476 2879
476 8030
L'Orfeo
Favola in Musica
Claudio Monteverdi
Pinchgut Opera
Tucker ❙ Macliver
Whiteley ❙ McMahon
Weymark ❙ Mills ❙ Fraser
Cantillation
Orchestra of the Antipodes
Walker
ANTIPODES is a sub-label of ABC Classics
devoted to the historically informed
performance of music from the Renaissance,
Baroque and Classical periods.
L'Orfeo
Favola in Musica
Music by Claudio Monteverdi 1567-1643
Libretto by Alessandro Striggio c.1573-1630
L’Orfeo was first peformed at the court of Duke Francesco Gonzaga
in Mantua, 1607.
This edition by Erin Helyard.
Mark Tucker
Sara Macliver
Damian Whiteley
Paul McMahon
Brett Weymark
Penelope Mills
Josie Ryan
Anna Fraser
Paul McMahon/Brett Weymark,
Jenny Duck-Chong, David Greco,
Philip Chu, Craig Everingham,
Belinda Montgomery,
Raff Wilson, Daniel Walker
Benjamin Loomes, David Greco
Orfeo (Orpheus)
La Musica (Music), Messaggiera (Messenger),
Proserpina (Persephone)
Caronte (Charon), Plutone (Pluto)
Apollo
Eco (Echo)
Euridice (Eurydice)
Ninfa (Nymph)
Speranza (Hope)
Pastori (Shepherds)
Spiriti infernali (Spirits of Hell)
Cantillation
Orchestra of the Antipodes (on period instruments)
Antony Walker conductor
3
CD1
[49’27]
1 Toccata
1’58
PROLOGO
2 Ritornello...Dal mio Permesso amato
6’16
La Musica
% Mira, deh mira, Orfeo...Ahi, caso acerbo!
3’35
Pastore I, Messaggiera, Pastore VIII, Orfeo
^ In un fiorito prato...Ahi, caso acerbo!
4’05
Messaggiera, Pastore I & IV
& Tu se’ morta
2’27
Orfeo
ATTO PRIMO
3 In questo lieto e fortunato giorno
Pastore I
1’34
4 Vieni Imeneo, deh vieni...Muse honor di Parnasso
1’40
* Ahi, caso acerbo!...Ma io ch’in questa lingua
4’14
Choro, Messaggiera
( Chi ne consola, ahi lassi?
2’02
Pastori I & VII
Choro, Ninfa
5 Lasciate i monti...Ma tu, gentil cantor
2’19
) Ahi, caso acerbo!…Ma dove, ah dove hor sono
4’13
Choro, Pastori I & VII
Choro, Pastore II
6 Rosa del ciel...Io non dirò qual sia
3’03
CD2
1’30
ATTO TERZO
1 Sinfonia
1’34
2 Scorto da te mio Nume
1’25
Orfeo, Euridice
7 Lasciate i monti…Vieni Imeneo, deh vieni
Choro
8 Ma s’il nostro gioir
1’23
Pastore III
[62’36]
Orfeo
3 Ecco l’atra palude
9 Alcun non sia
1’17
Pastori I & IV
3’02
Speranza
4 Dove, ah dove te’n vai...O tu ch’innanzi mort’a queste rive
0 Che poi che nembo rio
1’20
Pastori I, II & V
5 Possente Spirto
! E dopo l’aspro gel...Ecco Orfeo
1’19
Pastori VI & VII, Choro
6’17
Orfeo
6 Orfeo son io
ATTO SECONDO
@ Sinfonia...Ecco pur ch’à voi ritorno
Orfeo
0‘49
£ Mira, ch’à se n’alletta...Dunque fà degno Orfeo
2’03
3’18
Orfeo, Caronte
3’07
Orfeo
7 Ben mi lusinga alquanto...Ahi, sventurato amante!...Sinfonia
2’45
Caronte, Orfeo
Pastori I & IV, Choro
8 Ei dorme, e la mia cetra
Orfeo
$ Vi ricorda ò boschi ombrosi
2’16
Orfeo
4
5
2’09
9 Sinfonia a 7...Nulla impresa per huom
0
!
@
£
$
%
^
&
*
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¡
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4’04
Choro
ATTO QUARTO
Signor, quel infelice
Proserpina
Benchè severo ed immutabil fato
Plutone
O degli habitator de l’ombre eterne
Spiriti I & II
Quali grazie ti rendo...Tue soavi parole
Proserpina, Plutone
Pietade oggi et Amore...Ecco il gentil cantore
Choro, Spirito I
Ritornello...Qual honor di te fia degno...Rott’hai la legge
Orfeo, Spirito II
Ahi, vista troppo dolce...Torn’a l’ombre di morte
Euridice, Spirito I
Sinfonia a 7...È la virtute un raggio
Choro
ATTO QUINTO
Ritornello...Questi i campi di Tracia
Orfeo, Eco
Ma tu anima mia
Orfeo
Perch’a lo sdegno...Padre cortese
Apollo, Orfeo
Saliam cantand’al cielo
Apollo, Orfeo
Vanne, Orfeo, felice a pieno
Choro
Moresca
1’26
Total Playing Time
112’03
6
2’49
2’12
1’09
1’57
0’42
3’22
2’05
3’56
5’10
3’59
3’49
1’12
1’01
Francesco Rasi, took it to the archbishop’s court
at Salzburg where it was performed regularly
between 1614 and 1619; and there were
performances in Genoa and elsewhere in the
Italian peninsula right up to the 1650s, when the
work itself was now forty years old. What was it
about L’Orfeo that ensured its place on the
stage, and how did Monteverdi become so
deliberately associated with the music of a new
generation, having brought ‘new life’ to
‘theatrical music’?
‘Authenticity’ in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo
The canonising of Monteverdi and his music was
a cultural process well under way by the 1640s,
when the composer was in his seventies, lauded
and celebrated in Venice. The unknown librettist
of a now lost setting of Le nozze d’Enea in
Lavinia (1640-41) wrote this encomium in the
preface to the printed libretto:
To this truly great man, this most noble art
of music – and particularly theatrical music
– knows itself to be so much in debt that it
can confess that it is thanks to him that it
has been brought to new life in a world
more efficacious and perfect than it was in
ancient Greece … For this Signor
Monteverde [sic], known in far-flung parts
and wherever music is known, will be
sighed for in future ages, at least as far as
they can be consoled by his most noble
compositions, which are set to last as long
as can resist the ravages of time any more
esteemed and estimable fruit of one who is
a wondrous talent in his profession.
L’Orfeo was described at the time as a favola in
musica (literally, a ‘musical fable’), and it
heralded the beginning of the dissemination of a
new theatrical or ‘representative’ style (stile
rappresentativo) – a synthesis coaxed from the
intellectual, philosophical and aesthetic
discussions of the Florentine Academies and the
older, more traditional dramatic models of the
madrigal and intermedio. In what might be
described as a searching for ‘authenticity’ in
music (a concept that might strike us today as
curiously modern), the debates of Florentine
intellectuals in the late 16th and early 17th
centuries led them, in their conscious search for
newer musical forms and style, to review the
world of ancient Greece, believing that the
rendering of poetry into natural speech-like
rhythms (which was understood to have been
Greek practice) would create a new music
wholly responsive to the needs of theatre. It
was to be ‘authentic’ musical theatre – authentic
In the case of L’Orfeo, it seems that Prince
Francesco Gonzaga, who had organised the first
performance, was already planning a repeat
performance in Casale Monferrato (where he
was governor) in Carnival 1609-10, not long after
the Mantuan premiere in 1607; there were two
printed editions of the music, an unusually lavish
feat; the original Orfeo, the acclaimed tenor
7
as in the Greek authentikos, ‘of first-hand
authority, original’. One of the many novel
textures associated with the style was stile
recitativo, a single sung line supported by
chordal instruments that partly evoked the
ancient instrumental conventions of lyre and
kithara (lirone, chitarrone and so on). Monteverdi
combined his skill as a madrigal composer with
experiments in the new style to set Alessandro
Striggio’s L’Orfeo for a Carnival entertainment for
the Mantuan court in 1607.
moreover, observing due propriety, serves
the poetry so well that nothing more
beautiful is to be heard anywhere.
Ferrari’s deliberate evocation of three traditional
pillars of Greek and Roman oratory – inventio
(invention), dispositio (arrangement) and elocutio
(style) – subtly acknowledges the ‘authenticity’
exemplified in this new or ‘second’ style
(seconda pratica), with its emphasis on neoPlatonic ideals that music (harmonia and
rhythmos) should follow the demands of the
text, or original idea (logos).
