Famous Moments in Opera

Famous Moments in Opera

Pamina’s Suicide Scene from The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Act 2 Scene 1 from Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck

So Voll Frölichkeit duet from Der Zigeunerbaron by Johann Strauss II

Finale of Act 1 from The Gondoliers by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

Selections from Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Act 1, Scene 4 and 5 from Cendrillon by Jules Massenet

Norina’s Aria from Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti

Act 1, scene 3 and 4 from Il Matrimonio Segreto by Domenico Cimarosa

Gypsy Song and Card Trio from Carmen by Georges Bizet

Sull’ Aria Duet from Le Nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Brindisi and Sempre Libera from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi

Selections from The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár

Chi mi frena in tal momento Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti

1. Pamina’s Suicide Scene from The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Spirit 1 – Neha Sen, sopranoSpirit 2 – Aman Gill, sopranoSpirit 3 – Riddic Sandhu, altoPamina – Lindsay Gillis, soprano

Directed by Dolores ScottPiano – Joanne Sommer-Miller

Pamina has met with her lover Tamino, but he does not speak to her. Stricken by grief, she is driven to commitsuicide when three spirits magically intervene and tell her that Tamino was unable to speak for reasons theycannot divulge.

2. Act 2 Scene 1 from Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck

Gretel – Kiara Dokaj, sopranoHansel – Riddic Sandhu, altoSandman – Richard Chen, soprano


Hansel and Gretel’s parents have sent them into the forest to pick wild strawberries. Gretel is making a garland offlowers and Hansel is picking the strawberries when he realizes they are lost. They are frightened, but theSandman comes to put them to sleep, so they can rest peacefully until the next morning.

3. So Voll Frölichkeit duet from Der Zigeunerbaron by Johann Strauss II

Arsena – Judy McLellan, sopranoMirabella – Molly Bushell, mezzo sopranoRibbon Dancer – Stephanie Mile

Directed by Dolores ScottPiano – Brenda Katzeff

After a victorious battle against the Spanish, Arsena and Mirabella sing of the wonderful city of Vienna.

....................Translation:

There is no city far and wide so full of merriment as Vienna. None so fine!Where lively melodies sparkle, so fresh and bold. Where oh, you are filled with longing for song and wine!Where the song resounds from the Vienna woods, so full of fragrance as the month of May, and so sweet and true.Ah, so full of feeling as only the Viennese song can be, and there was never a truer sound!Ah, there our chests will swell with the joy of love.Ah there – there we are all drawn to where we are evergreen. Where desire and joy bloom!Where life’s splendours and all joy is ignited. Where love laughs by day and night!Heart and thoughts are all drawn to Vienna – to that lovely city with the magnificent cathedral’s dome.Where sorrow flees from the joyful song and sinks into the joy of its intoxicating current.Whereby with shining glances and singing and dancing, we pass the nights in desire and jubilation.Where the vine blooms and the warmest love glows, where all people understand how to live.We pass the nights in jubilation!

4. Finale of Act 1 from The Gondoliers by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

Giannetta – Stephanie Mile, sopranoTessa – Brenna Goodwin-McCabe, mezzo sopranoMarco – Shawn Ridout, tenorGiuseppe – Naman Narang, tenorDon Alhambra – Derek Grasby, baritone


Gianetta and Tessa have married gondoliers Marco and Giuseppe respectively. They sing of the happiness ofmarriage until Don Alhambra, an official from Barataria arrives to tell the brothers that one of them is king ofBarataria, though no one is sure which brother it is, yet. They all decide that the brothers will rule together untilthe identity of the king is ascertained.

5. Selections from Don Giovanni by W.A. Mozart

Leporello – Jeremy Felix, baritoneDonna Elvira – Brenda Katzeff, sopranoZerlina – Stephanie Mile, sopranoDon Giovanni – Grant Wutzke, baritoneDonna Anna – Carmen Faivre-Duboz, sopranoDon Ottavio – Ming-Xuan Chung, tenor

Directed by Lindsay GillisPiano – Joanne Sommer-Miller

Selections from the opera Don Giovanni, based on the story of Don Juan, the infamous womanizer

Madamina (Leporello)My dear lady, this is a listOf the beauties my master hasloved,A list which I have compiled.Observe, read along with me.In Italy, six hundred and forty;In Germany, two hundred andthirty-one;A hundred in France; in Turkey,ninety-one;But in Spain already one thousandand three.Among these are peasant girls,Maidservants, city girls,Countesses, baronesses,Marchionesses, princesses,Women of every rank,Every shape, every age.He seduces the old onesFor the pleasure of adding to thelist.His greatest favouriteIs the young beginner.It doesn’t matter if she’s rich,Ugly or beautiful;If she wears a skirt,You know what he does.

