ABC CLASSICS | THE CLASSIC RECORDINGS
476 5098
TEDDY TAHU RHODES
MOZART ARIAS
AND ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791
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Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), KV492
Se vuol ballare, signor Contino
Non più andrai
Hai già vinta la causa ... Vedrò mentr’io sospiro
2’40
3’46
4’33
&
*
Adagio and Fugue in C minor, KV546
Adagio
Fugue
4
Minuet in C major, KV409
5’54
5
6
7
Don Giovanni, KV527
Madamina, il catalogo è questo (Catalogue Aria)
Fin ch’han dal vino (Champagne Aria)
Deh, vieni alla finestra (Serenade)
(
)
¡K
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), KV620
Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja (Birdcatcher's Song)
Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen
Papagena! ... Gute Nacht, du falsche Welt
5’57
1’16
2’26
8
9
0
!K
@
£
Six German Dances, KV571
No. 1 in D major
No. 2 in A major
No. 3 in C major
No. 4 in G major
No. 5 in B-flat major
No. 6 in D major
$N
%O
^
Così fan tutte (All women do thus), KV588
Non siate ritrosi
Donne mie, la fate a tanti
Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo, KV584
[12’02]
1’45
2’14
1’51
1’37
1’41
2’42
2
Total Playing Time
[8’10]
4’16
3’53
2’46
3’49
2’56
67’06
Teddy Tahu Rhodes bass-baritone
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Ola Rudner conductor
1’34
3’03
5’00
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Mozart was thirty years old when he wrote Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), and newly
initiated as a Freemason, where his contact with the influential thinkers of the day was encouraging
him to question the established norms of social order. Beaumarchais’ play Le mariage de Figaro, with
its great political speech in the last act (an attack on the establishment that took in rulers, magistrates,
censors and prisons) was thoroughly topical and regarded as highly subversive – remember that this
was only three years before the French Revolution. The play offended every faction across the whole
spectrum of French politics – but Parisian women had favourite lines from the play engraved on their
fans and pocket handkerchiefs.
This combination of political and social criticism with racy scandal proved irresistible to Mozart. With its
convoluted web of intrigues both suspected and real, mistaken identities and selectively-heard asides,
the play was perfect material for an opera buffa or comic opera; Mozart, however, called it a commedia
per musica, which suggests that the wit and sparkle conceals a more serious message. The very
humanness of his characters, so much more than stock comic figures or political mouthpieces, gives
the comedy wings.
Se vuol ballare, signor Contino comes early in the opera. Figaro and Susanna are preparing for their
wedding in their new room, which has been thoughtfully provided for them by their employer, the
Count Almaviva; Figaro’s gratitude for this apparent generosity vanishes when Susanna informs him
that the Count, who has started making advances to her, may have other reasons for wanting their
bedroom right next to his apartments. Figaro is determined to put a stop to the Count’s plans and
vows that he will be the one who calls the tune in any ‘dance’ the Count may have in mind; Mozart
matches this metaphor with an elegant dance-like aria punctuated by increasingly vehement
ejaculations of mingled rage, jealousy and triumph.
Figaro is not the only one seized by jealousy. The Count, despite his own infidelities, is deeply
suspicious of his young wife’s fondness for her even younger page, Cherubino, who has already been
caught in compromising circumstances with the gardener’s daughter. When the Count, come to
arrange an assignation with Susanna, discovers that Cherubino has been in the room all along and
overheard the whole conversation, he takes quick action and announces that he will be sending the lad
straight off to join the army. Figaro is not entirely unhappy to see Cherubino out of the picture, and
there is an air of amused and perhaps cynical satisfaction in his farewell to Cherubino, Non più andrai.
manipulating him to foil the Count’s own plans to prevent Figaro and Susanna from getting married
(Hai già vinta la causa ...Vedrò mentr’io sospiro). But after a long and very involved strategem of
disguises and intercepted messages, the Count is finally caught out and forced to apologise to his
wife, and Figaro, admitting that his suspicions of Susanna were groundless, gets his wedding after all.
The premiere of Le nozze di Figaro generated great enthusiasm in Vienna, but the opera was soon
overshadowed by performances of Giovanni Martín’s Una cosa rara – a composer and a work which
have since sunk into total obscurity. In Prague, however, Figaro was an enormous success, and it was
in that city that Mozart gave the premiere of his next opera, Don Giovanni.
This time it was the librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, who suggested the theme: the familiar tale of Don
Juan, the libertine who seduces woman after woman until, after killing the father of one of his
conquests, he is finally dragged off to hell by a stone statue of the dead man. There is a delicious irony
in this, as da Ponte was himself a notorious womaniser, gambler and brothel-keeper and the stories of
his exploits are many. Despite losing all his teeth when a rival deviously supplied him with a liquid
supposed to cure a gum abscess, he retained what can only be described as a kind of animal
magnetism, and women, it seems, couldn’t keep away. Da Ponte more than once found himself on the
road, one step ahead of the authorities.
