Bellini is one of the greatest composers in the bel canto operatic style (literally, ‘beautiful singing’), alongside Donizetti and Rossini. Bellini’s Norma, I Puritani, La Sonnambula and the present I Capuleti e i Montecchi remain frequently performed. With long melodic lines and dramatic expressivity, Bellini’s arias were favorites of such stars as Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Joan Sutherland, Enrico Caruso and Luciano Pavarotti.
Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi is not Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. The Italian tale of star-crossed lovers was already well travelled when adopted by Bellini’s librettist, Felice Romani. Here, Giuletta Capuleti’s father Capellio, and Giuletta’s secret lover, Romeo Montecchi, lead two warring political groups. A disguised Romeo visits to try to defuse the conflict, arriving in the midst of preparations for the nuptials of Guiletta to the Capulet ally, Tebaldo. The attempt goes badly and further conflict seems inevitable. The second scene introduces Guiletta, who, in this recitativo and aria, sings of Romeo’s absence, and gloom toward the coming wedding.
Reuben Blundell
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Eccomi in lieta vesta…. eccomi adorna…
Come vittima all’ara. Oh! almen potessi
Qual vittima cader dell’ara al piede!
O nuzïali tede,
Abborrite così, così fatali,
Siate, ah! siate per me faci ferali.
Ardo… una vmpa, un foco
Tutta mi struggle.
Un refrigerio ai venti io chiedo invano.
Ove se’tu, Romeo?
In qual terra t’aggiri?
Dove, dove invïarti I miei sospiri?
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Behold me decked out
like a victim on the altar. Oh if only I could
fall like a victim at the foot of the altar!
Oh nuptial torches,
so hated, so fateful,
ah! would that you were the tapes of my doom.
I burn, a blaze, a fire
all my torment.
In vain I call on the winds to cool me.
Where are you Romeo?
In what lands do you wander
Where, where shall I send them,
where my sighs, where to?
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Oh! quante volte,
Oh! quante ti chiedo
Al ciel piangendo
Con quale ardor t’attendo,
E inganno il mio desir!
Raggio del tuo sembiante
Parmi il brillar del giorno:
L’aura che spira intorno
Mi sembra un tuo respire.
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Oh! How much time,
Oh! How often I beg you!
the sky weeps
with the passion of my waiting
And delude my desires!
To me the light of day
ah! is like the flash of your presence
ah! the air that winds around
is my longings.
- translation by Tina Gray
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| File | Action |
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| Bellini - I Capuleti e i Montecchi.pdf | Download |
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