Audio Excerpts
C’era un tempo
Listen (Isaac Bray, Baritone)
“C’era un tempo” is the opening aria from Dignity. The aria acknowledges a time when everything was good, but now that time has passed and will never come again.
LA TERRA, E OGNI VISTA COMUNE
A ME SEMBRAVA
VESTITA DI LUCE CELESTIALE,
LA GLORIA E LA FRESCHEZZA DI UN SOGNO.
NON È ORA COM'ERA UN TEMPO; -
GIRARE OVUNQUE IO POSSA,
DI NOTTE O DI GIORNO,
LE COSE CHE HO VISTO ORA NON LE VEDO PIÙ.
E SE LA RADIOSITÀ CHE UNA VOLTA ERA COSÌ BRILLANTE
SII ORA PER SEMPRE SOTTRATTO ALLA MIA VISTA,
ANCHE SE NULLA PUÒ RIPORTARE INDIETRO L'ORA
DI SPLENDORE NELL'ERBA, DI GLORIA NEL FIORE!
English:
The earth, and every common sight
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower!
Euterpe’s Lute
Listen (Frederica von Stade, Mezzo-Soprano)
“Euterpe’s Lute” is sung by Akeso at the beginning of Act 2. Joe has been arrested for assaulting a police officer and is now lying in a hospital bed with handcuffs restraining him. His delusions immerse him in yet another operatic scene in which a Greek maiden tends to the hero’s wounds.
EUTERPE GLANCED HER FINGERS O'ER HER LUTE,
AND LIGHTLY WAKED IT TO A CHEERFUL STRAIN,
THEN LAID IT BY, AND TOOK THE MELLOW FLUTE,
WHOSE SOFTLY FLOWING WARBLE FILLED THE PLAIN:
IT WAS A LAY THAT ROUSED THE DROOPING SOUL,
AND BADE THE TEAR OF SORROW CEASE TO FLOW;
THE SHARDS DID MEND INTO THE VESSEL WHOLE
THE INNER SPIRIT, HEALED ONCE MORE, DID GLOW.