"Una Furtiva Lagrima"

L'elisir d'amore 

​

A single secret tear
from her eye did spring:

as if she envied all the youths
that laughingly passed her by.

What more searching need I do?
What more searching need I do?

She loves me! Yes, she loves me, I see it. I see it.

For just an instant the beating
of her beautiful heart I could feel!

As if my sighs were hers,
and her sighs were mine!

The beating, the beating of her heart I could feel,
to merge my sighs with hers...

Heavens! Yes, I could die!
I could ask for nothing more, nothing more.

Oh, heavens! Yes, I could, I could die!
I could ask for nothing more, nothing more.
Yes, I could die! Yes, I could die of love.​

​

​

"Casta Diva"

Norma

​

Pure Goddess, whose silver covers
These sacred ancient plants,
we turn to your lovely face
unclouded and without veil...
Temper, oh Goddess,
the hardening of you ardent spirits
temper your bold zeal,
Scatter peace across the earth
Thou make reign in the sky...

​

“Deh proteggimi o Dio”

Norma

​

Cleared is the sacred forest,
finished the rite.

To crave the sight, at last I can,
here...where for the first time the
fatal Roman offered himself to me,
that makes me a traitor to the temple, to the god...
 

If only it had been the last time! Vain desire!
Irresistable force here me drags...
and on that dear face the heart feeds itself...
and of his dear voice the breeze that blows
to me repeats the sound.

Protect me, o God!
Protect me, protect me,
o God, protect me:
lost I am,
great God, have pity,
lost, lost I am.

​

"Mira o Norma"

Norma

 

ADALGISA
See, O Norma, at your knees,
these dear, dear children.
Let pity for them move you,
if you feel no pity for yourself...

NORMA
Ah, why do you try to weaken me
with such soft feelings?
Such illusions, such hopes
are not for one about to die.

​

ADALGISA

Give up oh Give up!

​

NORMA

Ah leave me- he loves you!

​

ADALGISA

​

He's regretting it already...

 

NORMA

And you?

 

ADALGISA

I loved him. This soul

Only feels friendship, now.

 

NORMA

Oh, young girl! And what do you want...?

 

ADALGISA

To give you back your rights,

Or with you, from both Heaven and men,

I swear that I'll hide forever more.

 

NORMA

Yes. You've won. Hold me!

I find a friend, love...

​

BOTH

For the rest of my life
I shall always stay with you.
The earth is big enough
To shelter us both from love.
Together with you, courageously,
We shall fight outrageous Destiny,
As long as in our breasts
Our loving hearts shall beat...

​

 

"O luce di quest'anima"

Linda di Chamounix

​

Ah! I delayed too long, and at our favorite meeting place I did not find my beloved Carlo;

and who knows how much he must have suffered! But not as much as I!

He left me these flowers as a token of love!

What a tender heart!

And for that heart I love him, his only true possession.

We are both poor, we live on love and hope;

an unknown painter still, he will rise to greatness with his talents!

He will be my husband then.

Oh, how happy we will be! 

 

O light of this soul, delight, love and life,

our destiny united, on earth, in heaven it will be.

Ah, come to me, rest on this heart that loves you,

that sighs and longs for you, that will live only for you.

​

"Pour une Femme de mon nom"

La Filla du regiment

​

​

For a woman of my name, What a time, alas!

a time of war! One hardly thinks of greatness anymore...

Nothing is sacred to the cannon!

And so, truly, I barely live...

I am wasting away, I feel it well...

Even my vapors and my migraines, The enemies, alas, respect nothing!

 

The French, everyone assures me, Are a band of brigands...

If a woman has any beauty at all,

These brigands become quite enterprising.

And so, I tremble when I think of it!

I know my fate all too well... Beauty, virtue, innocence... These people respect nothing!

​

"Questo o Quella"

Rigoletto

​

This girl or that girl are equal
to the all the others I see around me,
the core of my being I will not yield
to one beauty or another
their attractiveness is what they are gifted
from fate and embellishes life
Perhaps today this girl welcomes me
perhaps tomorrow another girl will demand me.
Constancy is a tyrant to the heart
it is a hated cruel disease to
only those who want you to be faithful;
There can be no love if there is no freedom.
Husbands’ jealous rage,
lovers’ woes I despise,
I defy the hundred eyes of Argo
if I fancy a few beauties

​

QUARTETTO

Rigoletto

DUKE
One day, if I remember rightly,
my pretty one, I met you...
I asked someone about you
and was told that you live here.
Let me say that ever since,
my heart has been yours alone.

GILDA (to herself)
Deceiver!

​

MADDALENA
Ah! Ah! And of twenty others
that maybe you’re forgetting?

I think my fine young man
is a bit of a libertine.

DUKE
Yes, I’m a monster.

GILDA
Ah, father!

MADDALENA
Leave me alone, you scatterbrain!

DUKE
Ho, what a fuss!

MADDALENA
Behave yourself!

DUKE
Be nice to me.
Don’t play hard to get.
Good behaviour doesn’t exclude
jollity and love.
(caressing her hand)
Pretty white hand!

MADDALENA
You are joking, sir.

DUKE
No, no.

MADDALENA
I’m ugly.
 

DUKEK
iss me.

GILDA (to herself)
Deceiver!

MADDALENA
You’re drunk!

DUKE
With love.

MADDALENA
My cynical friend,
you like to joke, don’t you?

DUKE
No, no. I want to marry you...

MADDALENA
I want your word of honour.

DUKE (ironic)
Sweet little maid!

RIGOLETTO (to Gilda, who has seen and heard all)
Haven’t you seen enough?

GILDA
The wicked deceiver! etc.

MADDALENA
I want your word of honour! etc.
 

DUKE
Sweet little maid! etc.

RIGOLETTO
Haven’t you seen enough? etc.

DUKE
Fairest daughter of love,
I am a slave to your charms;
with but a single word you could
relieve my every pain.
Come, touch my breast and feel
how my heart is racing.
With but a single word, etc.

MADDALENA
Ah! Ah! That really makes me laugh;
talk like that is cheap enough...

GILDA
Ah, these are the loving words...

MADDALENA
...believe me, I know exactly
what such play-acting is worth!

GILDA
...the scoundrel spoke once to me!

RIGOLETTO (to Gilda)
Hush, weeping can do no good, etc.

GILDA
O wretched heart betrayed,
do not break for sorrow.
 

MADDALENA
I, my fine sir, am quite accustomed
to foolish jokes like this,
my fine sir!

DUKE
With but a single word you could
relieve my every pain.

GILDA
O wretched heart betrayed,
do not break for sorrow, etc.

MADDALENA
Ah! Ah! That really makes me laugh;
talk like that is cheap enough, etc.

DUKE
Fairest daughter of love,
I am a slave to your charms, etc.