The story of Don Juan was very familiar to 18th-century audiences, and da Ponte’s libretto combines
elements from several different versions, including the original Spanish play by Tirso da Molina,
El burlador de Sevilla (The Playboy of Seville) and Molière’s Le Festin de pierre (The Stone Feast). Nor
was this the first time the story had been set as an opera: eight months before Mozart, Gazzaniga
achieved great success with his one-act opera Don Giovanni Tenorio, o sia Il convitato da pietra (Don
Giovanni, or The Stone Guest). Goethe in 1787 expressed amazement at the way the story could still
attract the common folk: ‘No one could live until he saw Don Juan roasting in Hell and the
Commendatore, as a blessed spirit, ascend to Heaven.’
The Count’s jealousy erupts into fury in Act III, when he overhears a whispered exchange between
Susanna and Figaro which reveals that Susanna, who has been surprisingly pleasant to him, was in fact
Mozart’s opera, however, is more than a simple morality play. Indeed, there is some question as to
exactly how it should be described. Mozart in his thematic catalogue called it an opera buffa, but the
score and the libretto both describe it as a dramma giocoso or ‘playful drama’ – a term which some
take to be a simple alternative to the term ‘opera buffo’ but which had also been used to describe the
blend of serious and comic characters and turns of plot, in a realistic narrative style, pioneered by
librettist Carlo Goldoni from around 1750. Certainly, despite the sober ending and moral epilogue, there
are plenty of comic elements: the Catalogue Aria (Madamina, il catalogo è questo), where Don
Giovanni’s servant Leporello rattles off the list of his master’s bedroom triumphs, is one of many.
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Curiously, while the surrounding characters – especially Leporello and the wronged women Donna
Anna and Donna Elvira – are drawn with great vividness, Don Giovanni himself seems to be only
sketched: there is very little in either the libretto or the music to explain his thoughts, feelings or
motivations. In Fin ch’han dal vino we hear his plans for a new night of wine and women, and in the
serenade Deh, vieni alla finestra we see him in action trying to lure yet another young girl to his side,
but we learn little of the man behind these machinations. Perhaps it is precisely this inscrutability which
makes Don Giovanni such a fascinating character.
story: the music ranges from the profound to the apparently trivial, and opinions differ as to whether
the characters’ emotions are genuine, or a smokescreen of satire and irony.
But in fact the formulaic nature of the plot with its somewhat two-dimensional lovers and their lasses
is used in a startlingly modern way as a vehicle to express great subtlety of emotion and very human
feelings. Donne mie, la fate a tanti, for example, is Guglielmo’s understandably smug response to
his friend Ferrando’s discovery that his fiancée Dorabella has given in easily to his advances, while
Guglielmo’s own sweetheart, Fiordiligi, has remained pure.
Don Giovanni was received enthusiastically in Prague, but the Viennese premiere six months later did
little to improve Mozart’s finances or prestige. The following year, however, a Viennese revival of The
Marriage of Figaro was hugely successful, so much so that the Emperor decided to commission a third
opera from the Mozart–da Ponte team. The plot was remarkably simple: two young men engaged to be
married to two young ladies are challenged to put their fiancées’ faithfulness to the test. They pretend
to be called away on duty, but return disguised as foreign noblemen and are dismayed to discover how
quickly their ladies fall for the ‘strangers’ – to the point of drawing up marriage contracts that very
evening. The young men are ready to walk out on their unfaithful ladies, but are persuaded that they
won’t be able to find any women more faithful than these, and the opera ends happily with much
begging and granting of forgiveness and reconciliations all round.
Mozart wrote the role of Guglielmo for Francesco Benucci, the best buffo singer in Vienna. Benucci’s
prestige cannot be overstated: he was the cornerstone of the comic opera, without whom the emperor
had declared there would be no point in having a comic opera troupe at all. Benucci had been highly
praised for the naturalness of his acting and it was perhaps to showcase this talent that Mozart wrote
the aria Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo, a rousing setting, with trumpets and drums, of da Ponte’s pot
pourri of references to myth, history, geography, literature, birdsong and dance – Guglielmo in his
Albanian guise using his exoticism to lure the ladies to him. Unfortunately, Mozart soon realised that
such a substantial piece of pyrotechnics at that point – towards the end of the already rather long first
act – would upset the flow of the opera, and replaced it with the more restrained but still highly
amusing Non siate ritrosi.
There is no clear direct model for da Ponte’s libretto for Così fan tutte (All women do thus): unlike
Figaro and Don Giovanni, Così does not draw on familiar and well-established literary sources, and
there has been much speculation but no definitive explanation as to why this particular story was
chosen. There are of course similar characters and comic turns in the commedia dell’arte tradition,
and stories from classical mythology of pairs of lovers switched around and restored were familiar
from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It has been suggested that the story had a strongly topical flavour,
hinting at some scandal at the emperor’s court – some have claimed that Joseph II suggested the
subject himself; certainly the Turkish touches would have recalled Joseph II’s recent military campaigns
in the Balkans. It has even been suggested that a rocky patch in Mozart’s relationship with his wife,
Constanze, was the stimulus.