Ah, fuggi il traditore! (Donna Elvira) Ah, flee traitor!Let him speak no more!His lips are deceitfulHis eyes are false.Learn from my agonyHow much you can trust that heartAnd your fear shall be bornFrom my peril

La ci da rem la mano(Don Giovanni, Zerlina)Don Giovanni: There I’ll give you myhand,There you’ll say yes:See, it is not far,my love, let’s leave from here,Zerlina: Should I or shouldn’t I,my heart trembles at the thought,it’s true, I would be happy,I can still have fun!Don Giovanni: Come, my belovedbeautiful!Zerlina: It makes me pity Masetto.Don Giovanni: I will change yourfate.Zerlina: Soon ... I am no longerstrong enough to resist.

Don Giovanni: Let us go!Zerlina: Let us go!Together: Come, come, my darling,to restore our pleasureof an innocent love!

Non ti fidar, o misera(Don Giovanni, Zerlina, DonnaElvira, Donna Anna, Don Ottavio)Donna Elvira: enteringOh, ere thou trust in him, beware,His heart is cold as stone,Know that his vows are writ in air,I their deceit have known.Donna Anna and Don Ottavio:Heaven! A noble lady this!She sorely seems distraught!Her warning voice, her mien of woe,By bitter grief were taught!Don Giovanni: Poor girl, she’s quitedemented,I sorely do lament it!The fit may be preventedIf she’s by me besought.Donna Elvira: The traitor, oh,believe him not!I pray you, friends, stay near me!

......................Translations:

continued...

Don Giovanni: Poor thing, she’squite demented!Donna Anna and Don Ottavio: Can Ibelieve in aught?Sure, some cause there must be forthis raving... can tell, none can tellwhat befell thee,None can tell what this grief onthee brought.Donna Elvira: I’ll pursue thee, forvengeance craving.Who will tell thee,Who’ll tell what befell me!Who this grief, who this grief on mebrought.Don Ottavio: asideIs she injured or deceiving,Ere we part from here, I’d know!Donna Anna: asideGreat her sorrow, past relieving,But no madness doth she shew.Don Giovanni:While they scan me, unbelieving,From their presence I’ll not go.Donna Elvira: Friends, his wiles arepast conceiving,Falsehood he will ne’er forego.Don Ottavio: to Don GiovanniIs this madness?Don Giovanni: To my great sorrow!Donna Anna: I’d befriend thee...Donna Elvira: Oh, heed my prayer!Vile betrayer!Don Giovanni: Quite demented!Donna Elvira: Vile betrayer!Donna Anna and Don Ottavio:Soon, me thinks the truth we’llknow.Don Giovanni: to Donna ElviraHush, be still,Thy silly raving will a rabble gatherround us,Thy unwomanly behavingMakes me quite of thee ashamed.Donna Elvira: to Don GiovanniVillain, dare thou blame me?

Through the world I will pursuethee,As a traitor I’ll proclaim thee,For by thee I am defamed!Donna Anna and Don Ottavio:aside, observing Don GiovanniIs he threatening? Is he pleading?Why those loud and angrywhispers?These are signs not hard in reading,That her griefs by him were framed!Don Giovanni: Hush, be silent!This rabble gathers round us!Hush, and stay thy silly raving

