"Sola, perduta, abbandonata"

Eva Marton sings "Sola, perduta, abbandonata" from the last act of Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Budapest Congress Center, 1988

Sola, perduta, abbandonata
in landa desolata!
Orror! Intorno a me s'oscura il ciel.
Ahime, son sola!
E nel profondo deserto io cado,
strazio crudel, ah, sola, abbandonata,
io la deserta donna!
Ah, non voglio morir!
Tutto e dunque finito.
Terra di pace mi sembrava questa
Ah, mia belta funesta
ire novelle accende
strappar da lui mi si volea; or tutto
il mio passato orribile risorge,
e vivo innanzi al guardo mio si posa.
Ah, di sangue s'e macchiato!
Ah, tutto e finito;
asil di pace ora la tomba invoco
No, non voglio morir. Amore, aita!
(from 6lyrics.com)

English translation, from ClassicalPlus:

Alone, lost, abandoned.
in this desolate plain!
Ah, the horror of it!
Around me
the day darkens. Alas I am alone!
And in the depth of this desert I fall -
what cruel torment!
Ah! alone, abandoned,
a woman deserted!
Ah! I do not want to die,
no, I do not want to die.
So all is over.
I thought this would be a land of peace.
Alas! my fatal beauty
arouses fresh troubles,
they wanted to snatch me from him.
Now all my past
rises up starkly
and stands vividly before my gaze.
Ah! It is stained with blood
Ah! All is over!
As a haven of peace
I now invoke the tomb.
No, I do not want to die,
I do not want to die,
No, no, I do not want to die: love, help me.

"Nel silenzio di quei raccoglimenti"

The scene between the Princess and the young nun, Angelica, is one of the greatest presentations of religious fanaticism ever set to music. Chilling! - The Princess's "mystical vision" (rather nightmare of religious condemnation) begins in the video at 6:20.


Fedora Barbieri and Victoria de los Angeles sing Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini, Orchestra del Teatro dell`Opera di Roma, Tullio Serafin, conductor

THE PRINCESS
Often, on an evening,
there in our chapel I pray.
In the silence of those prayers
my spirit seems to leave me
and join your mother's
in secret, ethereal communion!
How painful, how painful it is to hear
the dead mourn and weep!
When the mystical trance passes,
I have only one word to say to you:
Atone! Atone!
I offer my justice
to the Blessed Virgin!

[Nel silenzio di quei raccoglimenti,
il mio spirito par che s'allontani
e s'incontri con quel di vostra madre
in colloqui eterei, arcani!
Come è penoso, come è penoso
udire i morti dolorare e piangere!
Quando l'estasi mistica scompare
per voi serbata ho una parola sola:
Espiare! Espiare!
Offritela alla Vergine
la mia giustizia!]
English/Italian link

"Tu che di gel sei cinta"

Renata Tebaldi singing Liu's aria from the second act of Giuseppe Puccini's opera Turandot. The slave Liu is being tortured to give her owner's name, but she resists, even as the crowd around her screams for her to speak and give up the name. In the end, she grabs a nearby knife and stabs herself, as the crowd continues to scream for her to reveal her secret.

"Parla! Parla! Parla!
Il nome! Il nome!"

Despite its grisly ending and subject matter, this is one of the world's most beautiful and recorded arias.

"I lived for art, I lived for love"

Vissi d'arte



from Puccini's opera Tosca, performed by the radiant Leontyne Price, 1965

My other favorite rendition of this aria is by Renata Tebaldi, and can be heard here.

Sempre con fè sincera
la mia preghiera
ai santi tabernacoli salì.
Sempre con fè sincera
diedi fiori agl’altar.
Nell’ora del dolore
perchè, perchè, Signore,
perchè me ne rimuneri così?

Always with true faith
my prayer
rose to the holy shrines.
Always with true faith
I gave flowers to the altar.
In the hour of grief
why, why, o Lord,
why do you reward me thus?

Full text