Vapensiero lyrics
Arnau van Wyngaard
Thanks
Mark D. Lew
<sw...@megaweb.co.za> wrote:
> Could someone help me with the lyrics of Vapensiero from Nabucco.
> Thanks
Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate;
Va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,
Ove olezzano tepide e molli
L'aure dolci del suolo natal!
Del Giordano le rive saluta,
Di Sďonne le torri atterrate.
Oh mia patria sě bella e perduta!
Oh membranza sě cara e fatal!
Arpa d'ôr dei fatidici vati,
Perchč muta dal salice pendi?
Le memorie nel petto raccendi,
Ci favella del tempo che fu!
O simile di Solima ai fati
Traggi un suono di crudo lamento,
O t'ispiri il Signore un concento
Che ne infonda al patire virtů!
Verse is by Temistocle Solera. Like most really good poetry, it loses
something in translation, but here's my attempt (not quite literal):
Fly away, Thought, on golden wings.
Go rest on the hills
Where the warm breezes blow fragrant,
The sweet breath of my homeland.
Greet the banks of the Jordan,
And the toppled towers of Zion.
Oh beautiful country that I have lost,
Oh cherished memory that grips my heart!
Golden harp of the prophets of old,
Why do you hang silently from the willow?
Stir the memories in our hearts,
Tell us of the old days.
Like the fall of Jerusalem,
Strike a chord like a harsh cry.
And let the Lord provide the harmony
Which gives meaning to our suffering.
I love the last stanza. The harmony metaphor works better in Italian;
"harmony" doesn't really capture the whole sense of "concento". Likewise
"ispirare" and "virtů".
mdl
PANPERSON
chorus sang the Va pensiero so did the entire audience
while they lit candles. It was a breath taking moment.
I believe - although if anyone wants to correct me that is fine - that Verdi
meant Viva Emanuel Re Di Italia. Did I spell that right? And that the
Va pensiero had much to do with it. I forget what they call doing that kind
of thing but I am sure someone will know. