18
LA PRINCESSE EBOLI
PRINCESS EBOLI
O don fatal et détesté,
Oh fatal, detested gift,
présent du ciel en sa colère!
the present of an angry heaven,
O toi qui rends la femme si fière,
which makes a woman so proud,
je te maudis, ô ma beauté!
I curse you, oh my beauty!
Tombez, tombez, larmes amères!
Fall, fall, bitter tears!
Mes trahisons et mes forfaits,
My betrayals and my transgressions,
mes souillures et mes misères,
my stains and my miseries,
vous ne les laverez jamais!
you will never wash them away!
Je te maudis, ô ma beauté!
I curse you, oh my beauty!
Adieu, Reine, victime pure
Farewell, oh queen, pure victim
de mes déloyales et folles amours!
of my disloyal, crazed passions!
Dans un couvent et sous la bure,
In a convent and in sackcloth
je m’ensevelis pour toujours!
I shall bury myself forever!
Et Carlos? Oui! Demain, peut-être,
And Carlos? Yes, tomorrow, perhaps,
il tombera sous le fer sacré!
he will fall beneath the holy blade!
Ah, un jour me reste!Ah, Je me sens renaître!
Ah, one day is left to me! Ah, I feel revived!
Béni ce jour…je le sauverai!
Blessed be this day…I shall save him!
(
transl. EMI Classics
)
Verdi,
Nabucco
, “
Va pensiero”
Nabucco
(1842)
was Verdi’s first great success. The chorus, “Va pensiero” (sung by the Israelites
who are captives in Babylon) has become virtually a second national anthem in Italy.
CORO
CHORUS
Va pensiero, sull’ali dorate;
Go, thought, on golden wings;
va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,
go, alight upon the slopes, the hills,
ove olezzano tepide e molli
where, soft and warm, the sweet breezes
l’aure dolci del suolo natal!
of our native land are fragrant!
Deio Giordano le rive saluta,
Greet the banks of the Jordan
di Sionne le torri atterrate…
and Zion’s razed towers…
O, mia patria sì bella e perduta!
Oh, my country so lovely and lost!
O, membranza sì cara e fatal!
Oh, remembrance so dear and ill-fated!
Arpa d’ôr dei fatidici vati,
Golden harp of the prophetic bards,
perché muta deal salice pendi?
why do you hang mute on the willows?
Le memorie nel petto raccendi,
Rekindle the memories in our breasts,
ci favella del tempo che fu!
speak to us of the times of yore!
simile di Solima ai fati
Just as for the cruel fate of Jerusalem,
traggi un suono di crudo lamento,
intone a strain of bitter lamentation,
o t’ispiri il Signore un concento
otherwise let the Lord inspire you with
che ne infonda al patire virtù!
melody to give us strength to suffer!
(
transl. Gwyn Morris
)
Mascagni,
Cavalleria rusticana,
Easter Hymn
In
Cavalleria rusticana
(1890)
the Sicilian villagers sing a beautiful hymn on Easter
Sunday. Soaring above them is the voice of the despairing Santuzza, who has been seduced
and abandoned by her lover, Turiddu.
NOTES AND TRANSLATIONS