Don Ottavio son morta! (Donna Anna and Don Ottavio)Donna Anna: Don Ottavio, I amdead!Don Ottavio: What was that?Donna Anna: Please, help me!Don Ottavio: My dear, be strong!Donna Anna: O Gods! That man ismy father’s slayer!Don Ottavio: What have you said?Donna Anna: Doubt no more. Thelast words of that wicked manreminded my heart of that ignobleman, who in my room…Don Ottavio: O Heavens! Is itpossible, that while masked infriendship… But how did it happen?Tell me everything about thesestrange circumstances!Donna Anna: It was already welldeep into the night, where I wasalone, for my own disgrace, I saw aman coming in covered in a cape. Aman that I first thought was you.Don Ottavio: Stars! Go on…Donna Anna: But then I realized Iwas wrong. He drew in closer andtried to embrace me. I try to escape.He holds me more strongly. Iscream. No one comes. With onehand he muffles my voice and withthe other he holds me so tightly

that I already feel lost.Don Ottavio: That nefarious man!And then?Donna Anna: Finally, the pain andthe terror of that horrible assaultgave me strength. With such aforce, I writhed And twisted and contorted so muchthat I managed to free myself.Don Ottavio: Dear me! I breatheagain!Donna Anna: Then I scream louderpleading for help. The villain flees. Ivehemently pursue him on thestreet to stop him so that I becomeboth attacker and attacked. Myfather rushed in and tried to revealhis identity but that worm wasstronger than that poor old man.He committed his crime and slewhim dead! Now you know that myhonor was about to be taken awayfrom me by the traitor who took myfather away from me. I ask you toavenge me as does your own heart.Remember the wound on that poorchest. Remember the bloodcovering the ground. That agentleman can be guilty of such adark crime. Does the wrath ofrighteousness dwell in you? Ah!Everything must be done to find outthe truth! I can feel it in my heart. Itis speaking to me. The duty of afiancé and that of a friend.Don Ottavio: I want to free her fromher illusion or avenge her!

Dalla sua pace (Don Ottavio)On her peace of mind dependsmine too,what pleases her gives life to me,what grieves her wounds me to theheart.If she sighs, I sigh with her;her anger and her sorrow are mine,and joy I cannot know unless sheshares it.

6. Act 1, Scene 4 and 5 from Cendrillon by Jules Massenet

Pandolfe – Robert Gilchrist, baritoneDorothée – Elizabeth Gilchrist, mezzo sopranoNoémie – Sofija Ivanovic, sopranoMadame de la Haltière – Lily Groves, baritoneCendrillon – Emma Marr, soprano

Music direction by Elizabeth GilchristStage direction by Brad FeltonPiano – Joanne Sommer-Miller

Pandolfe has secured an invitation for his wife and daughters to attend the prince’s ball. They are excited as theyprepare to go, but Cendrillon does not go with them.

7. Norina’s Aria from Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti

Norina – Tze Liew, soprano

Directed by Robin HahnPiano – Joanne Sommer-Miller

Norina is amused by romantic actions of love and understands what they really mean!

....................Translation:

That look,pierced the knight in the middle of the heart,He bowed with bent knee and saidI am your knight.And so it was in that looka taste of paradise,That the knight Richard,Conquered by love,Swore that never to anotherWoman would he ever think about."Ah, ah!I too know the magical powerof a look at the right time and place,I know how the heart burnsin slow fires,of a brief smile

I know the effect,Of lying tears,On a sudden languor,I know a thousand wayslove can fraud,The charms and arts are easyTo fool the heart.I have a bizarre mindI possess a ready wit,I like joking:If I get furiousI’m rarely able to remain calm,But my disdain can soon turn to laughter,I have a bizarre mindBut an excellent heart, ah!

8. Act 1, scene 3 and 4 from Il Matrimonio Segreto by Domenico Cimarosa

Geronimo – Markus Ferrari, bassCarolina – Dolores Scott, sopranoElisetta – Sheila Christie, sopranoFidalma – Carmen Faivre-Duboz, soprano

Directed by Dolores Scott as a special collaboration with Battle Axe OperaPiano – Brenda Katzeff

Geronimo is thrilled that the marriage contract between Count Robinson and Elisetta, his eldest daughter issettled, but he asks his sister, Fidalma, and Elisetta, why his youngest daughter looks jealous. In truth, she isdisinterested in the fuss, and finds her sister’s haughtiness insufferable. This is because she is already secretlymarried!

