ORR232_ Book.qxd

Les suaves haleines Gentle breezes
Voltigent sur les plaines, move over the plains,
Le cœur épanoui the radiant heart
Se perd dans l’infini. loses itself in infinity!
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Poem by F.N. dei Santo Mango
‘Délire’ (Intoxication) [CD 2 Track 8]
ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
IN 1846, Viardot carried off something of a feat, when – to help an ailing
colleague – she sang the roles of both Isabella and Alice in a Berlin
performance of Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable. Meyerbeer, who had long been an
admirer, declared that he would not compose another opera for Paris unless
Viardot were engaged to sing in it. When she made her return to London, it
was as Valentine in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, the first time it was heard in
England, at a Royal Command Performance before Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert. Eventually Viardot did sing at the Paris Opéra, in the premiere of
Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, one of the great triumphs of her career. Meyerbeer’s
songs have fallen into neglect, and await modern champions.
De’ miei giorni sull’aurora In the springtime of my youth
vivo solo per soffrir: my life is filled with grief:
quel crudele che m’innamora the heartless man I love
par di gelo a’ miei sospir. is icily impassive to my sighs.
Se pietà de’ pianti miei If compassion for my tears
–81–