This particular favola in musica was understood
to have reconciled and merged, in a unique and
masterly manner, contrary and conflicting
dramatic concerns (speech/song; realism/artifice;
declamation/conversation; chorus/soloist and so
on) – concerns that were to fascinate Monteverdi
throughout his career. The Mantuan court
theologian and poet Cherubino Ferrari wrote to
Duke Vincenzio Gonzaga in August 1607:
Striggio’s interpretation of the Orpheus myth
owes much to Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The
original ending, however, which he replaced with
a traditional lieto fine (‘happy ending’), reflects a
different narrative tradition. Renouncing the love
of women, who are ‘pitiless and fickle, devoid of
reason and all noble thoughts’, Orpheus flees
the arrival of a group of drunken female revellers
– the Bacchantes, disciples of Dionysus. They
sing in praise of Bacchus and declare that
Orpheus will eventually get the punishment he
deserves. In other versions well known to the
academicians present at the first performance,
Orpheus is murdered and decapitated by the
Bacchantes, the head continuing to lament for
Eurydice as it floats down the River Hebrus to
Lesbos. The final version of Monteverdi’s
L’Orfeo, as represented in the two printed
editions, ends with a deus ex machina and
[Monteverdi] has shown me the words and
let me hear the music of the play which
Your Highness had performed, and certainly
both poet and musician have depicted the
inclinations of the heart so skilfully that it
could not have done better. The poetry is
lovely in conception [inventione], lovelier
still in form [disposizione], and loveliest of
all in elocution [elecuzione]; and indeed no
less was to be expected of a man as richly
talented as Signor Striggio. The music,
8
Orfeo’s ascent to heaven with his father Apollo –
an ending not incompatible with the more
gruesome versions, as it was generally
recognised that Orpheus and Eurydice are
eventually reunited in Elysium, whatever the
earthly fate of the great singer.
Two aesthetic entities, not yet reconciled, were
being held up for judgment: the libretto (the
favola) and the music. The libretto’s Humanistic
tone on the perils of earthly love and the
abandonment of reason is aptly summed up in
the moralistic choruses; Musica herself in the
Prologue outlines the central concern of the
conjoining of text and music. Carter comments:
Concerned with the in musica challenge of the
favola, Striggio makes conscious efforts to
incorporate musical imagery into the libretto
with continual references to singing and
dancing, and indeed, it was the sung nature of
the drama that surprised and delighted the
contemporary audience. ‘It should be unusual,
as all the actors are to sing their parts … No
doubt I shall be driven to attend out of sheer
curiosity,’ wrote Carlo Magno to his brother
Giovanni. The Prologue, delivered by Musica,
goes straight to the core philosophy of the stile
rappresentativo itself: after the obligatory and
discreet homage to the Gonzagas (‘renowned
heroes, noble blood of kings’) Musica proclaims
her ability to calm the soul, to arouse it in anger,
to inflame it with love. She invokes the Harmony
of the Spheres before she is ‘spurred on by the
desire to tell you of Orpheus’. Tim Carter, in his
recent work Monteverdi’s Musical Theatre,
interprets these neo-Platonic resonances as an
invitation to witness and even assess a
demonstration of these claims; in a way,
Monteverdi and Striggio are putting the
‘representative’ style to the test.
Keeping these messages separate resolves
the apparent paradox that can cloud any
interpretation of Orfeo, that an opera
seemingly extolling the power of music
should appear to end in failure, saved only
by a contrived lieto fine. Orfeo’s failure is
not one of eloquence: in effect, Musica
gets Orfeo through the gates of Hades.
Rather, it is one of moral fibre: Orfeo lacks
the ability and experience to control his
emotions by way of reason.
The extraordinary Act III showpiece (‘Possente
Spirto e formidabil nume’), written specifically
for Rasi’s agile and formidable voice, fails, in all
its heightened ornamental delivery in the grand
antique poetics of the terza rima, to move
Caronte (Charon), simply because pity, the god
says, is not an emotion worthy of his valour. It is
only Orfeo’s playing upon his lyre (represented
by Monteverdi in a five-part string sinfonia) that
sends him to sleep, enabling the musician to
pass into Hades, his innate eloquence neither
diminished nor vanquished.
9
Pluto’s test to Orfeo is one of virtue – a test he
fails when, in his humanity, emotion overcomes
reason. Orfeo in Act IV sees Amor as a god
more powerful than Pluto; it is only by
renouncing earthly love (i.e. Amor) and by
embracing Apollo’s offer of the path of true
virtue that he can attain the vaults of heaven. As
Ovid pointed out, Orpheus’ only sin is that he
loved too much. The Act III choruses fulfil the
function of an Aristotelian chorus, reminding the
audience of three other heroes who defied
nature with their art and failed: Daedalus (who
attempted to fly – ‘mocking the fury of the
South and North winds’ – and lost his son
Icarus), Jason (who ‘reaped a golden harvest’
but whose wife Creusa was murdered by
Medea) and Phaeton (who tamed the Sun but
drowned). Pride comes before a fall, just as it
will for Orfeo.
spheres of symmetry: the joyful dances and
choruses orbiting Orfeo’s ecstatic ‘Rosa del ciel’
in Act I; the strophic refrains of Caronte in Act
III; Orfeo’s song of joy at recovering Euridice
before the second, fatal, death; his long, moving
lament on the plains of Thrace; the final joyous
duet with Apollo. Monteverdi’s specific
orchestral directions colour the opposing scenes
in traditional hues that would become a
mainstay of the developing operatic tradition for
more than a century to come: sackbuts and the
grating regale for the underworld; harpsichords,
winds and strings for the shepherds and
nymphs; organ and chitarrone for heartfelt
soliloquies, and so on.
Ferrari placed Striggio’s poetic endeavours
squarely within the framework of the rhetorical
tradition, leaving to Monteverdi and music in
general only the delivery of an ideal oration
articulated by the ever-superior librettist.
Returning to our anonymous 1640 encomium to
the venerable master, we see just how much
change had occurred in musical circles towards
the reception of theatrical music.
The popularity of L’Orfeo seems only attributable
to an enthusiastic reception of this new attempt
in the stile rappresentativo. The Orpheus myth
was a convenient and fitting metaphor for the
new efforts at conjoining music, drama and
poetry, and the younger progressive princes saw
in Monteverdi’s seconda pratica a kind of
reflection of their own political innovations.
Monteverdi’s setting of the libretto presents
elements of recitative and madrigal in uniquely
structured ways, artfully combined. Orfeo in all
his glorious eloquence stands at the centre with
‘Possente Spirto’ – around him are arrayed other
talent, adapting in such a way the musical
notes to the words and to the passions that
he who sings must laugh, weep, grow
angry and grow pitying, and do all the rest
that they command, with the listener no
less led to the same impulse in the variety
and force of the same perturbations.
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio
Monteverdi was born in
Cremona, in 1567. He was the
son of a doctor and the eldest
of five children. Not much is
known about his youth. Claudio and his brother
studied music with a Marc Antonio Ingegneri
who was the cathedral composer, though there
is no evidence that either sang in the choir.
And so, by the mid-century, Monteverdi had
become Orpheus; the supreme orator, the
consummate musician, the inspired genius. In
the words of Shakespeare, he:
Monteverdi was a prodigy, publishing his first
work, Cantiunculae sacrae, a volume of sacred
songs, as a 15-year-old. His second book was
published the following year and in 1584 his
third book was published by the Venetian house
which would become his main publisher,
Vincenti & Amadino. Three years later, aged 19,
he published his First Book of Madrigals.
…with his lute made trees,
And the mountain tops that freeze,
Bow themselves, when he did sing:
To his music, plants and flowers
Ever sprung; as sun and showers
There had made a lasting spring.
(Henry VIII, Act III, scene i)
In 1592, aged 25, Monteverdi was hired as a viol
player to Vincenzo I, Duke of Mantua. Mantua
was under the protection of the powerful
Gonzaga family, and Monteverdi’s lot depended
very much on the character of the ruling duke.
The first Gonzaga Duke, Guglielmo, was wise,
cultured, educated, talented and progressive;
Vincenzo I, Guglielmo’s successor and
Monteverdi’s boss, fell short of the ideal
Renaissance monarch. An inconsistent, brutish
ruler, he did however have a great love for drama
and music and kept a stable of virtuoso
performers to gratify his passion for display.
Erin Helyard
Now you, my Lords, tolerating the
imperfection of my poetry, enjoy cheerfully
the sweetness of the music of the never
enough praised Monteverde, born to the
world so as to rule over the emotions of
others, there being no harsh spirit that he
does not turn and move according to his
10
11
Duke Vincenzo promoted Monteverdi from viol
player to singer, a much more senior position.
The next year Monteverdi was disappointed
when the maestro di cappella died and the
vacancy was filled by Benedetto Pallavicino, an
older, well-published musician whom Monteverdi
nevertheless considered his inferior. Despite his
own growing fame and the fact that he was the
highest-paid court singer – and next in line for
promotion – Monteverdi began to feel
discontent. He married court singer Claudia
Cattaneo in May 1599; when Pallavicino died in
1601, Monteverdi again applied for his position
and was awarded the post, the same year that
his son Francesco was born.
opera. Claudia died in September of that year,
after a long illness, and Monteverdi was left a
widower with his two surviving children, sons
aged six and three. He was 40 years old.
He stopped composing, but was coaxed back by
a letter promising fame and a prince’s gratitude.
He buried his sorrows in work – a new opera
(Arianna), an intermezzo and a ballet for the
celebration of a royal wedding. Despite
extremely stressful working conditions, his music
was a great success. However, this could not
alter his depression and Monteverdi went home
to Cremona in such a collapsed state that his
father wrote to the Duchess of Mantua with a
request that Claudio be released from his duties.
