je viens de faire!" ("What a lunch I just
had!") which apparently included a lot of booze. From Offenbach's opera bouffe,
"La Perichole." The soprano is Teresa Berganza.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6NKi_Vbe0U
Translation, about the aria:
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/04/wine-and-opera-part-14-la-perichole/
4.
But of course, the most affecting arias in opera are the poignant and tragic
ones. Here is the wrenching, "I Poveri Fiori" from "Adriana Lecouvreur," by
Cilea. The soprano is Mirella Freni. (Aria begins around 00:40.)
Setting: a room in Adriana's house, Paris, 1730
Synopsis: On her birthday, Adriana is sent a package which she believes is from
her beloved Maurizio. Depressed and suicidal because of Maurizio's betrayal of
their love, her mood worsens when she opens the package and finds that it
contains the decrepit remains of the violets that she gave Maurizio some time
ago as a sign of their love. She sings to them of her sorrow. Little does she
know, however, that the package is from Maurizio's other love, the Princesse de
Bouillon, who has soaked the flowers in poison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUncqu3g7M
Translation:
Poor flowers, buds of the meadows,
although born yesterday, dying today,
oaths of treacherous heart!
The last kiss, or the first kiss,
here I impress you,
sweet and strong kiss of death,
kiss of love.
Everything is over!
With your stench, die the contempt:
with you
of a day without return!
Everything is finished!
Original French:
https://www.lyricsreg.com/lyrics/renata+scotto/cil%E8a+-+adriana+lecouvreur+poveri+fiori/
5.
Opera is fairly riddled with arias of exultation, but only one has nine high
C's. Correct, nine. Neun. Nueve. Jiǔ. Here is "Ah! Mes Amis," from "Daughter of
the Regiment," by Donizetti. The tenor is Javier Camarena, seen here in an
encore at the Met last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYgRFZdinTQ
Setting: an army camp site in a valley in the Swiss Tyrolese Mountains, 1815
Synopsis: After Tonio has been made a member of the French Grenadiers, he
approaches some of the members and explains that he has joined the regiment
because he loves the regiment's "daughter," Marie. He asks the members of the
regiment to allow him to marry Marie, and, receiving an affirmative, sings his
joy at finally being united with his one love. He promises to take care of her
and protect her forever.
Translation: http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=783
6.
Opera is full of prayers, both in the religious sense and the secular or poetic
sense. Here is one of the latter, "O, Du, Mein Abenstern," or "Oh, my Beautiful
Evening Star," from Wagner's "Tannhauser." In this scene, Wolfram has a
premonition of his beloved Elizabeth's death, and tenderly prays to the evening
star to guide her to heaven. The baritone is the late, great Dmitri Hvorostovksy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpJ6wvXCxBo
German and English:
https://www.liveabout.com/o-du-mein-holder-abendstern-lyrics-and-text-translation-724022
7.
Opera is full of righteous indignation, declamation. Here is "Un di all'azzuro
spazio" from "Andrea Chenier," by Umberto Giordano. The story is based loosely
on the poet executed during the French Revolution. In this scene, Chenier has
been invited to a grand ball hosted by the hoity-toity. The hostess's daughter,
one Maddalena, asks Chenier to recite a poem, almost as a party trick. Chénier
refuses, and the woman makes a little quip about how the muse must have deserted
him. Pissed off, Chenier improvises a poem about the suffering of the poor,
ending with a tirade against those in power in church and state, shocking the
guests. The tenor is the great Franco Corelli. With English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAxaOyIAISY
Or, if you prefer a clearer video, here is Placido Domingo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YeHVrX2rtE
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=49
8.
Opera, like classic literature, is full of characters making noble pleas of
self-sacrifice. One such comes in Puccini's "western," "The Girl of the Golden
West," in which Johnson (actually the bandit, Ramerrez) is about to be hanged.
He asks his captors to never tell his beloved, Minnie, of his fate, and instead
to lie that he has escaped and gone far away. Here is the man who could not sing
quietly, Mario Del Monaco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50xsp56J8-Y
And here, for amazement, is the astonishing late tenor, Giuseppe Giacomini, at
age 54:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M1NDY5s0cg
Translation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%27ella_mi_creda
9.
There is no greater aria of noble self-sacrifice in all of opera than "Tu che di
gel sei Cinta," from Puccini's "Turandot." The poor slave girl, Liu, tells the
"ice queen," Turandot---who is torturing her---that she will kill herself in
order that Turandot may learn love. The soprano is Leona Mitchell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOUwVz4D1B0
Translation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_che_di_gel_sei_cinta
SOL EXTRA! A 2020 interview with Ms. Mitchell.
https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/post/chat-leona-mitchell-iconic-operatic-soprano-and-oklahoma-state-cultural-ambassador
FINAL BOW:
Today's "What Aria Gonna Do?" edition of Saturdee Opry links has tried to give
samples of different types of arias, in terms of their emotional and dramatic
purpose. We have not yet touched on the harshest of these themes, which is
shuffling off this mortal coil. Here is the most devastating such scene of all,
"Sono Andati," from Puccini's "La Boheme." In it, Mimi, who is dying of
tuberculosis, relives the happiest moments of her love with Rodolfo. Note:
Rodolfo is sung by Roberto Alagna (who was married at the time to the soprano,
Angela Gheorghiu.) If Alagna's grief seems almost too real in the final moments,
it is because he lost his first wife ten years earlier from a brain tumor. He is
just barely able to sing the final cry of "Mimi."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9DVZRx0Yg
Shicoff
And here is a clearer---but equally good---clip, with Ileana Cotrubas and Neil
Shicoff, with English subtitles. It includes the entire final moments, including
Mimi's death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttSAipywtHU
Translation:
http://operainenglish.blogspot.com/2012/06/sono-andati-la-boheme.html
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