When Emperor Joseph II died in February 1790, his successor, Leopold II, had no particular interest in
music, and da Ponte found himself without a protector. Having acquired a formidable collection of
enemies, he now found himself caught in a web of lies and plots which forced him to flee to Trieste.
The people of Vienna were in any case getting tired of ‘foreign’ tastes and looking for entertainment in
their native German. Mozart was approached by his long-standing friend and fellow Mason, Emanuel
Schikaneder, who offered him a libretto in German, full of magic effects, coloured fire, fairies,
mysterious mystical figures and fantastic animals. Mozart, out of favour with the emperor and likely
to stay that way, accepted the libretto, and found himself writing a celebration of the Enlightenment
ideals of Freemasonry: fraternity, humanism and freedom from superstition.
Whatever the reason, the plot of Così fan tutte has attracted much scorn over the centuries. In the 19th
century it was written off as unbearably stupid and morally unacceptable, and various attempts were
made to alter or replace the libretto. More recently it has been dismissed as harshly misogynist,
damning all women as flighty and trivial. There has been much discussion of Mozart’s attitude to the
The main thrust of the plot concerns the quest of the young nobleman Tamino, who sets out to rescue
Pamina, daughter of the Queen of Night, from the evil magician Sarastro, but discovers along the way
that it is actually the Queen of Night who is the evil spirit, trying to steal the Sevenfold Circle of Sun
from Sarastro, who is in fact the chief priest of the Temple of Wisdom. Tamino, now committed to the
pursuit of wisdom, passes through many tests and ordeals as part of his initiation and is at last
rewarded by being united with Pamina.
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Through this solemn and earnest theme runs a vein of comic relief in the form of Papageno, a child of
nature who accompanies Tamino on his quest. Papageno is by profession a birdcatcher, but he wishes
that he were as successful in catching a pretty woman (Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja). This is something
of an obsession with him (Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen) and when he does catch a glimpse of his
perfect match, Papagena, he decides he cannot live without her and is about to kill himself (Papagena!
... Gute Nacht, du falsche Welt) when he is reminded of the magic bells with which he has been
entrusted. Papageno plays the bells, Papagena magically appears and the two pledge themselves to
each other and head off to begin a family of little Papagenos and Papagenas.
In the early 1780s, Mozart was fascinated by the contrapuntal music of the Baroque period. He was for
several years a regular visitor – every Sunday at 12 o’clock – to the house of Baron van Swieten,
where, as he wrote to his father in April 1782, ‘nothing is played but Handel and Bach.’ It was for van
Swieten’s circle that Mozart transcribed several of Bach’s four-part keyboard fugues for string quartet,
and it was van Swieten who would in 1789 commission Mozart to write ‘additional accompaniments’
for Handel’s Messiah.
The Fugue for two pianos, KV426, which Mozart wrote in 1783, clearly owes a great debt to his
studies of counterpoint, though it comes across as startlingly dissonant and modern. In 1788 Mozart
rewrote this Fugue for string orchestra and added an Adagio, placing it in the broad Viennese tradition
of two-movement church sonatas.
There is not even the slightest hint of opera buffa in this Adagio and Fugue. The bass and cello launch
straight into a dramatic and rather austere dialogue with the upper strings; a weeping semitone motif
in a pulsing rhythm recurs throughout the Adagio and emphasises the sombre mood. The lower strings
also open the Fugue with an aggressively angular and highly chromatic theme on which Mozart
displays his technical skill with inversion and increasingly close, stretto entries.
Mozart composed three main forms of dance: the elegant and graceful minuet, the more rustic dupletime contredanse, and the German dance, a rather vigorous dance for couples which originally involved
hopping and stamping. (The finale to Act I of Don Giovanni features a brilliant juxtaposition of the three
styles, in which the nobility dance their minuet, the servants a German dance and Don Giovanni and
Zerlina, moving between these two social worlds, perform a contredanse.) Although Mozart did not
write his first German dances until 1787, he composed 49 of them (as opposed to only 36 minuets).
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The basic structure, like that of the minuet and the waltz, was in three parts: the first and last identical,
with a contrasting Trio section (generally quieter and often in the minor mode) in between. The textures
and instrumentation vary from dance to dance, and sometimes from section to section, especially in the
use of different combinations of wind instruments and percussion. The Six German Dances, KV571
set was written for violins, bass, and pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns and trumpets together
with kettle drums, cymbals and even, in the last of the set, the mock-Turkish sound of a ‘drum with
stick and wire’. This kind of exoticism was very popular in Mozart’s day and this was not the first time
he had exploited the fashion: his early (1782) opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from
the Seraglio) is the obvious example.
Mozart’s own fondness for dancing is well known: according to the Irish tenor Michael Kelly (who had
appeared in the premiere of The Marriage of Figaro), Mozart ‘was an enthusiast in dancing, and often
said that his taste lay in that art rather than in music.’ Dancing, under the comparatively liberal reign of
Joseph II, had become an immensely popular pastime, and when Mozart was appointed
Kammermusicus (chamber musician to the court) in 1787, his official duties consisted solely of writing
music for Carnival dances. But also in the 1780s, it became the practice to include dance movements
as interludes at concerts, which helped to raise the profile of this otherwise purely functional music.