As he became more famous, his music was
attacked by Bolognese theorist Giovanni Maria
Artusi, who in 1600 and 1603 pointed to
Monteverdi as a perpetrator of crimes against
music. When the Fifth Book of Madrigals
appeared in 1605, perhaps in reply to Artusi,
opinion sided with Monteverdi. Not only was
this fifth volume reprinted within a year, the
publisher also reprinted all of Monteverdi’s
earlier books.
Two more children were born to Claudio and
Claudia, and with their debts mounting,
Monteverdi complained about irregular payment
of his salary. In 1607 he presented L’Orfeo
(commissioned for Carnival at Mantua), but had
little opportunity to enjoy the triumph of his first
12
Monteverdi was not one to be left out. Aged 70,
Monteverdi’s composing took on a new life.
Arianna was revived in 1639 (though was
subsequently lost); a series of new works
followed, including Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. He
published his Eighth Book of Madrigals and a
collection of church music. In 1642, at the age of
75, he composed L’incoronazione di Poppea.
with regularly employed singers, instrumentalists
and many others for special events. Music had
to be provided – composed, rehearsed,
performed – for about forty festivals per year. In
his mid-forties, he was in his prime not only in
his own composition but also in how he took on
his new job. He reorganised the chapel band,
brought the choir up to strength, hired more
musicians for more services and expanded the
music library. After three years he was granted a
ten-year contract. He was happy – financially
comfortable, famous, appreciated by his
employers, and loved by the public.
The request was denied and Monteverdi was
summoned to return, though with a substantial
pay rise. By 1610 he was back in Mantua and
obviously casting about for another job. The
need to find this became urgent when, in 1612,
Vincenzo died; his son Francesco ascended the
throne and suddenly dismissed Monteverdi.
After more than twenty years of service in the
Gonzaga ducal court, Monteverdi returned to
Cremona with the equivalent of one month’s
salary in his pocket: his life savings.
By 1620 Venice was a ferment of music
composition – there were six composers
employed by the Basilica itself. Monteverdi was
in his fifties, secure in his job and venerated at
home and abroad. As well as his church
composition, he wrote solo motets, duets and
other more easily performed works for various
anthologies of church music. Heinrich Schütz
visited from Germany in 1628 to learn from
Monteverdi the new art of opera and church
music. In 1630 the plague swept through Venice,
killing 40,000 but sparing Claudio. He was worn
down by the strain, however, and in 1632 was
ordained a priest.
The following year the maestro di cappella at
San Marco in Venice died. Monteverdi applied
for the post and was appointed on the spot. This
new job was huge. The Basilica at San Marco
was the largest musical establishment in Italy,
Just when it seemed that his career was
beginning to fade, Venice was evolving into a
city of opera. In 1637 the first public opera
house opened with Manelli’s Andromeda. Soon
after, several others were opened and
He died in Venice of a malignant fever on 29
November 1643. The city mourned him with an
impressive funeral ceremony held in two
churches, San Marco and Santa Maria dei Frari,
where he was buried. His publisher Vincenti
collected the manuscripts of all his unpublished
church music and published them in 1651. Also
that year, Poppea was performed in far-away
Naples.
Like many great composers of the Baroque,
Monteverdi’s work was largely neglected after
his death and regained full recognition only in
the 20th century.
Alison Johnston and Ken Nielsen
13
Penelope Mills
Mark Tucker
Sara Macliver
David Greco
Philip Chu
Damian Whiteley
Paul McMahon
Brett Weymark
Craig Everingham
Raff Wilson
Belinda Montgomery
Josie Ryan
Anna Fraser
Jenny Duck-Chong
Daniel Walker
Benjamin Loomes
Antony Walker
14
15
CD1
1
2
3
PROLOGO
PROLOGUE
LA MUSICA
Dal mio Permesso amato à voi ne vegno,
incliti Eroi, sangue gentil de regi,
di cui narra la Fama eccelsi pregi,
nè giunge al ver perch’è tropp’alto il segno.
MUSIC
I come to you from my beloved river Permessus,
O great heroes, noble race of kings;
Fame sings your splendid qualities,
but falls short of the truth, so high is the mark.
Io la Musica son, ch’à i dolci accenti
sò far tranquillo ogni turbato core,
et hor di nobil ira, et hor d’amore
posso infiammar le più gelate menti.
I am Music, who with sweet accents
can calm every restless heart;
and, now with noble anger, now with love,
can inflame the most frozen minds.
Io sù cetera d’or cantando soglio
mortal orecchio lusingar talhora
e in questa guisa a l’armonia sonora
de la lira del ciel più l’alme invoglio.
Singing to a golden lyre, I am
sometimes wont to entice mortal ears,
and thus, with the resounding harmonies
of heaven’s lyre, I inspire the soul.
Quinci à dirvi d’Orfeo desio mi sprona
d’Orfeo che trasse al suo cantar le fere,
e servo fè l’inferno à sue preghiere,
gloria immortal di Pindo e d’Elicona.
And now, spurred on by the desire to tell you of
Orpheus, who drew the wild beasts with his singing
and made Hell submit to his pleas –
the immortal glory of Pindus and of Helicon –
Hor mentre i canti alterno, hor lieti, hor mesti,
non si mova augellin frà queste piante,
nè s’oda in queste rive onda sonante,
et ogni auretta in suo camin s’arresti.
While I sing now of joy, now of sorrow,
let no bird now move among these trees,
nor any wave be heard upon these shores,
and let every breeze stop in its path.
ATTO PRIMO
ACT ONE
PASTORE
In questo lieto e fortunato giorno
ch’à posto fine à gl’amorosi affanni
del nostro semideo
cantiam, pastori, in sì soavi accenti
che sian degni d’Orfeo nostri concenti.
Oggi fatta è pietosa
SHEPHERD I
On this happy and fortunate day
which has put an end to the pains our
demigod has suffered for love,
let us sing, shepherds, in such sweet accents
that our refrains may be worthy of Orpheus.
Today has been moved to pity
16
4
5
l’alma già sì sdegnosa
de la bell’Euridice.
Oggi fatto è felice
Orfeo nel sen di lei, per cui già tanto
per queste selve ha sospirato e pianto.
Dunque in sì lieto e fortunato giorno
c’hà posto fine à gli amorosi affanni
del nostro semideo
cantiam, pastori, in sì soavi accenti
che sian degni d’Orfeo nostri concenti.
the soul, once so scornful,
of the lovely Eurydice;
today Orpheus is made happy,
in the embrace of her for whom he so often
sighed and wept in these woods.
So on this happy and fortunate day
which has put an end to the pains our
demigod has suffered for love,
let us sing, shepherds, in such sweet accents
that our refrains may be worthy of Orpheus.
CHORO NINFE, PASTORI
Vieni Imeneo, deh vieni,
e la tua face ardente
sia quasi un sol nascente
ch’apporti à questi amanti i dì sereni
e lunge homai disgombre
de gl’affanni e del duol gl’orrori e l’ombre.
CHORUS OF NYMPHS AND SHEPHERDS
Come, Hymen, oh come!
and let your flaming torch
be like a sun rising
to bring blissful days to these lovers;
sweep far from them
the horrors and shadows of suffering and grief.
NINFA
Muse honor di Parnasso, amor del cielo,
gentil conforto à sconsolato core,
vostre cetre sonore
squarcino d’ogni nube il fosco velo:
e mentre oggi propitio al nostro Orfeo
invochiam Imeneo
sù ben temprate corde
sià il vostro canto al nostro suon concorde.
NYMPH
Muses, honour of Parnassus, beloved of Heaven,
gentle comfort to disconsolate hearts,
let your sonorous lyres
strip the gloomy veil from every cloud:
and, on this propitious day for our Orpheus,
while we call on Hymen
on well-tempered strings,
let your song be in harmony with our playing.
NINFE, PASTORI
Lasciate i monti,
lasciate i fonti,
ninfe vezzose e liete,
e in questi prati
a i balli usati
vago il bel piè rendete.
NYMPHS AND SHEPHERDS
Leave the mountains,
leave the springs,
you glad and graceful nymphs,
and on these meadows
turn your pretty feet
to the familiar dances.
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Qui miri il sole
vostre carole
più vaghe assai di quelle,
ond’à la Luna,
la notte bruna,
danzano in ciel le stelle.
Let the sun here gaze on
your round-dances,
far more lovely than those
danced to the moon
in the dusky night
by the stars in heaven.
pegno di pura fede à me porgesti.
Se tanti cori havessi
quant’occh’hà il ciel eterno, e quante chiomè
han questi colli amenni il verde Maggio,
tutti colmi sarieno e traboccanti
di quel piacer ch’oggi mi fà contento.
in a pledge of pure faith!
If I had as many hearts
as eternal heaven has eyes, or as these hills
have leaves in green May,
every one would be full and overflowing
with the joy that is making me happy today.
Poi di bei fiori
per voi s’honori
di questi amanti il crine,
c’hor dei martiri
de i lor desiri
godon beati al fine.
Then with fine flowers
crown
the heads of these lovers,
who now, far from the torments
of their desires,
rejoice in bliss forever.
EURIDICE
Io non dirò qual sia
nel tuo gioir, Orfeo, la gioia mia,
che non hò meco il core,
ma teco stassi in compagnia d’Amore.
Chiedilo dunque à lui s’intender brami
quanto lieta gioisca, e quanto t’ami.
