Il Trovatore

Il trovatore (The Troubadour) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto. This gave the composer the opportunity to propose significant revisions, which were accomplished under his direction by the young librettist Leone Emanuele Bardare, and they are seen largely in the expansion of the role of Leonora.  The opera was first performed at the Teatro Apollo, Rome, on 19 January 1853

Leonora

Tacea la notte placida 

Listen

The serene calm night
beautiful in blue
the silvery face of moon

happy and full ...
Listen

resounding through air
till now so quiet
deserts could be heard

and then

feeble chords of a lute
melancholy verses
verses, beseeching and humble

a man praying to God
repeating a name

  

My name

rises eagerly to the balcony 
I feel a joy that the angels
only are allowed to feel

at my core, ecstasy
Earth seems like heaven

In vain

this talk

Enough

Forget him
Understand the soul

can not understand
such love
Words can scarcely

know the love I know
My heart is drunk

My destiny fulfilled
If I can’t live for it
I will die for it

The hour is late

I count the moments
as  the beating of my heart
and wait for compassionate

love in these arms
The voice of the Troubadour
is faithless

(The moon from the clouds reveals a man

 whose face is hidden by a visor)

O my soul
What voice is that

The darkness
deceives me
Is it you

my soul wants, desires?
I swear on immense eternal love

I love you not

by Leo & Google Translator


Synopsis of Il Trovatore from The Met  

About this post:

It all started with my drawing of a woman, an unknown woman.  She had to have a name, so I called her Leonora.  I don't know anyone by that name, or any form of that name, so I went to the wizard (the web) looking for some clues to her identity.  Who is she?  Who was she?  Try googling Leonora.   That will give you an idea of what I had to pick and choose from before deciding that Leonora was/is the heroine of Il Trovatore.   

Since I knew nothing about Il Trovatore, I then had to pay another visit to the wizard to get some info on the storyline.  The path I chose led me to  i libretti .  Since I know very little Italiano, I sought my old friend, the Google translator.  A finicky kind of translator, but far less time consuming than dragging out the old Italian language books. 

My main interest was understanding what Leonora had to say so I could write a poem about her to accompany my blog post picture.  I could care less about the other characters.  All I needed to know was what was on Leonora's mind.  I didn't need to glean the entire libretto from start to finish either,  I only needed enough of Leonora's words to shed some light on her identity and her plight.  So I cut to the chase, part one, scene two: 

PARTE PRIMA - Il Duello
Scena II

Palace Gardens.
On the right, a marble staircase leads up to the apartments. The night is; thick clouds covering the moon.

Leonora's first words:

Yet another night
Without seeing it ...

Without  seeing what?, I thought, and gave Google the next chunk of Italian to digest and translate.  This is what GT coughed up:

It 'tournaments. V'apparve
Bruno armor and helmet, the shield
Bruno and crest,
Unknown warrior, who
The honors won ... On the victor horsehair
I placed the wreath ... Meanwhile Civil War
Arse ... I saw him no more! as of aurato
Imago fleeting dream! and was once
Long season ... but then ...

Arse?  Horsehair? I crossed out words that made no sense to me, like Arse and horsehair.  I only needed the bare bones, a few sign posts, a general idea of Leonaora's emotional landscape.  I moved on to the next passage belonging to the heroine.  I gave Google the Italian and Google gave me:

  

Listen.
The serene calm night
and beautiful in the blue
The silvery moon face
Showed happy and full ...
When, resounding through the air,
Till then had been so quiet,
Desserts were heard and feeble
The chords of a lute,
And melancholy verses
A Troubadour sang.

Verses, beseeching and humble
What of man praying to God
Was repeated in
A name ... my name! ...
Courses eagerly to the balcony ...
He was! it was he! ...
I felt a joy that the angels
Only allowed to feel! ...
At the core, my ecstatic
The earth seemed a heaven.

Aha!  Now we were getting somewhere.  Leonora is emoting. Sometimes GT really delivers the goods.  

In vain!

What you say! ... oh enough! .

Forget him! Ah, you've spoken
That said, understand that the soul can not understand.
With such love be said that
Words can scarcely,
On the love that only I know,
My heart became drunk! My destiny fulfilled
Can not close behind him ...
If I is not gonna live it,
I will die for it!

 PARTE PRIMA - Il Duello
Scena IV

O my soul! 

more than usual
It's the late hour, I counted the moments
Co 'beating of my heart! ...
Alfin guides you
Compassionate love in these arms ...
Voice of the Troubadour
Faithless! ...

 

(The moon from the clouds and reveals a man, whose face is hidden by the visor)

PARTE PRIMA - Il Duello
Scena V

What a voice! ... Ah, the darkness
Treat deceived me!
(recognizing both, and throwing himself at the feet of Manrico, agitated)
To you I deemed ask
The focus and not to him ...
To you, that my soul
Sol wants, desires ...
I love you, I swear, I love you
On the immense, eternal love!

I took what I needed from the above and with poetic license, changed things around a little.  I had enough for my poem. 

È stato finito. 

It was finished.