Mozart’s Minuet in C major, KV409 was probably composed for a public concert in the Augarten, the
immense Baroque garden which since 1775 had been open to the public; his concert there in May
1782 was an important early public success in Vienna.
The basic dance band of the time consisted of two violins and a bass, but Mozart soon began to bring
in other instruments (though, curiously enough, never violas!), and this Minuet, like the German dances
on this disc, involves quite a large ensemble with timpani and plenty of winds and brass; the quieter
Trio section makes a feature of the woodwinds. Mozart uses the unusual structural device of repeating
the opening statements of both the minuet and trio sections a fifth higher, which contributes to the
work’s expansive feel.
Natalie Shea © 2003
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1
Se vuol ballare, signor Contino
FIGARO
Se vuol ballare, signor Contino,
il chitarrino le suonerò, sì.
Se vuol venire nella mia scuola,
la capriola le insegnerò, sì.
Saprò, ma piano,
meglio ogni arcano
dissimulando scoprir potrò.
L’arte schermendo, l’arte adoprando,
di qua pungendo, di là scherzando,
tutte le macchine rovescierò.
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If you want to dance, master Count,
I’ll play the tune for you on my little guitar, yes.
If you want to come to my school,
I’ll teach you the capriol, yes.
I’ll find out the scheme, but quietly,
or by pretending,
I’ll discover every secret.
With the art of stealth, the art of adapting,
fighting here, fooling there,
I’ll overturn all your schemes.
Non più andrai
FIGARO
Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso,
notte e giorno d’intorno girando,
delle belle turbando il riposo,
Narcisetto, Adoncino d’amor.
Non più avrai questi bei pennacchini,
quel cappello leggiero e galante,
quella chioma, quell’aria brillante,
quel vermiglio donnesco color.
Tra guerrieri, poffar Bacco!
Gran mustacchi, stretto sacco,
schioppo in spalla, sciabla al fianco,
collo dritto, muso franco,
un gran casco, o un gran turbante,
molto onor, poco contante,
Ed invece del fandango,
una marcia per il fango.
Per montagne, per valloni,
No more, you amorous butterfly,
will you go fluttering around night and day,
disturbing the rest of all the pretty girls,
a little Narcissus and Adonis of love.
You won’t have those fine feathers any more,
that soft and stylish hat,
those curls, that striking air,
those rosy, girl-like cheeks.
You’ll be amongst soldiers, by Bacchus!
A huge moustache, a knapsack,
gun on your shoulder, sword at your side,
your neck straight, your nose exposed,
a big helmet, or a big hat,
lots of honour, very little pay,
and instead of the fandango,
a march through the mud.
Over mountains, through valleys,
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con le nevi, e i sollioni,
al concerto di tromboni,
di bombarde, di cannoni,
che le palle in tutti i tuoni
all’orecchio fan fischiar.
Cherubino, alla vittoria,
alla gloria militar!
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with snow, and burning sun,
the music of trumpets,
of bombs, and of cannon,
whose every sound
makes your ears ring.
Cherubino, go to victory,
on to military glory!
Hai già vinta la causa! … Vedrò mentr’io sospiro
CONTE
Hai già vinta la causa! Cosa sento?
In qual laccio io cadea?
Perfidi! Io voglio di tal modo punirvi,
a piacer mio la sentenza sarà.
Ma s’ei pagasse la vecchia pretendente?
Pagarla! In qual maniera?
E poi v’è Antonio
che all’incognito Figaro ricusa
di dare una nipote in matrimonio.
Coltivando l’orgoglio di questo mentecatto …
Tutto giova a un raggiro ...
Il colpo è fatto.
‘We’ve won the case!’ What am I hearing?
What trap have I fallen into?
Scoundrels! I’ll punish you all right,
with a sentence of my own choosing.
But if he pays off the old lady, the pretender?
Pay her! With what?
And then there’s Antonio,
who’ll refuse to give his niece in marriage
to that nobody Figaro.
To flatter that half-wit’s pride...
Everything favours my plan...
The deed is done.
Vedrò mentr’io sospiro
felice un servo mio?
E un ben che invan desio,
ei posseder dovrà?
Vedrò per man d’amore
unita a un vile oggetto
chi in me destò un affetto
che per me poi non ha?
Shall I, while I’m sighing,
see one of my servants happy?
And see him possess a treasure
that I desire in vain?
Do I have to see the hand of love
unite a lowly person
to one who arouses in me feelings
that she does not reciprocate?
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Ah no! Lasciarti in pace
non vo’ questo contento!
tu non nascesti, audace,
per dare a me tormento,
e forse ancor per ridere
di mia infelicità.
Già la speranza sola
delle vendette mie
quest’anima consola,
e giubilar mi fa.
5
Ah no! I won’t leave
this happiness in peace!
You weren’t born, bold fellow,
to give me torment,
and maybe to laugh
at my unhappiness.