EURYDICE
I can’t tell you how
joyful it makes me to see you rejoice, Orpheus,
because my heart is no longer with me,
but with you, in the company of Love.
Ask him, then, if you want to know
how happy it is, and how much it loves you.
PASTORE
Ma tu, gentil cantor, s’à tuoi lamenti
già festi lagrimar queste campagne,
perc’hora al suon de la famosa cetra
non fai teco gioir le valli e i poggi?
Sia testimon del core
qualche lieta canzon che detti Amore.
SHEPHERD II
But you, sweet singer, if your laments
once made these fields weep,
why doesn’t the sound of your famous lyre
now make the valleys and hills rejoice with you?
Let some joyful song inspired by Love
bear witness to your heart.
NINFE, PASTORI
Lasciate i monti…
NYMPHS, SHEPHERDS
Leave the mountains…
Vieni Imeneo, deh vieni…
Come, Hymen, oh come!…
ORFEO
Rosa del ciel, vita del mondo, e degna
Prole di lui che l’Universo affrena,
sol, che’l tutto circondi e’l tutto miri,
da gli stellanti giri,
dimmi: vedestù mai
di me più lieto e fortunato amante?
Fu ben felice il giorno,
mio ben, che pria ti vidi,
e più felice l’hora
che per te sospirai,
poi ch’al mio sospirar tu sospirasti:
felicissimo il punto
che la candida mano
ORPHEUS
Rose of heaven, life of the world and true heir
of him who governs all the universe,
O sun who encompasses all and sees all,
from your great circling among the stars,
tell me: have you ever seen
a lover happier and more blessed than me?
That day was truly happy,
my love, when I first saw you,
and happier still the hour
when I sighed for you,
because at my sighing, you sighed too:
happiest of all was the moment
when you gave me your milk-white hand
PASTORE
Ma s’il nostro gioir dal ciel deriva
come dal ciel ciò che quà giù n’incontra,
giust’è ben che devoti
gl’offriam’incensi e voti.
Dunqu’al tempio ciascun rivolga i passi
a pregar lui ne la cui destra è il mondo,
che lungamente il nostro ben conservi.
SHEPHERD III
But if our joy comes to us from heaven,
as does everything we meet here on earth,
then it is right and proper that, with devotion,
we offer up incense and vows.
So let each of us turn our steps to the temple
to pray to him who holds the world in his right hand,
that he may long preserve our wellbeing.
PASTORI
Alcun non sia che disperato in preda
si doni al duol,
ben chè tall’hor si assaglia
possente sì che nostra vita inforsa.
SHEPHERDS I & IV
Let no-one fall prey to despair
or give himself to grief,
even if sometimes it assails us
with such force that it threatens our lives.
Che poi che nembo rio gravido il seno
d’atra tempesta inorridito hà il mondo,
dispiega il sol più chiaro i rai lucenti.
SHEPHERDS I, II & V
For when the clouds, pregnant with
dark storms, have terrified the world,
the sun shows his shining beams more clearly.
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E dopo l’aspro gel del verno ignudo
veste di fior la Primavera i campi.
SHEPHERDS VI & VII
And after the bitter cold of naked winter,
Spring clothes the fields with flowers.
NINFE, PASTORI
Ecco Orfeo cui pur dianzi
furon cibo i sospir bevanda il pianto,
oggi felice è tanto
che nulla è più che da bramar gli avanzi.
NYMPHS, SHEPHERDS
Here is Orpheus, who only a short time ago
ate the bread of sighs and drank the water of tears:
today is so happy
that he could wish for nothing more.
ATTO SECONDO
ACT TWO
Sinfonia
ORFEO
Ecco pur ch’à voi ritorno
care selve e piagge amate,
da quel sol fatte beate
per cui sol mie nott’han giorno.
ORPHEUS
Here am I with you again,
dear woods and beloved shores
blessed by the sun
which alone has changed my night into day.
PASTORE
Mira, ch’à se n’alletta
l’ombra Orfeo de que’ faggi
hor ch’infocati raggi
Febo da ciel saetta.
SHEPHERD I
Look how those beech trees
invite us into their shade, Orpheus,
now that Phoebus’ fiery rays
are shooting down from heaven.
Sù quel’herbosa sponde
posianci, e in varii modi
ciascun sua voce snodi
al mormorio de l’onde.
SHEPHERD IV
Let’s lie down on these grassy banks
and each in his own way
let his voice run free
to the murmuring of the waves.
DUE PASTORI
In questo prato adorno
ogni selvaggio nume
sovente hà per costume
di far lieto soggiorno.
SHEPHERDS I & IV
In this flowery meadow
it has often been the custom
of the woodland gods
to pass happy hours.
Qui Pan, Dio de’ pastori,
s’udì talhor dolente
rimembrar dolcemente
Here Pan, God of the shepherds,
was sometimes heard sadly
and sweetly recalling
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suoi sventurati amori.
Qui le Nappee vezzose,
(schiera sempre fiorita)
con le candide dita
fur viste a coglier rose.
his unhappy loves.
Here the graceful nymphs
(always garlanded with flowers)
were seen to pick roses
with their white hands.
NINFE, PASTORI
Dunque fà degno Orfeo,
del suon de la tua lira
questi campi ove spira
aura d’odor Sabeo.
NYMPHS AND SHEPHERDS
So, Orpheus, dignify
with the sound of your lyre
these fields where breezes
waft the perfumes of Arabia.
ORFEO
Vi ricorda ò boschi ombrosi,
de’ miei lunghi aspri tormenti,
quando i sassi ai miei lamenti
rispondean fatti pietosi?
ORPHEUS
Do you remember, O shady woods,
my long and bitter torments,
when the stones, moved to pity,
responded to my laments?
Dite, allhor non vi sembrai
più d’ogni altro sconsolato?
Hor fortuna hà stil cangiato
et hà volto in festa i guai.
Tell me, did I not then seem to you
more wretched than anyone?
Now Fate has changed her tune
and turned my griefs into revels.
Vissi già mesto e dolente,
hor gioisco e quegli affanni
che sofferti hò per tant’anni
fan più caro il ben presente.
My life then was sad and sorrowful,
but now I rejoice, and those miseries
I suffered for so many years
make my present good fortune all the more dear.
Sol per te, bella Euridice,
benedico il mio tormento.
Dopò’l duol vi è più contento,
dopò’l mal vi è più felice.
Only because of you, fair Eurydice,
do I bless those torments;
after pain, one is the more contented,
after misfortune, one is the happier.
PASTORE
Mira, deh mira, Orfeo, che d’ogni intorno
ride il bosco e ride il prato.
Segui pur col plettr’aurato
d’addolcir l’aria sì beato giorno.
SHEPHERD I
Come, look now, Orpheus, how all around you
the woods and the fields are laughing!
Continue then with your golden plectrum,
to sweeten the air of this blessed day.
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MESSAGGIERA
Ahi, caso acerbo! Ahi, fat’empio e crudele!
Ahi, stelle ingiuriose! Ahi, ciel avaro!
MESSENGER
Ah, bitter chance! Ah, evil and cruel fate!
Ah, malignant stars! Ah, greedy heavens!
PASTORE
Qual suon dolente il lieto dì perturba?
SHEPHERD I
What mournful sound disturbs this happy day?
MESSAGGIERA
Lassa, dunque, debb’io,
mentre Orfeo con sue note il ciel consola
con le parole mie passargli il core?
MESSENGER
Alas, must I then,
while Orpheus charms the heavens with his music,
pierce his heart with my words?
PASTORE
Questa è Silvia gentile,
dolcissima compagna
della bell’Euridice:
ò quanto è in vista dolorosa!
Hor che fia? Deh sommi dei,
non torcete da noi benigno il guardo.
SHEPHERD VIII
This is the gentle Sylvia,
sweetest companion
of the fair Eurydice;
Oh, how sad she looks!
What is happening? Ah, great gods,
don’t turn your kindly gaze away from us!
MESSAGGIERA
Pastor lasciate il canto,
ch’ogni nostra allegrezza in doglia è volta.
MESSENGER
Shepherds, leave off your singing,
for today all our joy is turned to grief.
ORFEO
D’onde vieni? Ove vai?
Ninfa che porti?
ORPHEUS
Where have you come from? Where are you going?
Nymph, what is it you bring?
MESSAGGIERA
A te ne vengo Orfeo
messagiera infelice
di caso più infelice e più funesto.
La tua bella Euridice...
MESSENGER
I come to you, Orpheus
bearing sad tidings
of the saddest and most grievous ill-fortune.
Your beautiful Eurydice...
ORFEO
Ohimè che odo?
ORPHEUS
Alas, what am I hearing?
MESSAGGIERA
La tua diletta sposa è morta.
MESSENGER
Your beloved bride is dead!
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ORFEO
Ohimè.
ORPHEUS
Alas!
MESSAGGIERA
In un fiorito prato
con l’altre sue compagne,
giva cogliendo fiori
per farne una ghirlanda à le sue chiome,
quand’angue insidioso,
ch’era fra l’erbe ascoso,
le punse un piè con velenoso dente.
Ed ecco immantinente
scolorissi il bel viso e ne’ suoi lumi
sparir que’lampi, ond’ella al sol fea scorno.