....................Translation:RecitativeGeronimo: Come right away! I have happy news for thefamily! Elisetta! Fidalma! Carolina! Daughters, sister,friends, servants – everyone in the house, come!Carolina: Father?Elisetta: Papa?Fidalma: Dear brother?Carolina: What’s going on?Elisetta: What is it?Carolina: What is happening?

AriaGeronimo: Hear, all hear,Open your ears,Jubilation!A noble marriageIt is already concluded for you.Mrs. ContessinaToday she will be.Come and kiss me, my pretty,Let money jump into the hand of your papa.The party is ready.Everyone, enjoy my happiness.

continued...

What say you, sister?What say you, Elisetta?To Carolina:Why are you there, thin lipped?Come, your father has thought of you, too:Another titled nobleman for you to be a bride.And do you not rise to it?Do you say nothing still?Silly you! oh, what a fool!In truth, I rage.Jealousy tells you,What is inside your heart?A noble marriageIt is already concluded for you.Mrs. ContessinaToday she will be. Everyone, enjoy my happiness.A noble marriageToday she will be. Everyone, enjoy my happinessThe party is readyLet money jump into the hand of your papa.Everyone, enjoy my happiness …Exit GeronimoRecitativeElisetta: Lady little sister, permit me to remind youthat I am the eldest and you the younger. Therefore,rather than showing jealous disdain, it would bebetter to pray for my blessing.Carolina: Ha! Ha! Your blessing, although singular, intruth, I wouldn’t know what to do with!Elisetta: Insolence! I am a countess and you, yourselfare nothing!Fidalma: Here we are again – between sisters, one whofumes and one who is too high-spirited. There is not aday of peace here.Elisetta: I – fume? Speak!Carolina: What high spiritedness do you condemn?Elisetta: Have I not good reason perhaps?Fidalma: Yes, she must respect you.Carolina: Am I so wrong?Fidalma: No, I won’t provoke you.Elisetta: What? Perhaps I’m provoking her?Carolina: What? Perhaps I’m acting badly?

Fidalma: No, not at all! Stop making such a fuss!Carolina: turning awayI have no envy or jealousy of her glorification. I amonly sorry, that in this occasion, she is being soarrogant.Elisetta: You turn your back on me this way! Anotherimpertinence!Carolina: Forgive me. Forgive my mistake, yourexcellency!TrioI bow to you,Gentle Countess;To be a LadyWe see that she was born;For something else, for something elseYou make me laugh.Elisetta: Screaming, cracked.I am a lady and Countess.Mock me if you want,Mock yourself.For no one else, no one elseYou have manners.Fidalma: to ElisettaYou’re fuming, my dear,It is too much.to CarolinaYou are pretty,A little insolent.Shame! shame!Finish it already.Carolina: I am not her servant.Elisetta: I am the eldest.Carolina: We are both daughtersOf a single parent.Elisetta: Bizarre ....Carolina: Fuming ...Fidalma: Let’s finish this thing,Stop there.Elisetta and Carolina: I can not sufferHer incivility.Fidalma: That chidingAmong you it is not well.

9. Gypsy Song and Card Trio from Carmen by Georges Bizet

Frasquita – Judy McLellan, sopranoMercedes – Molly Bushell, mezzo sopranoCarmen – Brenna Goodwin-McCabe, mezzo soprano


The Gypsy Song and the Card Trio are two favourite ensembles in this opera, where singing with abandon andtelling fortunes are a part of the gypsy way of life.

10. Sull’ Aria Duet from Le Nozze di Figaro by W.A. Mozart

Susanna – Stephanie Mile, SopranoContessa – Elizabeth Gilchrist, Mezzo Soprano


The Countess (La Contessa) dictates to Susanna, a letter to entrap her philandering husband.

....................Translation:

Susanna: On the breezeCountess: What a gentle little zephyrSusanna: A little zephyrCountess: This evening will sighSusanna: This evening will sighCountess: Under the pines in the little grove.Susanna: Under the pines…Countess: Under the pines in the little groveSusanna: Under…the pines…in the little groveCountess: And the rest he’ll understandSusanna: Certainly, certainly he will understandCountess: Now read it out loud from, “On the breeze.”