Now only the hope
of taking vengeance
consoles this soul
and makes me rejoice.
vuol d’estate la magrotta;
è la grande maestosa,
la piccina è ognor vezzosa,
delle vecchie fa conquista
pel piacer di porle in lista;
sua passion predominante
è la giovin principiante.
Non si picca se sia ricca
se sia brutta, se sia bella;
purché porti la gonnella,
voi sapete quel che fa.
Madamina, il catalogo è questo
6
LEPORELLO
Madamina, il catalogo è questo
delle belle che amò il padron mio;
un catalogo egli è che ho fatt’io.
osservate, leggete con me.
In Italia seicento e quaranta,
in Almagna duecento e trentuna,
cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna;
ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre!
V’han fra queste contadine,
cameriere, cittadine,
v’han contesse, baronesse,
marchesane, principesse.
E v’han donne d’ogni grado,
d’ogni forma, d’ogni età.
My lady, this is the list
of the beauties that my master has loved;
a list that I compiled myself.
Look here, read with me.
In Italy six hundred and forty;
in Germany two hundred and thirty-one;
One hundred in France, in Turkey ninety-one;
But in Spain there are already a thousand and three.
Among these you’ve got peasant girls,
servants, townspeople,
you’ve got countesses, baronesses,
marquesses, princesses.
And you’ve got women of every class,
of every shape, of every age.
Nella bionda egli ha l’usanza
di lodar la gentilezza,
nella bruna la costanza,
nella bianca la dolcezza.
Vuol d’inverno la grassotta,
With the blondes he usually
praises their manners,
with the brunettes their faithfulness,
with the white-haired ones their sweetness.
In the winter he wants the heavy ones,
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in the summer he wants the slim ones;
the big ones are majestic,
the little ones are charming,
he goes after the old ones
for the pleasure of putting them on the list;
his overriding passion
are the young beginners.
He doesn’t care if a woman is rich,
if she’s ugly, if she’s pretty;
as long as she’s in a skirt,
you know what he does.
Fin ch’han dal vino
DON GIOVANNI
Fin ch’han dal vino calda la testa,
una gran festa fa’ preparar.
Se trovi in piazza qualche ragazza,
teco ancor quella cerca menar.
Senza alcun ordine la danza sia;
chi ’l minuetto, chi la follia,
chi l’alemanna farai ballar.
Ed io frattanto dall’altro canto
con questa e quella vo’ amoreggiar.
Ah, la mia lista doman mattina
d’una decina devi aumentar.
7
Now that the wine has their heads whirling,
let’s prepare a great feast.
If you meet a girl in the piazza,
try to bring her along with you.
Let the dancing be spontaneous;
a minuet, a folia,
an allemande if you want.
In the meantime I shall have my own fun
flirting with this or that girl.
Ah, my list tomorrow morning
shall have at least ten new names.
Deh, vieni alla finestra
DON GIOVANNI
Deh, vieni alla finestra, o mio tesoro,
deh, vieni a consolar il pianto mio.
Se neghi a me di dar qualche ristoro,
davanti agli occhi tuoi morir vogl’io!
O come to the window, my treasure;
O come and dispel all my sorrow.
If you refuse me some solace,
I will die before your eyes.
13
Tu ch’hai la bocca dolce più che il miele,
tu che il zucchero porti in mezzo al core!
Non esser, gioia mia, con me crudele!
Lasciati almen veder, mio bell’amore!
$N
Your lips are sweeter than honey,
your heart is pure sweetness!
Don’t be cruel to me, joy of my life!
at least let me catch a glimpse of you, my beloved!
Non siate ritrosi
GUGLIELMO
Non siate ritrosi, occhietti vezzosi,
Due lampi amorosi vibrate un po’ qua.
Felici rendeteci, amate con noi,
E noi felicissime faremo anche voi.
Guardate, toccate, il tutto osservate;
Siam due cari matti,
siam forti e ben fatti,
E come ognun vede,
sia merto, sia caso,
Abbiamo bel piede,
bell’occhio, bel naso,
Guardate bel piede, osservate bell’occhio,
Toccate bel naso, il tutto osservate:
E questi mustacchi chiamare si possono
Trionfi degli uomini, pennacchi d’amor,
Trionfi, pennacchi, mustacchi!
%O
Don’t be bashful, charming little eyes;
send two flashes of love over here for a moment.
Make us happy, love with us,
and we will make you very happy also.
Look, touch, observe everything;
we’re two dear madmen,
we’re strong and well made,
and as everyone can see,
whether by merit or by chance,
we have a fine foot,
a fine eye, a fine nose,
look: a fine foot, observe: a fine eye,
touch: a fine nose, observe everything;
and these moustaches can be called
manly triumphs, plumes of love –
triumphs – plumes – moustaches!
Donne mie, la fate a tanti
GUGLIELMO
Donne mie, la fate a tanti
che, se il ver vi deggio dir,
se si lagnano gli amanti
li comincio a compatir.
Io vo’ bene al sesso vostro
lo sapete, ognun lo sa,
ogni giorno ve lo mostro,
vi do segno d’amistà.
