Opera Highlights ♫♬♩♬♪♫
Aida
Triumphal march
Egyptian soldiers celebrate their success with a march before their pharaoh. Radamès, who led the pharaoh’s army to victory, is hailed as a hero of the Egyptian nation, and priests give thanks to the gods.
Carmen
L’amour est un oiseau rebelle
(Love is a rebellious bird)
When Carmen’s many admirers seek to attract her attention and favours, she expounds on her feelings about love.
Carmen
Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre … Toréador, en garde!
(I can reciprocate your toast … Toreador, en garde!)
There is much excitement when the toreador Escamillo arrives at Pastia’s Tavern. He returns the words of welcome and entertains the crowd with his thrilling stories of the bullring.
Don Giovanni
Madamina, il catalogo è questo delle belle
(Dear lady, this is a list of the beauties)
Leporello relates his long list of women whom his master Don Giovanni has seduced—Donna Elvira should not take Giovanni’s betrayal personally.
Don Giovanni
Là ci darem la mano
(There you will give me your hand)
It is Zerlina’s wedding day, but Don Giovanni has intruded on the wedding party and lured the bride away. Giovanni showers Zerlina with compliments: what mischievous eyes, what delightful lips, what slender, perfumed fingers … that sort of thing. Then he tries to lead her off to one of his love nests.
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni, a cenar teco m’invitasti
(Don Giovanni, you invited me to dinner)
The ghost of the commendatore confronts Don Giovanni. Spoiler alert: Don Giovanni’s fate is revealed.
La Bohème
O soave fanciulla
(Oh lovely girl)
Rodolfo and Mimì declare their love.
La Bohème
Quando m’en vo soletta per la via
(When I walk alone along the street)
Musetta expresses how she enjoys attracting attention as she flaunts her beauty in the streets of Paris; and she reminds her ex-lover Marcello what he’s missing.
La Bohème
Sono andati?
(Have they left?)
Mimì tells Rodolfo how much he means to her.
La Traviata
Libiamo ne’ lieti calici
(Let us drink from happy glasses)
Alfredo and Violetta sing a drinking song in praise of life and love.
La Traviata
Addio, del passato bei sogni ridenti
(Farewell, happy dreams of the past)
Violetta laments all that she has lost and accepts that she has not much longer to live. She asks God to forgive a fallen woman.
Madam Butterfly
Un bel dì
(One fine day)
Butterfly addresses Suzuki and imagines the day when Pinkerton will eventually return to her. She imagines her joyous sighting of Pinkerton’s ship—at first just a strand of smoke drifting above the distant horizon.
Rigoletto
Gualtier Maldè … Caro nome
(Gualtier Maldè … Dear name)
Gilda expresses her love for the Duke of Mantua, who has deceived her by disguising himself as a poor student and using the alias Gualtier Maldè.
Rigoletto
La donna è mobile qual piuma al vento
(Women are as fickle as a feather in the wind)
The Duke of Mantua (who just happens to be one of the most fickle characters in all of opera) expresses his views on women. Outside, Rigoletto and his daughter Gilda are listening. Will it be enough to change Gilda’s feelings towards the duke?
Tosca
Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore
(I lived for art, I lived for love)
Baron Scarpia, chief of police, demands that Tosca surrender to his lustful desires; if she refuses, Scarpia will have her lover executed. Tosca asks God what she has done to deserve such a terrible fate.
Tosca
E lucevan le stelle
(And the stars were shining)
Mario Cavaradossi is awaiting execution in the Castel Sant’Angelo; he thinks back on happier times spent with Tosca, and how much he still loves her.