Pollione -- Revisitato

by Luigi Speranza
for "Gli Operai"
jlsperanza@aol.com

--- as rec. by Cura, CD, "Aurora"

Lirica:


----


Meco all'altar di Venere
--- Era Adalgisa in Roma, a
Cinta di bende candide,
--- Sparsa di fior la chioma. a

Udia d'Imene i cantici,
Vedea fumar gl'incensi, ------ a
Eran rapiti i sensi ----------- a
Di voluttade e amore.

Quando fra noi terribile
Viene a locarsi un'ombra ----- a
L'ampio mantel druidico
Come un vapor l'ingombra. ---- a

Cade sull'ara il folgore,
D'un vel si copre il giorno, -- a
Muto si spande intorno -------- a
Un sepolcrale orror.

Più l'adorata vergine
Io non mi trovo accanto; ----- a
N'odo da lunge un gemito
Misto de' figli al pianto, --- a

Ed una voce orribile
Echeggia in fondo al tempio --- a
Norma così fa scempio --------- a
D'amante traditor.

CABALETA:


Me protegge, me difende
Un poter maggior di loro --------- a
È il pensier di lei che adoro, --- a
È l'amor che m'infiammò.

Di quel Dio che a me contende
Quella virgine celeste, ---------- a
Arderò le rie foreste, ----------- a
L'empio altare abbatterò.

-----

POLIONE AT THE STAKE.

Translation:

"With me in Rome before the shrine was Adalgisa bending. Bound in her locks in hue divine. Rivalled were lilies blending. Softly her hand she press'd in mine, Air breath'd with incense around us. Sweeter delights await us, Thy holiest pleasures, love! When an unearthly, awful shade, Fashion'd itself from nothing, Mists, like a Druid mantle laid, Around it ghastly floated. Tempest his legion flames arrayed,
—Daylight shrank out all sickly,Hideous, 'mid darkness, thickly—Sepulchred horrors move. Vainly I sought the gentle one, There at the altar kneeling. Mocking my search, a stifled moan. On o'er the night came stealing; While in a deep, mysterious tone, —Re-echo'd thro' the temple: "Norma thus makes example —Of traitors false to love."

"A Power greater than they Protects me, defends me. It is the thought of her,
It is Love itself, which inflames me! I shall burn the evil forest Of that god who would Take her from me, And I shall destroy his blasphemous altars!"

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POLLIO is the Latin name. Genitive, "Pollionis". The Italian name, Pollione, then, derives from the accusative. It is a good name.

"Gli Operai" at "Opera-L"

--- by Luigi Speranza
------ for "Gli Operai"

---- MOST OF THE QUERIES and notes (or notes and queries, if you must) I have experimented I have shared with Opera-L and got some good commentary into the bargain. The archives of Opera-L are publicly accessible, so anyone is welcome to browse them, and comment, here -- there -- or everywhere.

Minutes and Proceedings of "Gli Operai"

--- by Luigi Speranza
------- for "Gli Operai"


WE INTEND TO share the minutes and proceedings of "Gli Operai". Comments welcome.

"Fidelio" in Italian

--- by Luigi Speranza
------- for "Gli Operai"

----- AS USUAL, INVOLVED in an 'educational' task with my club. This time, to accompany a local production of Beethoven's opera, I shall be working on the Italian-metrical version of Florestan's aria (Act II, Scene i). I always loved Beethoven and find that he managed to include Donizetti's 'marcia' from the (lost) opera "Ira d'Achille" in one of his many orchestral works fascinating.

Anway, will report back -- and any commentary on the trials and tribulations of "Fidelio", especially as it made it into the mandatory Italian repertoire of the Covent Garden (when it was the "Royal Italian Opera") welcome.

Welcome to "Gli Operai"

--- by JLS
------ for "Gli Operai"


"Gli Operai" is a club to promote things that matter. The label is from a letter by Puccini, to Riccordi, where he describes himself, in a beautiful, witty, and untranslatable pun, as an 'operaio'. We too are, and you, browsing the minutes and proceedings of our club, will be one, too!