Ma, quel farla a tanti e tanti.
m’avvilisce in verità.
Mille volte il brando presi
per salvar il vostro onor.
Mille volte vi difesi,
colla bocca e più col cor.
Ma quel farla a tanti e tanti
è un vizietto seccator.
Siete vaghe, siete amabili,
più tesori il ciel vi diè,
e le grazie vi circondano
dalla testa sino ai piè.
Ma, la fate a tanti e tanti
che credibile non è!
Io vo’ bene al sesso vostro
ve lo mostro;
mille volte il brando presi,
vi difesi;
gran tesori il ciel vi diè,
sino ai piè.
Ma la fate a tanti e tanti
che se gridano gli amanti
hanno certo un gran perché.
each day I show it
and I always take your part.
But such treatment of so many
disappoints me, in truth.
A thousand times I’ve drawn my sword
to defend your honour.
A thousand times I’ve championed you
with my tongue and, still more, with my heart.
But such treatment of so many
is pernicious and a bore.
You’re attractive, you are charming
heaven has given you treasures galore,
and graces envelop you
from head to foot.
But you treat so many this way
that it’s difficult to believe!
I am very fond of women, you know,
I show it;
A thousand times I’ve drawn my sword,
I’ve championed you;
heaven has given you treasures galore,
from head to foot.
But you treat so many thus,
that if your lovers complain
they have good reason indeed.
Ladies, you treat so many thus
that, if I must speak the truth,
I begin to sympathise
when your lovers complain.
I am very fond of the fair sex, you know,
everyone knows it;
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^
Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo
GUGLIELMO
Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo
E vedrete come sta;
Tutto dice: ‘Io gelo…io ardo…
Idol mio, pietà, pietà!’
E voi, cara, un sol momento
Il bel ciglio a me volgete,
E nel mio ritroverete
Quel che il labbro dir non sa.
Turn to see who stands before you
and you will see what state he is in;
All he can say is, ‘I freeze, I burn...
my idol, take pity, take pity.’
And you, dearest, for just one moment
let your beauteous eyes rest on me,
and in my answering gaze
read all that my lips cannot say.
Un Orlando innamorato
Non è niente in mio confronto;
Un Medoro il sen piagato
Verso lui per nulla io conto:
Son di fuoco i miei sospiri
Son di bronzo i suoi desiri.
The passion of Orlando in love
is as nothing compared to mine;
All the sorrows of Medoro
Count as nothing next to me.
My sighs are like flames,
my desires steadfast as bronze.
Se si parla poi di merto
Certo io sono ed egli è certo
Che gli uguali non si trovano
Da Vienna al Canadà:
Siam due Cresi per ricchezza,
Due Narcisi per bellezza
In amor i Marcantoni
Verso noi sarian buffoni.
Should you be speaking of merit, well,
I am certain that you could search
and not find such excellence
though you look from Vienna to Canada.
We are both as rich as Croesus,
as beautiful as Narcissus;
In love we can match Mark Antony
and we are far more amusing.
Siam più forti d’un Ciclopo,
Letterati al par di Esopo;
Se balliamo un Pich ne cede
Sì gentil e snello è il piede,
We are stronger than any Cyclops,
our writings are the equal of Aesop’s;
We can dance better than Le Pick,
so graceful and light of foot are we.
Se cantiam col trillo solo
Facciam torto all’usignuolo,
When we sing, even a single trill
defeats the nightingale;
16
(
E qualch’altro capitale
Abbiam poi che alcun non sa.
and we have other assets
that no one knows about.
Bella, bella! tengon sodo:
Se ne vanno ed io ne godo!
Eroine di costanza,
Specchi son di fedeltà.
Lovely, lovely! Tenacious ones,
they retreat and I am delighted!
Heroines of constancy,
mirrors of fidelity.
Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja
PAPAGENO
Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja,
Stets lustig heißa hopsasa!
Ich Vogelfänger bin bekannt
bei Alt und Jung im ganzen Land.
Weiß mit dem Locken umzugehn
und mich aufs Pfeifen zu verstehn!
Drum kann ich froh und lustig sein,
Denn alle Vögel sind ja mein.
The birdcatcher I am indeed,
always happy, heigh ho!
I, the birdcatcher, am well known
to old and young throughout the land.
I know what to do with snares
and I can whistle in the language of every bird.
That’s why I can be happy and jolly,
for all the birds are indeed mine.
Ein Netz für Mädchen möchte ich;
Ich fing’ sie dutzendweis für mich!
Dann sperrte ich sie bei mir ein
Und alle Mädchen wären mein.
A net for girls is what I would like;
I’d catch them for myself by the dozen!
Then I would lock them up with me
and all the girls would be mine.
Wenn alle Mädchen wären mein,
So tauschte ich brav Zucker ein.
Die welche mir am liebsten wär’,
der gäb ich gleich den Zukker her.
Und küßte sie mich zärtlich dann,
wär’ sie mein Weib und ich ihr Mann.
