Paula Murrihy Mezzo Masterpieces Programme Book

PROGRAMME
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART 1756-1791
LA CLEMENZA DI TITO 1791
Overture
Parto, parto, ma tu ben mio
COSÌ FAN TUTTE 1789-90
Smanie implacabili
È amore un ladroncello
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO 1785-86
Hai già vinta la causa
Voi che sapete
IDOMENEO 1780-81
Il padre adorato
Marcia
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART 1756-1791
LA CLEMENZA DI TITO 1791
OVERTURE
An opera with political plotting to rival House of Cards or, in musical terms, “a backward
glance at opera seria and a work of neo-classical nobility ushering in the new century”
(Viking Opera Guide). Scheming never sounded so sweet.
PARTO, PARTO, MA TU BEN MIO ACT I
This aria, with its celebrated clarinet obbligato, was written only weeks after the
composer’s Clarinet Concerto. It’s a dramatic delineation of love and vengeance in ancient
Rome.
SESTO
Parto, parto, ma tu ben mio,
meco ritorna in pace;
sarò qual più ti piace;
quel che vorrai farò.
Guardami, e tutto oblio,
e a vendicarti io volo;
a questo sguardo solo
da me si penserà.
Ah qual poter, oh Dei!
donaste alla beltà.
SEXTUS
I go, but, my dearest,
make peace again with me.
I will be what you would most
have me be, do whatever you wish.
Look at me, and I will forget all
and fly to avenge you;
I will think only
of that glance at me.
Ah, ye gods, what power
you have given beauty!
DON GIOVANNI 1787
Ah, chi mi dice mai
Fin ch’han dal vino
LA CLEMENZA DI TITO 1791
Deh, per questo istante solo
COSÌ FAN TUTTE 1789-90
SMANIE IMPLACABILI ACT I
Così fan tutte (All Women are Like This), subtitled La scuola degli amanti (The School for
Lovers), is an imbalanced tale about the faithfulness of women – the unfaithfulness of men
seems to be taken for granted. In this Act I aria Dorabella is devastated, to the point of
melodrama, that her fiancé has gone off to war.
DORABELLA
Smanie implacabili
che m’agitate,
entro quest’anima
più non cessate
finchè l’angoscia
mi fa morir.
DORABELLA
Implacable pangs
which torment me,
do not subside
within my being
until my anguish
brings me death.
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