CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd - Chandos

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CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 50 Henri I’m so in love I may expire! Hortense Come let’s enjoy… Henri A tête à tête? Hortense And after supper… Henri What joys await! Hortense Hush! Henri I’m burning with such desire, my blood’s on fire, but here’s a cosy chambre séparée! Hortense Where we’ll enjoy a tender tête à tête! Henri While we sip champagne… Hortense Our cares will melt away Hortense and Henri Who knows what pleasures await! Henri It’s perfect for a tête à tête! 14 Hortense and Henri Our chambre séparée! translation by Nigel Douglas from Prince Igor Song of the Polovtsian Maiden Polovtsian Maiden Tender flower, starved of water, drooping, wilting, in the sunlight burning. Ah. All her leaves are dry and fading, and her rosy petals wither. Polovtsian Maiden and Chorus Ah. But the sunlight now is dying, and the dew is falling fast. Soon the earth will bathe in moisture, and the flower’s sorrow pass. In the cool and fragrant evening she will quench her thirst at last. Chorus Sunlight dying, night falls fast. Dew will fall, and the flower drink at last. As the flower thirsts for water so a maiden yearns for her lover. Polovtsian Maiden She will pine and she will languish, and desire her lover’s caresses. Polovtsian Maiden and Chorus Ah. But the sunlight now is dying, and the night is falling fast. 15 Soon our lovers will come to join us, and our sorrows all will pass. In the cool and fragrant evening we will quench our thirst at last. Chorus Sunlight dying, night falls fast. Soon we all will quench our thirst at last. Borodin, translation by David Lloyd Jones from Die Fledermaus Orlofsky’s Aria Orlofsky Three score and ten the years we men must suffer here on earth, but I shall try and try again to pass the time in mirth. I ask my friends to join me here, to while away a night. But one thing I make very clear to those whom I invite. I can’t abide the dreary lout who makes himself a bore, and very soon I throw him out, straight thro’ the nearest door. When people say ‘That’s surely a curious thing to do.’ I answer them quite simply Chacun à son goût. Vodka! 16 All friends to come and go are free, and all I’ll entertain, but those who will not drink with me shall never come again. One kind of man I can’t endure, the kind that’s simply crass. The chronic pestilential bore who will not drain his glass, and very soon I let him know that my last word is said, I take the glass and throw it so, directly at his head! When people say ‘That’s surely a curious thing to do.’ I answer them quite simply Chacun à son goût. Na zdarovye. C. Haffner & R. Genée after Meilhac and Halévy, translation by Leonard Hancock and David Pountney from Faust Siébel’s Romance Siébel When happy days bring you gladness and laughter, seeing your joy my sadness disappears. But if the pain and sorrow follow after, oh, Marguerite, oh, Marguerite, I shed a tear to mingle with your tears! We are two flowers that bloom beside each other; destiny guides us on a single course. 50 51
CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 52 17 I share your grief as if I were a brother, oh, Marguerite, oh, Marguerite, blameless and chaste, my selfless love endures! Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, translaton by Christopher Cowell from The Merry Widow Valencienne and Camille’s Duet Valencienne Calm down, my friend! Camille Always so distant! Valencienne No ifs and buts, I’m quite insistent! You’ll simply have to get engaged to Hanna! Camille All right, I will. But why maltreat me in this manner? Valencienne Believe me, love, I find it hard. I don’t enjoy these endless quarrels. I’d yield to you with no holds barred, if there were no such thing as morals. Camille So does this mean goodbye forever? Valencienne It means at least a serious endeavour. Camille I’ll do my best, I really will! Valencienne I know, my love, I don’t mean to tease. Camille Then let me kiss you… Valencienne Now don’t make me angry. Camille Forgive, forgive me please! Just as the sun awakens the sleepy buds of May so does your beauty inspire me and drive my fears away. This seed that you have sown within my slumb’ring breast, into a flow’r has grown, a flow’r forever blest. Can hearts so newly woken return to sleep again? Should words that spring has spoken dissolve in autumn rain? This flow’r we both must cherish, to beautify our lives. Tho’ all around may perish the pow’r of love survives. Valencienne O Camille! Camille Valencienne! Valencienne My darling, no! O sweetheart, why can’t you let me go? Camille Then grant me, my angel, just one parting kiss. Valencienne Not out here. Camille See where the summer-house awaits, so suggestive of a rendezvous. There, where that summer-house awaits we could be divinely entre nous! There in the dark of night we could share love’s delight. There, where the summer-house awaits we could kiss the whole night through, we two! Valencienne Love calls me… How can I not surrender? 18 Camille There, where the summer-house awaits we shall whisper words of tender love. Valencienne No one to hear us? My dearest love! Camille and Valencienne There in the dark of night we can share love’s delight. There, where the summer-house awaits we shall kiss the whole night through, we two! Léon & Stein after Meilhac, translation by Nigel Douglas, © Josef Weinberger Ltd Stölzel If you are near I shall go gladly to Death’s eternal peace and rest. Ah, with what joy my end shall fill me, if your sweet hands are there to still me and close my trusting eyes at last. translation by David Parry 52 53
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CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd - Chandos

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