Allhor noi tutte sbigottite e meste
le fummo intorno richiamar tentando
gli spirti in lei smarriti
con l’onda fresca e co’possenti carmi.
Ma nulla valse, ahi lassa,
ch’ella i languidi lumi alquanto aprendo,
e te chiamando Orfeo,
dopò un grave sospiro,
spirò fra queste braccia, ed io rimasi
pieno il cor di pietade e di spavento.
MESSENGER
In a flowery field
with her companions
she was walking around gathering flowers
to make a garland for her hair,
when a treacherous serpent
hidden in the grass
pierced her foot with its poison fang.
And behold, straight away
her lovely face grew pale, and in her eyes,
the light that once put the sun to shame grew dim.
Then we, all horrified and sad,
gathered around her, trying to call back
her failing spirit
with cool water and powerful charms:
but all was in vain, alas!
For, half-opening her heavy eyes,
and calling to you, Orpheus,
after a deep sigh
she died in these arms, and I was left
with my heart full of pity and fear.
PASTORE
Ahi, caso acerbo!…
SHEPHERD I
Ah, bitter chance!…
SECONDO PASTORE
A l’amara novella
rassembra l’infelice un muto sasso
che per troppo dolor non può dolersi.
SHEPHERD IV
At this bitter news
the poor man seems a mute stone,
his grief so great that he cannot grieve.
Ahi, ben havrebbe un cor di tigre o d’orsa
chi non sentisse del tuo mal pietade,
privo d’ogni tuo ben, misero amante.
SHEPHERD I
Ah, surely he would have the heart of a tiger or a bear
who felt no pity for your pain,
bereft of your beloved, O wretched lover!
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ORFEO
Tu se’ morta, mia vita, ed io respiro?
tu se’ da me partita
per mai più non tornare, ed io rimango?
Nò, che se i versi alcuna cosa ponno,
n’andrò sicuro a più profondi abissi
e intenerito il cor del Rè de l’Ombre,
meco trarròtti a riveder le stelle.
O se ciò negheràmmi empio destino,
rimarrò teco in compagnia di morte,
A dio terra, à dio cielo, e sole, à dio.
ORPHEUS
You are dead, my life, and am I still breathing?
You have gone from me,
shall never return to me, and I am still here?
No, for if my verses can do anything,
I shall surely go down to the deepest abysses
and melt the heart of the King of Shadows,
bringing you back with me to see the stars once again.
Or, if evil fate denies me this,
I shall stay with you in the company of death:
Farewell to earth, to sky, to sun, farewell.
NINFE, PASTORI
Ahi, caso acerbo!…
NYMPHS, SHEPHERDS
Ah, bitter chance!…
Non si fidi huom mortale
di ben caduco e frale
che tosto fugge, e spesso
a gran salita il precipizio è presso.
Mortal man, do not put your trust
in fleeting, fragile happiness
which soon is fled, and often
the highest leap lands on the precipice.
MESSAGGIERA
Ma io ch’in questa lingua
hò portato il coltello
c’hà svenata ad Orfeo l’anima amante,
odiosa à i Pastori et à le Ninfe,
odiosa à me stessa, ove m’ascondo?
Nottola infausta il sole
fuggirò sempre e in solitario speco
menerò vita al mio dolor conforme.
MESSENGER
But I, whose tongue
carried the knife
that bled dry the loving soul of Orpheus:
hateful to the shepherds and to the nymphs,
hateful to my very self, where shall I hide?
An ill-omened bat, I shall
forever flee the sun and in some solitary cave
lead a life befitting my grief.
PASTORI
Chi ne consola, ahi lassi?
O pur chi ne concede
negl’occhi un vivo fonte
da poter lagrimar come conviensi
in questo mesto giorno,
quanto più lieto gia tant’hor più mesto?
SHEPHERDS I & VII
Who will console us, alas?
Or rather, who will lend
to our eyes a living spring,
that we may weep as is fitting
on this sad day,
all the sadder for having been so glad?
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Oggi turbo crudele
i due lumi maggiori
di queste nostre selve,
Euridice e Orfeo,
l’una punta da l’angue,
l’altro dal duol trafitto,
ahi lassi, ha spenti.
Today, a cruel twist of fate
has put out the two greatest lights
of these our woods,
Eurydice and Orpheus,
the one stung by a serpent,
the other,
alas, transfixed with grief.
NINFE, PASTORI
Ahi, caso acerbo!…
NYMPHS, SHEPHERDS
Ah, bitter chance!…
PASTORI
Ma dove, ah dove hor sono
de la misera Ninfa
le belle e fredde membra,
dove suo degno albergo
quella bell’alma elesse
ch’oggi è partita in su’l fiorir de’ giorni?
Andiam Pastori, andiamo
pietosi à ritrovarle,
e di lagrime amare
il dovuto tributo
per noi si paghi almeno al corpo esangue.
SHEPHERDS I & VII
But where, ah, where now are
the beautiful, cold limbs
of the wretched nymph,
where the worthy dwelling-place
chosen by that sweet soul
which today has departed in the flower of youth?
Come, shepherds, let us go
in pity to find her
and in bitter tears
let us pay due honour
at least to her bloodless body.
PASTORI
Ahi, caso acerbo!…
SHEPHERDS
Ah, bitter chance!…
CD2
ATTO TERZO
ACT THREE
Sinfonia
ORFEO
Scorto da te mio Nume
Speranza, unico bene
de gl’afflitti mortali, omai son giunto
a questi mesti et tenebrosi regni
ove raggio di sol giamai non giunse.
Tù mia compagna e duce
ORPHEUS
Escorted by you, my Goddess,
Hope, only solace
of afflicted mortals, at last I have arrived
in these sad and shadowy lands
where no ray of sunlight has ever reached.
You, my companion and guide,
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in così strane e sconosciute vie
regesti il passo debole e tremante,
ond’oggi ancora spero
di riveder quelle beate luci
che sol’à gl’occhi miei portan’ il giorno.
along such strange and unknown paths
have supported my weak and trembling steps,
where today I hope once more
to see again those beautiful eyes
which alone can bring daylight to my own.
SPERANZA
Ecco l’atra palude, ecco il nocchiero
che trahe l’ignudi spirti a l’altra riva
dove hà Pluton de l’ombre il vasto impero.
Oltre quel nero stagn’, oltre quel fiume,
in quei campi di pianto e di dolori,
Destin crudele ogni tuo ben t’asconde.
Hor d’uopo è d’un gran core e d’un bel canto.
Io fin qui t’hò condotto, hor più non lice
teco venir, ch’amara legge il vieta.
Legge scritta co’l ferro in duro sasso
de l’ima reggia in sù l’orribil soglia
ch’in queste note il fiero senso esprime,
Lasciate ogni speranza ò voi ch’entrate.
Dunque, se stabilito hai pur nel core
di porre il piè nella città dolente,
da te me’n fuggo e torno a l’usato soggiorno.
HOPE
Here is the dark marsh, here is the helmsman
who ferries naked souls to the far shore
where Pluto rules his vast empire of shadows.
Beyond that black swamp, beyond that river,
in those fields of weeping and of pain,
cruel Fate is hiding your beloved from you.
Now there is need of courage and of sweet singing.
I have led you this far, but I may not
come any further with you; harsh law forbids it,
a law engraved with iron in hard stone
over the dreadful threshold of the deepest realm,
which expresses its cruel message in these words:
‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!’
Therefore, if you are resolved in your heart
to set foot in this city of pain,
I must flee from you and return to familiar surrounds.
ORFEO
Dove, ah dove te’n vai,
unico del mio cor dolce conforto?
Poi che non lunge homai
del mio lungo camin si scopr’il porto,
perche ti parti e m’abbandoni, ahi lasso,
sul periglioso passo?
Qual bene hor più m’avanza
se fuggi tù, dolcissima Speranza?
ORPHEUS
Where, ah where are you going,
only sweet comfort of my heart?
Since not far away now
I see the gate that ends my long journey,
why do you depart and leave me alone, alas,
at this perilous threshold?
What good remains for me now
if you, dearest Hope, are fled?
CARONTE
O tu ch’innanzi mort’a queste rive
temerario te’n vieni, arresta i passi.
CHARON
O you who, not yet dead, are come
recklessly to this shore, come no farther.
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Solcar quest’onde ad huom mortal non dassi,
nè può co’ morti albergo haver chi vive.
Che? Voi forse, nemico al mio Signore,
Cerbero trar da le tartaree porte?
O rapir brami sua cara consorte
d’impudico desire acceso il core?
Pon freno al folle ardir, ch’entr’al mio legno
non accorrò più mai corporea salma,
sì de gli antichi oltraggi ancor ne l’alma
serbo acerba memoria e giusto sdegno.
It is not given to mortal man to plough these waves,
nor may the living find shelter with the dead.
What? Perhaps, an enemy of my master, you seek
to drag Cerberus from the doors of Tartarus?
Or do you want to ravish his beloved consort,
your heart consumed with indecent desires?
Put a stop to your foolhardiness, for no living body
shall I ever allow to enter my boat,
for the ancient affronts still awaken in my soul
bitter memories and just resentment.