Sie schlief’ an meiner Seite ein;
ich wiegte wie ein Kind sie ein.
If all the girls were mine,
then I’d buy some sweets.
and the one I liked the best,
I would give the sweets to her straight away.
And if she kissed me tenderly then,
she would be my wife and I her husband.
She would fall asleep by my side;
I would rock her to sleep like a child.
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)
Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen
PAPAGENO
Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen
wünscht Papageno sich!
O so ein sanftes Täubchen
wär Seligkeit für mich.
Dann schmeckte mir Trinken und Essen;
dann könnte’ ich mit Fürsten mich messen,
des Lebens als Weiser mich freun,
und wie im Elysium sein.
Ach, kann ich denn keiner von allen
den reizenden Mädchen gefallen?
Helf’ eine mir nur aus der Not,
Sonst gräm’ ich mich wahrlich zu Tod.
Wird keiner mir Liebe gewähren,
So muß mich die Flamme verzehren;
Doch küßt mich ein weiblicher Mund,
so bin ich schon wieder gesund.
¡K
A girl or a little wife
is what Papageno wishes
Oh, such a soft little dove
would be bliss for me.
Then drink and food would taste good to me;
then I could measure myself with princes,
enjoy life as a wise man,
and feel like I’m in Elysium.
Ah, of all those charming girls,
isn’t there one who wants me?
If only someone would help me out in this need,
otherwise I will worry myself to death.
If no one will grant me love,
then the flame must consume me;
But if a woman’s mouth should kiss me,
then straight away I’d be healthy again.
Papagena! … Gute Nacht, du falsche Welt
PAPAGENO
Papagena! Papagena! Papagena!
Weibchen! Täubchen! Meine Schöne!
Vergebens! Ach, sie ist verloren!
Ich bin zum Unglück schon geboren.
Ich plauderte – und das war schlecht,
und drum geschieht es mir schon recht.
Seit ich gekostet diesen Wein,
seit ich das schöne Weibchen sah,
so brennt’s im Herzenkämmerlein,
so zwickt’s hier, so zwickt’s da.
Papagena! Herzensweibchen!
Papagena! Papagena! Papagena!
Little wife! Little dove! My beautiful one!
In vain! Ah, she is lost!
I was born to be unlucky.
I chattered – and that was wrong,
and so it serves me right.
Since I tasted this wine,
since I saw the pretty little woman,
my heart has been burning within,
tingling here, tingling there.
Papagena! Sweetheart!
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Papagena! Liebes Täubchen!
’s ist umsonst! Es ist vergebens!
Müde bin ich meines Lebens!
Sterben macht der Lieb’ ein End’,
wenn’s im Herzen noch so brennt.
Diesen Baum da will ich zieren.
Mir an ihm den Hals zuschnüren,
weil das Leben mir mißfällt;
gute Nacht, du falsche Welt;
weil du böse an mir handelst,
mir kein schönes Kind zubandelst,
so ist’s aus, so sterbe ich;
schöne Mädchen, denkt an mich,
will sich eine um mich Armen,
eh’ ich hänge, noch erbarmen,
Wohl, so laß ich’s diesmal sein!
Rufet nur, ja oder nein. –
Keine hört mich, alles stille!
Also ist es euer Wille?
Papageno, frisch hinauf!
Ende deinen Lebenslauf!
Nun, ich warte noch, es sei,
bis man zählet: Eins, zwei, drei.
Eins!
Zwei!
Drei!
Papagena! Darling dove!
’tis in vain, all for nothing!
I am tired of my life.
Dying will put an end to love,
however fiercely it burns in my heart.
I’ll decorate this tree,
a noose around my neck,
because life holds no pleasure for me.
Good night, you wicked world.
Because you treated me badly,
and did not send me a pretty maiden,
so I’ll end it all, so I’ll die;
pretty maidens, think of me,
won’t one take pity on me,
before I hang myself?
Well, then I’ll change my mind!
Just call: yes or no. –
No one hears me, all is quiet.
So is that what you want?
Up you get, Papageno, quick!
End your life!
Well, I’ll wait a little, all right,
until I have counted to three.
One!
Two!
Three!
Libretti by Lorenzo da Ponte (Le nozze di
Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte) and
Emanuel Schikaneder (Die Zauberflöte)
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Teddy Tahu Rhodes
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Teddy Tahu Rhodes has established an international career on the opera stage and the concert
platform. Recent opera engagements include Ned Keene (Peter Grimes) for New York’s Metropolitan
Opera, Stanley (A Streetcar Named Desire) in Vienna, Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) for Washington Opera,
The Count (The Marriage of Figaro) in Cincinnati and Washington, Lescaut (Manon Lescaut) in Leipzig,
Scarpia (Tosca) for West Australian Opera, the title role in Billy Budd (Santa Fe), and Escamillo (Carmen)
in Paris, Hamburg, Munich, Bilbao and for Scottish Opera and the Metropolitan Opera – the latter also
in cinemas world-wide. Recent roles for Opera Australia include Stanley, Emile (South Pacific) and the
title roles in Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Billy Budd.
