Operatic
Italian
III. Sample
Passages
Sample One (Introduction to
Adjectives)
Of all the parts of speech, the
adjective probably does the most to
create atmosphere, set a tone,
develop character, and introduce a
theme. This is so because of the
richness and vagueness of many
operatic adjectives (“cupo”: dark,
mysterious, ‘spooky’ is typical).
Certain adjectives occur with great
frequency in a given opera and
acquire the force of unifying
symbols and/or emotional leit-motivs.
“Lieto” (happy), “fuggevole”
(fleeting), and “egro” (sick/sickly)
are quintessential Traviata; the
very mention of “possente”
(powerful), “costante” (faithful,
constant), and “dannato” (damned)
bring to mind Rigoletto. “Degno/indegno”
(worthy/unworthy), “sciagurato”
(wretched) and “sconsigliato”
(ill-advised) conjure up Don
Giovanni.
Sample Two (Adverbs)
Although not as plentiful nor as
colorful as adjectives, adverbs
nonetheless have a vital role to
play and familiarity with the more
common ones will do much to unlock
the libretto for you. Their function
is usually to answer questions like
“How?”, “When?”, “How often?”,
“Where?”, “How much?”, “How many?”,
“To what degree?”. The following are
typical:
How?
“Cheti, cheti, rubiamgli l’amante!”
Quietly, quietly, let’s steal from
him the lover!
(The courtiers in Rigoletto)
When?
“E tu non sorgi ancora/ E puoi
dormir così!”
And you don’t rise yet/ And you can
sleep like this!
(The count in Il Barbiere di
Siviglia).
Note that “ancora” is an adverb of
time; “così”, an adverb of manner.
How often?
“Ella giammai m’amo!”
She never loved me!
(Philip to himself in Don Carlo)
Where?
“e qui la luna l’abbiamo vicina!”
and here the moon, we have it close
at hand!
(Rodolfo to Mimi in La Boheme)
How much?
“E quanto spendere per un signor
dovrei?”
And how much to spend for a lord
would I have (to)?
i. e. How much would I have to spend
to have a lord killed?
(Rigoletto to Sparafucile)
Which?
“Ogni villa, ogni borgo, ogni paese
Every villa, every hamlet, every
country
è testimon di sue donnesche imprese.”
is witness of his ‘woman-directed’
exploits.
(Leporello to Donna Elvira in Don
Giovanni)
There are other functions of adverbs
too, but these six are the main ones
and if you can recognize these, you
probably can recognize most others
by context.
As to form, the adverb is
theoretically formed by adding “mente”
(“ly” in English) to the feminine
singular adjective:
destra (dextrous, adroit) expands to
destramente (dextrously/adroitly).
“Nelle orecchie della gente/S’introduce
destramente...”
In the ears of people/It
(calumny/gossip) inserts itself
adroitly.
(Basilio to Dr. Bartolo in Il
Barbiere di Siviglia)
(p. 40 of the first edition of
Italian for the Opera)
These five categories of adverbs are
explored in greater depth on the
pages which follow viz. 41-44.
Sample Three (What Makes a
Good Libretto)
“Taking the overview, the quality of
a libretto very much depends on the
quality of other things: plot,
characterization, depth and interest
of themes, and atmosphere. Obviously
it makes for a good libretto if it
is based on the works of giants like
Shakespeare and Schiller. Iago’s
“Credo in un Dio Crudel” is the best
kind of writing because it develops
character, theme, and atmosphere in
a few lines.
From the narrower perspective of the
libretto’s rhetorical capabilities,
we have already seen the importance
of such things as sonority (p. 3),
literary associations (p. 2) and
richness of connotation, including
puns (pp. 3, 5, 39, 51). There are
other criteria as well, but I will
limit my discussion to: (1)
evocative power; (2) proliferation;
(3) poetic devices and originality
of language; (4) wit.
Perhaps the most important of the
four is evocative power. This is
what Verdi looked for above all else
in his librettos. The quest for just
the right word (evocative yet
accurate, mood-setting, original)
must have driven him and his
librettists to exhaustion. (There is
lots of evidence that it did.) Verdi
summed it up well in his remarks to
Ghislanzoni (already quoted on p.
33) when he referred to those
magical evocative phrases which seem
predestined to be married to his
music. “Parole liriche” describes
them well. Many such phrases have
already been quoted in Italian for
the Opera:
“Ed olezzava la terra”, p. 94.
“Qual piuma al vento”, p. 19.
“stanco di gloria e onor”, p. 23.
“Libiamo nei lieti calici!”, p. 25.
“La vita è inferno all’infelice”, p.
15.
These words are the mood-setters
which I mentioned earlier (p. 33).
Let’s look closely at a few other
examples and see why they are
effective.
Aida. Amneris is smitten with
Radames and says to him:
“Di quale nobil fierezza ti balena
il volto!”
With what noble pride your face
becomingly lights up!
“Fierezza” is a superb choice of
word, not just for the sound
(somewhat harsh and ‘sauvage’) but
for its connotations (wild, pagan,
arrogant, even cruel) which are
appropriate to the pre-Christian
world of the Pharaohs. (“Superbo” is
a close synonym but its Christian
connotations make it less suitable.)
“Balena” is also very suggestive. It
comes from “balenare”, often used to
describe lightning’s sudden burst of
light. Highly appropriate here, it
suggests sudden desert storms, and
flashes of true emotion glimpsed in
the eyes of courtly sophisticates
who, like Amneris, have become
experts in the art of dissimulation.
Notice “ti balena”, a dative of
advantage: “your face lights up in a
way that is becoming to you”.
(p. 131 of Italian for the Opera).
(Note that in the above passages
some vowels have been underlined.
This is to alert the reader that the
word might be stressed in an
abnormal or unexpected way. The
stress pattern of Italian is
surprisingly unpredictable and is
one of the biggest hurdles in the
way of acquiring an excellent
accent.)
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