ORFEO
Possente Spirto e formidabil nume,
senza cui far passaggio à l’altra riva
alma da corpo sciolta in van presume:
ORPHEUS
Mighty Spirit, awe-inspiring God,
without whom no bodiless soul can presume
to cross to the far shore:
Non vivo io nò, che poi di vita è priva
mia cara sposa, il cor non è più meco,
e senza cor com’esser può ch’io viva?
I am not alive, for my beloved bride
is deprived of life, my heart is no longer with me,
and with no heart, how can I be alive?
A lei volt’hò il camin per l’aër cieco,
a l’inferno non già, ch’ovunque stassi
tanta bellezza il paradiso hà seco.
I have made my way to her through the blind air,
yet not to Hell, for wherever dwells
such beauty, there is Paradise.
Orfeo son io che d’Euridice i passi
seguo per queste tenebrose arene,
ove già mai per huom mortal non vassi.
O de le luci mie luci serene,
s’un vostro sguardo può tornarmi in vita,
Ahi, chi niega il conforto à le mie pene?
Sol tu, nobile Dio, puoi darmi aita,
nè temer dei, che sopr’un’aurea cetra
sol di corde soavi armo il dita
contra cui rigid’alma in van s’impetra.
I am Orpheus, following Eurydice’s steps
through these shadowy lands,
where no mortal man has ever trod.
O clear light of my eyes,
if one glance from you can restore me to life,
ah, who would deny me comfort in my pain?
You alone, noble God, can help me,
nor should you be afraid, for on a golden lyre
my fingers are armed only with sweet strings
against which the obdurate soul hardens itself in vain.
CARONTE
Ben mi lusinga alquanto
dilettandomi il core,
CHARON
I am indeed rather charmed,
my heart delighted,
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sconsolato cantore,
il tuo piant’el tuo canto.
Ma lunge, ah lunge sia da questo petto
pietà, di mio valor non degno affetto.
O unhappy singer,
by your lament and your song.
But far, ah, far from this breast
be pity, a sentiment unworthy of my dignity.
ORFEO
Ahi, sventurato amante!
Sperar dunque non lice
ch’odan miei prieghi i cittadin d’Averno?
Onde qual’ ombra errante
d’insepolto cadavero infelice,
privo sarò del cielo e de l’inferno?
Così vuol empia sorte
ch’in questi orror di morte
da te cor mio lontano,
chiami tuo nome in vano,
e pregando e piangendo io mi consumi?
Rendetemi il mio ben, Tartarei Numi.
ORPHEUS
Alas for me, unhappy lover!
Then may I not hope
that the people of Avernus may hear my pleas?
Like the wandering shade
of an unburied, hapless corpse,
shall I be denied both heaven and hell?
Does evil Fate wish it thus,
that in this horror of death,
far from you, my dear heart,
I shall call your name in vain,
and waste away with begging and weeping?
Give me back my love, Gods of Tartarus!
Ei de l’instabil piano
arò gl’ondosi campi, e’l seme sparse
di sue fatiche, ond’aurea messe accolse.
Quinci perchè memoria
vivesse di sua gloria,
La fama à dir di lui sua lingua sciolse,
chei pose freno al mar con fragil legno,
che sprezzò d’Austr’e d’Aquilon lo sdegno.
0
Sinfonia
8
Ei dorme, e la mia cetra
se pietà non impetra
ne l’indurato core, almen il sonno
fuggir al mio cantar gli occhi non ponno.
Sù dunque, a che più tardo?
Temp’è ben d’approdar su l’altra sponda,
s’alcun non è ch’il nieghi,
Vaglia l’ardir se foran van’i preghi.
È vago fior del tempo
l’occasion, ch’esser dee colta à tempo.
Mentre versan quest’occhi amari fiumi
rendetemi il mio ben, Tartarei Numi.
9
Sinfonia a 7
He sleeps, and though my lyre
could wring no pity
from that hardened heart, at least his eyes
could not escape from slumber at my singing.
So then, why wait any longer?
It is high time I head for the far shore,
if there is no-one to hinder me,
let courage prevail, since prayers were in vain.
Opportunity is a delicate flower of time
which must be plucked at the right moment.
While bitter streams flow from these eyes,
give me back my love, Gods of Tartarus!
!
SPIRITI INFERNALI
Nulla impresa per huom si tenta in vano,
nè contro lui più sà natura armarse.
SPIRITS OF HELL
Nothing attempted by man is in vain,
nor has nature any defences against him.
28
He has tilled the rolling fields of the shifting plains,
and scattered the seeds
of his labour, reaping a golden harvest.
And so, to keep the memory
of his glory alive,
Fame has loosed her tongue to speak of him
who has tamed the sea in a fragile bark,
mocking the fury of the South and North Winds.
ATTO QUARTO
ACT FOUR
PROSERPINA
Signor, quel infelice
che per queste di morte ampie campagne
và chiamand’Euridice,
ch’udit’hai tù pur dianzi
così soavemente lamentarsi,
moss’hà tanta pietà dentr’al mio core
ch’un’altra volta io torno a porger preghi
perchè il tuo Nume al suo pregar si pieghi.
Deh, se da queste luci
amorosa dolcezza unqua trahesti
se ti piacqu’il seren di questa fronte
che tù chiami tuo cielo, onde mi giuri,
di non invidiar sua sorte à Giove,
pregoti, per quel foco,
con cui già la grand’alma Amor t’accese,
fa ch’Euridice torni a goder di quei giorni
che trar solea vivend’in feste e in canto,
e del miser Orfeo consola’l pianto.
PERSEPHONE
My Lord, that wretched man
who wanders these vast fields of the dead
calling for Eurydice,
whom you have just heard
lamenting so sweetly,
has stirred such pity in my heart
that once again I come to appeal
to Your Divinity to hear his prayers.
Oh, if from these eyes
you have ever drawn the sweetness of love,
if ever you have taken delight in this calm brow
which you call your heaven, by which you swore
to me never to envy the fate of Jove,
I implore you, by that very fire
with which Love set your great soul aflame,
let Eurydice return to enjoy those days
that she used to spend in feasting and song,
and console the tears of the wretched Orpheus.
PLUTONE
Benchè severo ed immutabil fato
contrasti, amata sposa, a i tuoi desiri,
pur null’homai si nieghi
a tal beltà congiunta a tanti prieghi.
PLUTO
Though a stern and unyielding fate
opposes your wishes, beloved bride,
let nothing be denied
to such beauty allied with so many prayers.
29
La sua cara Euridice
contra l’ordin fatale Orfeo ricovri.
Ma pria che trag’il piè da questi abissi
non mai volga ver lei gli avidi lumi,
che di perdita eterna
gli sia certa cagion un solo sguardo.
Io così stabilisco. Hor nel mio Regno
fate o Ministri il mio voler palese,
sì che l’intenda Orfeo
e l’intenda Euridice
ne di cangiar l’altrui sperar più lice.
His beloved Eurydice
shall be returned to Orpheus, against fate’s decree.
But while he yet treads these abysses
he shall not turn his eager eyes to her,
for eternal loss
shall certainly result from even a single glance.
Thus I ordain. Now, ministers,
make my will known throughout my kingdom,
so that Orpheus understands it
and Eurydice understands it
and let no-one hope to change it.
SPIRITI INFERNALI
O degli habitator de l’ombre eterne
possente Rè legge ne sia tuo cenno,
che ricercar altre cagioni interne
di tuo voler nostri pensier non denno.
SPIRIT I
O mighty King of all inhabitants of eternal darkness,
you nod your head and it is law,
for it is not given to us to seek the deeper workings
of your will.
Trarrà da quest’orribili caverne
sua sposa Orfeo, s’adoprerà suo ingegno
si che no’l vinca giovenil desio,
ne i gravi imperi suoi sparga d’oblio.
SPIRIT II
Will Orpheus carry his bride from these
dread caverns, will he employ his intelligence
to resist youthful desire
and to remain mindful of the stern commands?
PROSERPINA
Quali grazie ti rendo
hor che sì nobil dono
conced’a preghi miei, Signor cortese?
Sia benedetto il dì che pria ti piacqui,
benedetta la preda e’l dolc’inganno,
poi chè per mia ventura
feci acquisto di tè perdendo sole.
PERSEPHONE
What thanks can I give you
now that you have granted such a noble gift
to my prayers, my gentle Lord?
Blessed be the day I first pleased you,
blessed the abduction and the sweet deception,
since it was my good fortune,
losing the sun, to gain you.
PLUTONE
Tue soavi parole
d’amor l’antica piaga
PLUTO
Your sweet words
re-open the old wound of love
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rinfrescan nel mio core;
così l’anima tua non sia più vaga
di celeste diletto,
si ch’abbandoni il marital tuo letto.
in my heart;
so let your soul no longer be distracted
by heavenly delights
that cause you to forsake your marriage bed.
SPIRITI INFERNALI
Pietade oggi et Amore
trionfan ne l’inferno.
SPIRITS OF HELL
Today Pity and Love
have triumphed in Hell.
Ecco il gentil cantore,
che sua sposa conduce al ciel superno.
SPIRIT I
Here is the noble singer,
leading his bride to heavenly heights.
Ritornello
ORFEO
Qual honor di te fia degno,
mia cetra onnipotente,
s’hai nel Tartareo regno
piegar potuto ogni indurata mente?