11. Brindisi and Sempre Libera from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi

Violetta – Deeandra Miranda, SopranoAlfredo – Chenuka Lakwijaya, Tenor


Violetta, a courtesan, and Alfredo, a young bourgeois, drink to life, love and happiness in Brindisi, and Violettarevels in being always free, but in truth, loves Alfredo and he loves her.......................Translations:

BrindisiAlfredo: Let’s drink, drink from thejoyful chalicessince beauty is blossoming.And might the fleeting hour getinebriated at willLet’s drink amongst those sweetquivers that Love makes arise, since that eye goes to (his) almightyheart.Let’s drink, (my) love, (so that) loveamong the chaliceswill give hotter kissesVioletta: With you, with you, I’ll beable to share my cheerful time;Everything is crazy, crazy in theworldwhat is not pleasure

Let’s enjoy (the pleasures), fleetingand fast is the joy in love,it’s a flower that blossoms and dies,neither it can be enjoyed longerLet’s enjoy, it’s calling us, it’s callingus in an ardent, flattering accent.Violetta: Life is in (its) jubilationAlfredo: When (people) aren’t inlove yet...Violetta: Don’t say it to those whodon’t know it,Alfredo: So it’s my destinyTogether Let’s enjoy, the chaliceand the canticle,the lovely night and the smiles;might the new day find them still inthis paradise.

Sempre LiberaVioletta: Free and aimless I frolicFrom joy to joy,Flowing along the surfaceof life's path as I please.As the day is born,Or as the day dies,Happily I turn to the new delightsThat make my spirit soar.Alfredo: Love is a heartbeatthroughout the universe,mysterious, altering,the torment and delight of myheart.Violetta: Oh! Oh! Love!Madness! Euphoria!

12. Selections from The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár

Hanna – Abrielle Dumansky, sopranoDanilo – Ming-Xuan Chung, tenor

Directed by Libby DonaldPiano – Brenda Katzeff

In this version of the opera, director Libby Donald sets Hanna and Danilo as students at university, where theymeet and fall in love.

13. Chi mi frena in tal momento Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti

Lucia – Libby Donald, soprano Arturo – Gabriel Stuart, tenorEnrico – Steven Bèlanger, baritone Raimondo – Markus Ferrari, bassEdgardo – Angus Stuart, tenor Alisa – Abrielle Dumansky, soprano

Directed by Angus StuartPiano – Brenda Katzeff

There is a feud between the families of Lucia and Edgardo, but Lucia and Edgardo are in love and vow to be wed.After Enrico shows Lucia a forged letter, Lucia believes that Edgardo has forsaken her, and submits to marryingArturo for the good of her family. On the day of the wedding, just as Arturo and Lucia have signed the marriagecontract, Edgardo suddenly appears, and this famous sextet is sung.

....................Translation:

Edgardo: asideWho curbs me at such a moment,who stemmed the flood of myanger?Her grief, her terror, are the proof,are the proof of her remorse!But like a withered rose,she hovers between death and life!I surrender, I am touched,I love you, heartless girl, I love youstill!Enrico: asideWho checks my furyand the hand which darted to mysword?I heard within me a pleafor the unhappy girl!

She is my kin! I have betrayed her!She hovers between death and life!Ah, I cannot quellthe remorse in my soul!Lucia: asideI hoped that terrorwould cut short my life,but death will not help me...I must live on in anguish!The veil fell from my eyes.I was betrayed by earth and Heaven!I would weep, but I cannot,even tears have forsaken me.Raimondo: asideWhat a terrible moment!I cannot find words to say!

A dense cloud of terrorseems to dim the sun’s rays!Like a withered rose,she hovers between death and life,whoever does not feel for her,has the heart of a tiger.Enrico: She is my kin. I havebetrayed her, etc.Edgardo: Who curbs me at such amoment? etc.Alisa: Like a withered rose, etc.Arturo: What a terrible moment, etc.Enrico: Ah, she is my kin, etc.Lucia: I would weep... but I cannot,etc.

Dolores Scott, Artistic Director

Special thanks to:

Robin Hahn for overseeing the staging for all the scenes

our sponsor, Long & McQuade

The City of Surrey

Judy McLellan

Famous Moments in Opera

Documents

Transcript of Famous Moments in Opera