Sapho
Divamanque
title, it sounds like an ode to her lyre, but although I understand a bit more
French than I did when I sang it, I've long ago mislaid the music, so can't
help with a synopsis.
Evelyn
KALIUCCI wrote:
> The Gounod Sapho is based on the 6th century B.C. Greek poetess born in
> Lesbos???Her love poems mainly addressed young women and their passion for
> others of the same sex. The terms sapphism and lesbianism are derived from
> Sapho and Lesbos. So, is this an opera about lesbians?
> One of my past arias was "O ma lyre immortelle" from Gounods Sapho. I
> never had the translation nor do I understand French. Can anyone tell me
> what she is singing about?
>
> Donna M. Weaver
Mark D. Lew
<evg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Donna, I used to sing that one, too (also without a translation). From the
> title, it sounds like an ode to her lyre, but although I understand a bit more
> French than I did when I sang it, I've long ago mislaid the music, so can't
> help with a synopsis.
A synopsis of the opera in French is available at
<http://perso.infonie.fr/davin/gounod/oeuvres/operas/sapho.htm>. As far as
I know there is no synopsis in English available online.
Since there seems to be interest, I've dug into my file and extracted a
translation. This translation was provided to me by Patricia Kealy, for use
in my edition of the sheet music. A word-for-word translation is
incorporated into the music. The edition, including both translations, is
copyrighted by me and is available at
<http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/shw/SaphLyre.htm>.
RECITATIVE:
Où suis-je?
Ah! oui je me rappelle.
Tout ce qui m'attachait à la vie est brisé.
Il ne me reste plus que la nuit éternelle,
Pour reposer mon coeur, de douleur épuisé.
Where am I?
Ah! yes, I remember.
All that bound me to life is broken.
All that remains for me is eternal darkness,
Where my heart, exhausted by grief, can rest.
FIRST VERSE:
O ma lyre immortelle,
Qui dans les tristes jours,
A tous mes maux fidèle,
Les consolais toujours.
En vain ton doux murmure
Veut m'aider à souffrir.
Non tu ne peux guerir
Ma dernière blessure,
Ma blessure est au coeur.
Seul le trépas peut finir ma douleur.
Oh my immortal lyre,
Who, during sad times,
Faithful to all my sorrows,
Always consoled them.
In vain thy sweet murmur
Tries to help me in my suffering.
No, thou canst not heal
My final wound,
My wound is to the heart.
Only death can put an end to my pain.
SECOND VERSE:
Adieu! flambeau du monde.
Descends au sein des flots.
Moi je descends sous l'onde
Dans l'Eternel repos.
Le jour qui doit éclore,
Phaon, luira pour toi,
Mais sans penser à moi
Tu reverras l'aurore.
Ouvre-toi, gouffre amer.
Je vais dormir pour toujours dans la mer.
Farewell, torch of the world. [*]
Sink beneath the waves.
I sink into the deep
Into eternal rest.
The new day that will dawn,
Phaon, will shine for you,
But with no thought of me
Thou wilt see another dawn.
Open up, bitter abyss.
I go to sleep forever in the sea.
* ie, the sun.
mdl
Mike Richter
hint of homoeroticism.
I haven't read the libretto but figured that that final aria was an
ode to her lyre - music - muse (of poetry). Sort of a French Vissi
d'arte leading to suicide instead of to murder. (Okay, so it wasn't
murder. Justifiable homicide? Self defense?)
Mike
KALIUCCI wrote:
>
> The Gounod Sapho is based on the 6th century B.C. Greek poetess born in
> Lesbos???Her love poems mainly addressed young women and their passion for
> others of the same sex. The terms sapphism and lesbianism are derived from
> Sapho and Lesbos. So, is this an opera about lesbians?
> One of my past arias was "O ma lyre immortelle" from Gounods Sapho. I
> never had the translation nor do I understand French. Can anyone tell me
> what she is singing about?
>
> Donna M. Weaver
--
mric...@mindspring.com
http://mrichter.simplenet.com
CD-R http://resource.simplenet.com
Christina West
"KALIUCCI" <KALI...@prodigy.net> wrote:
> The Gounod Sapho is based on the 6th century B.C. Greek poetess born
> in Lesbos???Her love poems mainly addressed young women and their
> passion for others of the same sex. The terms sapphism and
> lesbianism are derived from Sapho and Lesbos. So, is this an opera
> about lesbians?
Nope. Both Gounod's 'Sappho' and Pacini's 'Saffo' credit the poetess
with nothing more exotic than the traditional hetersexul love
triangle, unfortunately.
--
Christina West
xina on IRC
Email: xi...@argonet.co.uk
Web: www.argonet.co.uk/users/xina/
Mark D. Lew
<KALI...@prodigy.net> wrote:
> The Gounod Sapho is based on the 6th century B.C. Greek poetess born in
> Lesbos???Her love poems mainly addressed young women and their passion for
> others of the same sex. The terms sapphism and lesbianism are derived from
> Sapho and Lesbos. So, is this an opera about lesbians?
> One of my past arias was "O ma lyre immortelle" from Gounods Sapho. I
> never had the translation nor do I understand French. Can anyone tell me
> what she is singing about?
Sheet music of the aria with complete translation is available at
<http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/shw/SaphLyre.htm>. In brief, Sapho has
been spurned by her lover (a man) and she is standing at the top of a rocky
cliff at sunset, preparing to throw herself into the sea below. The words
she sings are a sort of broken-hearted farewell to the world.
The opera is not about lesbians (though it is about Lesbians, ie people
from Lesbos). It's true that what remains of Sappho's love poetry is
primarily homoerotic, but it's debatable whether the poet was "lesbian" in
the sense we use today. Certainly she was not represented as such in
classical writings. In the classic story -- which the opera libretto
follows, more or less -- Sappho's primary love is for a young man, Phaon.
The story may or may not be truly historical, but it's probably not
entirely fictional either.
Sappho's birthplace is not known. She spent her early life on Andros but
was exiled along with her husband. After a short stay in Sicily, she ended
up on Lesbos.
mdl
TomKauf2
Gounod operas, although Saffo (Sapho) dies in both. Actually, the Pacini work
has some slight similarities to Norma---and although perhpas less well known
today than the Gounod, was, at one time, far more successfull. In fact, the
Pacini was in the regular repertory in Italy, Iberia and South America for some
50 years.
There are two recordings of the Pacini extant, with one in preparation, and,
AFAIK just one of the Gounod.
Cheers
Tom