Luogo havrai fra le più belle
imagini celesti
ond’al tuo suon le stelle
danzeranno co’gir’hor tard’hor presti.
ORPHEUS
What honour could do you justice,
my all-powerful lyre,
since you have been able to bend every obdurate
mind in the kingdom of Tartarus?
You shall have a place among the fairest
images of heaven,
where at your sound the stars
will dance in rounds, now slow, now fast.
Io per te felice à pieno
vedrò l’amato volto,
e nel candido seno
de la mia donn’oggi sarò raccolto.
Filled with happiness, thanks to you,
I shall see the beloved face
and be gathered today
into the white breast of my lady.
Ma mentre io canto ohimè chi m’assicura
ch’ella mi segua? Ohimè chi mi nasconde
de le amate pupille il dolce lume?
Forse d’invidia punte
le Deità d’Averno
perch’io non sia qua giù felice à pieno
mi tolgono il mirarvi
luci beate e liete,
che sol col sguardo altrui bear potete?
But while I sing, alas, how can I know for sure
that she is following? Alas, who is concealing from me
the sweet light of her beloved eyes?
Perhaps, stung by jealousy,
the Gods of Avernus,
to prevent me from finding such happiness here
below, are depriving me of the sight of you,
O blessed, happy eyes which with
a single glance have the power to bring bliss?
31
^
Ma che temi, mio core?
Ciò che vieta Pluton comanda Amore.
A nume più possente,
che vince huomini e dei,
ben ubidir dovrei.
(Quì si fa strepito dietro alla Scena)
Ma che odo, ohimè lasso?
S’arman forse à miei danni
con tal furor le Furie innamorate
per rapirmi il mio ben, ed io’l consento?
(qui si volta)
O dolcissimi lumi, io pur vi veggio,
io pur... ma qual eclissi ohimè v’oscura?
But what do you fear, my heart?
What Pluto has forbidden, Love commands.
I must obey
a mightier god,
who rules over both gods and men.
(A noise is heard off-stage)
But what do I hear, ah me?
Can it be that the love-crazed Furies are arming
themselves in a frenzy to do me injury,
to rob me of my love, and I am letting it happen?
(He turns)
O sweetest eyes, now I see you now,
now I...But alas, what eclipse wraps you in darkness?
UNO SPIRITO
Rott’hai la legge, e se’ di grazia indegno.
SPIRIT II
You have broken the law, and are unworthy of mercy.
EURIDICE
Ahi, vista troppo dolce e troppo amara;
Così per troppo amor dunque mi perdi?
Et io misera perdo
il poter più godere
e di luce e di vista, e perdo insieme
tè d’ogni ben più caro, mio consorte.
EURYDICE
Ah, vision too sweet and too bitter!
Thus, for having loved too much, you lose me now?
And I, wretched woman, lose
the power to ever again enjoy
either light or sight, and with that I lose
you, dearest of all treasures, my spouse.
UNO SPIRITO
Torn’a l’ombre di morte
infelice Euridice,
nè più sperar di riveder le stelle
ch’omai fia sordo à preghi tuoi l’inferno.
SPIRIT I
Turn back to the shadows of death,
unhappy Eurydice,
and do not hope to see the stars again,
for now all Hell will be deaf to your prayers.
ORFEO
Dove te’n vai, mia vita? Ecco io ti seguo.
Ma chi me’l nieg’, ohimè:
sogn’, o vaneggio?
Qual occulto poter, di questi orrori,
da questi amati orrori
ORPHEUS
Where are you going, my life? Look, I will follow you.
But who is holding me back, alas:
am I dreaming, or raving?
What occult power among these horrors,
these beloved horrors,
32
mal mio grado mi tragge, e mi conduce
a l’odiosa luce?
&
*
drags me away against my will, and leads me
to the loathsome light?
Sinfonia a 7
SPIRITI INFERNALI
È la virtute un raggio
di celeste bellezza,
preggio de l’alma ond’ella sol s’apprezza:
Questa di temp’oltraggio
non tem’, anzi maggiore
nell’huom rendono gl’anni il suo splendore.
Orfeo vinse l’inferno e vinto poi
fù da gl’affetti suoi.
Degno d’eterna gloria
fia sol colui c’havrà di se vittoria.
SPIRITS OF HELL
Virtue is a ray
of celestial beauty,
prize of the soul, which alone knows its worth:
She has no fear of the ravages of time,
rather, in man the years render
her splendour all the greater.
Orpheus conquered Hell and then was defeated
by his own emotions.
Only the man who conquers himself
is worthy of eternal glory.
ATTO QUINTO
ACT FIVE
Ritornello
ORFEO
Questi i campi di Tracia, e quest’è il loco
dove passomm’il core
per l’amara novella il mio dolore.
Poiche non hò più spene
di ricovrar pregando
piangendo e sospirando
il perduto mio bene,
che poss’io più? se non volgermi à voi,
selve soavi, un tempo
conforto a’ miei martir,
mentr’al ciel piacque,
per farvi per pietà meco languire
al mio languire.
Voi vi doleste, o monti, e lagrimaste
voi, sassi, al dipartir del nostro sole,
et io con voi lagrimerò mai sempre,
e mai sempre dorròmmi,
ahi doglia, ahi pianto.
ORPHEUS
These are the gardens of Thrace, and this the place
where my heart was pierced
with the bitter news of my sorrow.
Now that I no longer have any hope
that my prayers,
my tears and my sighs might recover
the treasure I have lost,
what can I do but turn to you,
sweet woods, who once
brought comfort to my suffering,
when heaven was pleased
to make you languish with me for pity
of my languishing?
You grieved, O mountains, and you wept,
stones, when our sun departed,
and I shall now weep with you for ever
and forever give myself over to sorrow,
ah grief, ah tears.
33
(
ECO
Hai pianto.
ECHO
Your tears!
ORFEO
Cortese Eco amorosa
che sconsolata sei,
e consolarmi voi ne’ dolor miei,
benchè queste mie luci
sien già per lagrimar fatte due fonti,
in così grave mia fera sventura
non ho pianto però tanto che basti.
ORPHEUS
Gentle, loving Echo,
disconsolate yourself,
you seek to console me in my suffering;
though these eyes of mine
have already through weeping become two springs,
in this my heavy, harsh misfortune
I have not tears enough.
ECO
Basti.
ECHO
Enough.
ORFEO
Se gl’occhi d’Arg’avessi,
e spandessero tutti un mar di pianto,
non forà il duol conforme à tanti guai.
ORPHEUS
If I had the eyes of Argus
and could pour out a sea of tears,
the sorrow would not match such woe.
ECO
Ahi.
ECHO
Oh!
ORFEO
S’hai del mio mal pietade, io ti ringrazio
di tua benignitade.
Ma mentr’io mi querelo
deh, perchè mi rispondi
sol con gl’ultim’accenti?
Rendimi tutt’integri i miei lamenti.
ORPHEUS
If you pity my plight, I thank you
for your kindness.
But while I am making accusations,
oh, why do you answer me
only with the last word?
Give me back my laments in full.
Ma tu anima mia se mai ritorna
la tua fredd’ombra à quest’amiche piaggie,
prendi da me queste tue lodi estreme,
c’hor à te sacro la mia cetra e’l canto.
Come à te già sopra l’altar del core
lo spirto acceso in sacrifizio offersi.
Tu bella fusti e saggia, e in te ripose
tutte le grazie sue cortese il cielo,
But you, my soul, if ever your cold shade
returns to these friendly slopes,
accept from me these last praises
which I dedicate to you now, my lyre and my song,
just as once on the altar of the heart
I offered my burning spirit to you in sacrifice.
You were beautiful and wise, and on you
heaven poured all its kind graces,
34
)
mentre ad ogn’altra de suoi don fù scarso,
d’ogni lingua ogni lode à te conviensi
ch’albergasti in bel corpo alma più bella,
fastosa men quanto d’honor più degna.
Hor l’altre donne son superbe e perfide
ver chi le adora, dispietate instabili,
prive di senno e d’ogni pensier nobile,
ond’à ragion opra di lor non lodansi,
quinci non fia giamai che per vil femina
Amor con aureo stral’ il cor trafiggami.
yet was miserly in its gifts to all other women;
you are worthy of all praise from all tongues
for your lovely body sheltered an even lovelier soul,
all the more worthy of honour for lacking ostentation.
Now other women are proud and deceitful,
pitiless and fickle towards those who love them;
they lack good sense and noble thoughts,
hence it is right that they should receive no praise,
so let it never be that for a worthless woman
Love’s golden arrow should transfix my heart.
APOLLO
Perch’a lo sdegno et al dolor in preda
cosi ti doni, ò figlio?
Non è, non è consiglio
di generoso petto
servir al proprio affetto.
Quinci biasmo e periglio
già sovrastar ti veggio
onde movo dal ciel per darti aita:
hor tu m’ascolta e n’havrai lode e vita.
APOLLO
Why do you give yourself over
to scorn and grief like this, my son?
It is not wise, not wise
for a generous heart
to be a slave to its own passions.
Since I see blame and peril
already overcoming you,
I have come from heaven to bring you help:
listen to me, and you shall have praise and life.
ORFEO
Padre cortese,
al maggior uopo arrivi,
ch’a disperato fine
con estremo dolore
m’havean condotto già sdegn’e amore.