For more than six decades the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra has been at the forefront of concert life
in Tasmania. Established in 1948 and declared a Tasmanian Icon in 1998, the TSO gives more than 40
concerts annually including seasons in Hobart and Launceston, and appearances in Tasmanian regional
centres. In recent years the TSO has performed at City Recital Hall Angel Place in Sydney and at the
Adelaide Festival, and made its debut at Melbourne Recital Centre in September 2011. International
touring has taken the orchestra to North and South America, Greece, Israel, South Korea, China,
Indonesia and Japan.
A regular guest with all the major Australasian orchestras, he has recently appeared with the
Queensland, Tasmanian, West Australian and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras, the London
Philharmonic and at the BBC Proms, and in two sell-out Australia-wide tours with David Hobson for
Andrew McKinnon Presentations as well as three national tours and a tour of North America with the
Australian Chamber Orchestra. He debuted at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2009.
His discography for ABC Classics includes the Fauré and Mozart Requiems, Handel’s Messiah,
Musical Renegades, Mozart Arias, The Voice, Vagabond, Bach Arias, Serious Songs, Brahms’ A German
Requiem, Best of Teddy Tahu Rhodes and You’ll Never Walk Alone (with David Hobson). Other releases
include The Little Prince (Sony), the DVD Hayley Westenra Live (Decca) and The Love for Three Oranges
(Chandos). For the Metropolitan Opera he appears on DVD as Ned Keene in Peter Grimes (EMI) and as
Escamillo (Deutsche Grammophon). Awards include an ARIA, two Helpmann Awards, a ‘MO’ Award
and a Green Room Award. In 2011 he won the Limelight Award for Best Performance in an Opera,
for his interpretation of the title role in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Australia.
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Resident in Hobart’s purpose-built Federation Concert Hall, the TSO has a full complement of 47
musicians. Marko Letonja is the orchestra’s Chief Conductor and Artistic Director.
Australian music is one of the TSO’s focal points. Its Australian Music Program, which was founded in
2003, champions music by Australian composers through recordings, performances and commissions,
and nurtures promising careers through the annual Australian Composers’ School.
Mindful of its mission to be a source of pride for all Tasmanians, the TSO performs a wide variety of
music. Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel, Lisa Gasteen, Nigel Kennedy, Sara
Macliver, Howard Shelley, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Richard Tognetti are among the soloists who have
appeared with the orchestra. Popular and jazz artists who have performed with the orchestra include
Rhonda Burchmore, Kate Ceberano, Roberta Flack, James Morrison, Anthony Warlow, Human Nature
and The Whitlams.
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Ola Rudner
ABC Classics Robert Patterson, Laura Bell, Virginia Read, Natalie Shea, Andrew Delaney
The Swedish conductor Ola Rudner began his career as a violinist (he is a prizewinner of the Paganini
Competition) and concertmaster of orchestras such as Camerata Salzburg, Volksopera Vienna and the
Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
Original album credits
Executive Producers Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan
Product Manager Anna-Lisa Whiting
Recording Producer Stephen Snelleman
Recording Engineer Andrew Dixon
Editor Melissa May
Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd
Cover Photograph Paul Henderson-Kelly
In 1995 he founded the Philharmonia Wien, which which he has toured to Japan, Poland, Yugoslavia,
Austria and Turkey, and performs annually at the Vienna Musikverein. From 2001 to 2003 he was Chief
Conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and he has conducted all the major Australian
orchestras. He was Chief Conductor of the Haydn Orchestra Bolzano from 2003 to 2006, and in 2008
became Chief Conductor of the Württemberg Philharmonic, Reutlingen.
In Scandinavia Ola Rudner has conducted the Gothenburg Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony
Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic and the orchestras of Trondheim, Bergen, Aalborg, Malmö and
Helsingborg. He has a long-term relationship with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has
recorded three CDs of works by the British composers Sally Beamish, on the BIS label. (He has also
recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Decca, ABC Classics, Camerata Tokyo and Amadeus.)
He has also collaborated with the Scottish and Vienna Chamber Orchestras, the Belgrade, Slovenian,
Luxembourg, Warsaw and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg,
Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, Vienna’s Johann Strauss Orchestra, Latvian National
Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, South West German
Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, RAI Torino, the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona Foundation,
La Fenice Theatre Orchestra, Rome Symphony Orchestra and the National Theatre São Carlos in Lisbon.
For the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
General Manager Nicholas Heyward
Artistic Administrator David Garrett
Orchestra Manager Peter Kilpatrick
Recorded 11-14 June and 14 October 2002 at the Federation Concert Hall, Hobart, Tasmania.
 2003 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 훿 2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand 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.
Ola Rudner is also an important opera conductor. He has been conducting at the Vienna Volksoper for
many years, and is regularly invited to the opera houses of Australia, Austria and Italy. His repertoire
includes Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Così fan tutte, The Marriage of Figaro, La clemenza di Tito and
Idomeneo, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Bizet’s Carmen and Verdi’s Il trovatore and La traviata, as well as
operettas by Offenbach, Strauss, Lehár and Kálmán.
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