Eccomi dunque attento a tue ragioni,
celeste padre; hor ciò che vuoi m’imponi.
ORPHEUS
Kind father,
you have come in my hour of greatest need,
for already, with the uttermost grief,
scorn and love
were leading me to desperate ends.
See how I am attentive to your words of reason,
heavenly father; now impose on me what you will.
APOLLO
Troppo, troppo gioisti
di tua lieta ventura,
hor troppo piagni
tua sorte acerba e dura.
Ancor non sai
APOLLO
Too much, too much you rejoiced
in your glad fortune;
now too much you bemoan
your hard and bitter fate.
Have you not yet learned
35
Come nulla qua giù diletta e dura?
Dunque se goder brami immortal vita
Vientene meco al ciel ch’a sè t’invita.
how nothing delightful here below will last for long?
So if you want to enjoy immortal life,
come with me to heaven, which welcomes you.
Cantillation
Antony Walker, Music Director
Alison Johnston, Manager
Orchestra of the Antipodes
Antony Walker, Music Director
Alison Johnston, Manager
ORFEO
Si non vedrò più mai
de l’amata Euridice i dolci rai?
ORPHEUS
Shall I never again see
the sweet eyes of my beloved Eurydice?
Violin
Sophie Gent
APOLLO
Nel sole e nelle stelle
vagheggerai le sue sembianze belle.
APOLLO
In the sun and the stars
you will be able to admire her fair likeness.
Sopranos
Anna Fraser
Belinda Montgomery
Alison Morgan
Josie Ryan
Jane Sheldon
ORFEO
Ben di cotanto padre
sarei non degno figlio,
se non seguissi il tuo fedel consiglio.
¡
™
ORPHEUS
Of such a father
I would not be a worthy son
if I did not follow your faithful counsel.
APOLLO, ORFEO
Saliam cantand’al cielo,
dove ha virtù verace
degno premio di sè, diletto e pace
APOLLO, ORPHEUS
Let us ascend singing to heaven,
where true virtue has
its just reward, delight and peace.
CORO DI SPIRITI
Vanne, Orfeo, felice a pieno
a goder celeste honore,
la ve ben non mai vien meno,
la ve mai non fu dolore,
mentr’altari incensi e voti
noi t’offriam lieti e devoti.
CHORUS OF SPIRITS
Go now, Orpheus, filled with happiness,
to enjoy celestial honours;
where good never fails,
where there has never been any sorrow,
while we offer you altars, incense and vows
in gladness and devotion.
Così va chi non s’arretra
al chiamar di nume eterno,
così grazia in ciel impetra
chi qua giù provò l’inferno,
e chi semina fra doglie
d’ogni grazia il frutto coglie.
#
So it is for the one who does not hesitate
at the call of the eternal god,
thus the one who has tasted hell here below
is filled with grace in heaven,
and the one who sows in tears
reaps the fruits of all grace.
Moresca
Altos
Jenny Duck-Chong
Anne Farrell
Natalie Shea
Arthur Robinson, Perth, Australia, 1998,
after Amati
Elizabeth Pogson
Anonymous, after Sebastian Klotz
Viola
Nicole Forsyth
Tenor viola by Ian Clarke, Biddeston,
Australia, 1998, after Giovanni Paolo
Maggini, ‘Dumas’, c.1680
Tenors
Philip Chu
Benjamin Loomes
Daniel Walker
Brett Weymark
Raff Wilson
Viola da gamba
Daniel Yeadon
Basses
Daniel Beer
Corin Bone
Craig Everingham
David Greco
G & M Lyndon-Jones, St Albans, UK,
1992, after various originals
Cornetto
Danny Lucin
Serge Dalmas, Paris, France, 2002, after
various originals
Gregory Rogers
Serge Dalmas, Paris, France, 1998, after
various 17th-century originals
Sackbut
Scott Kinmont
Alto sackbut by John Webb, Wiltshire,
UK, 1995, after various Italian instruments
Warwick Tyrrell
Petr Vavrous, Prague, Czech Republic,
2002, after Bertrand, c.1720
Alto and tenor sackbuts by John Webb,
Wiltshire, UK, 1995, after various Italian
instruments
Anthea Cottee
Robert Collins
Gary D. Bridgewood, London, UK, 1987;
bow by Juta Walsher, Oxford, 1996
Tenor sackbut by Frank Tomes, England,
1991, after Georg Neuschel, 1557
Violone
Kirsty McCahon
Nigel Crocker
Anonymous copy after Maggini, 17th
century. Used courtesy of Winsome
Evans and the Department of Music,
University of Sydney
Recorder
Matthew Ridley
Melissa Farrow
Renaissance recorders by Michael
Grinter, Victoria, Australia; Peter
Kobliczek, Germany; David Coomber,
Auckland, New Zealand; and Paul
Whinray, Auckland, New Zealand, after
16th-century originals
Translation: Natalie Shea
36
Curtal
Simon Rickard
37
Tenor sackbut by John Webb, Wiltshire,
UK, 1995, after various Italian
instruments
Glenn Bardwell
Tenor sackbut by Rainer Egger,
Switzerland, 2000, after Sebastian
Hainlein, 1632
Bass Sackbut in F by Frank Tomes,
England, 1992 after Issac Ehe, 1612
Baroque Harp
Marshall McGuire
Italian double harp by Tim Hobrough,
Scotland, 1989, after Trabaci, c.1600
Harpsichord
Erin Helyard
‘Strato’, William Bright, near Barraba,
Australia, 2002, after Johannes Ruckers,
1624, 1638 and 1640; lid painting by
Rupert Richardson. Used courtesy of
the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Neal Peres da Costa
‘Baron’, William Bright, near Barraba,
Australia, 1998, after Johannes Ruckers,
1624, 1638 and 1640; lid painting by
Rupert Richardson. Used courtesy of
the Australian Chamber Orchestra
Chamber organ
Erin Helyard
Bernhard Fleig, Switzerland, 1996. Used
courtesy of Sydney Grammar School
Samantha Cohen
Theorbo by Klaus Jacobsen,
London, 1999
Baroque guitar by Lars Jonsson, Dalarö,
Sweden, 1999
Percussion
Richard Gleeson
Instruments include calfskin-head
Premier tenor and bass drums; calfskinhead Lefima field drum with gut snares;
calfskin-head Lefima davul and
tambourine; fishskin-head maple
Cooperman Riq jingled drum;
tamburello; Turkish cymbal
Tuning: A440
Temperament: 1/4 comma meantone
of 1523
Lute/Theorbo/Guitar
Deborah Fox
Baroque guitar by Jaume Bosser,
Barcelona, Spain, 1999, after various
17th-century Italian makers
Theorbo by Michael Schreiner, Toronto,
Canada, 2000, after Kaiser, Italy, 1611
Tommie Andersson
Lute by Richard Earle, Basel,
Switzerland, 1983, after Venere, Padua,
Italy 1582
Theorbo by Peter Biffin, Armidale,
Australia, 1995, after various 17thcentury Italian makers
Baroque guitar by Peter Biffin, Armidale,
Australia, 1989, after Stradivarius,
Cremona, Italy, 1680
Chitarrino by Alexander Hopkins,
Mallorca, Spain, 2004 after
Dias, 1586
Executive Producers
Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan
Recording Producer, Editor and
Mastering Virginia Read
Recording Engineers Christian
Huff-Johnston, Virginia Read
Project Coordinator
Alison Johnston
Editorial and Production
Manager Natalie Shea
Cover and Booklet Design
Imagecorp Pty Ltd
Cover Image Jean Cocteau
Orphée à la lyre © 1960, used
with kind permission of the
Comité Jean Cocteau
Back Cover Map Image
Johannes Van Keulen,
Oost Indien (detail), c.1689
Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi
Bernardo Strozzi, used with
kind permission of Tiroler
Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum,
Innsbruck
Photography Gerald Jenkins
(Mark Tucker), Steven Godbee
(Paul McMahon), Michael
Chetham (Belinda Montgomery),
Simon Hodgson (Antony Walker,
Penelope Mills, Anna Fraser and
all production photographs),
Ed Hughes (all others).
2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
© 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Distributed in Australia by Universal Music Group,
under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights
of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying,
renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or
broadcast of this record without the authority of the
copyright owner is prohibited.
For Pinchgut Opera’s production of L’Orfeo
Director Mark Gaal
Repetiteurs Erin Helyard and Deborah Fox
Designers Mark Gaal and Alice Lau
Lighting Designer Bernie Tan
Production Manager Andrew Johnston
Assistant Conductor Erin Helyard
Stage Manager Sarah Smith
Design Associate Brendan Blakely
Costume Supervisor Tirion Rodwell
Assistant Director Tanya Goldberg
Language Coach Nicole Dorigo
Harpsichord tuning and maintenance
Terry Harper
Chamber organ tuning and maintenance
Manuel S. Da Costa
For Pinchgut Opera
Artistic Directors Erin Helyard and
Antony Walker
Artistic Administrator Alison Johnston
Marketing Manager Anna Cerneaz
Chair Elizabeth Nielsen
Recorded live 1, 3, 5 and 6
December 2004 at City Recital
Hall, Angel Place, Sydney.
www.pinchgutopera.com.au
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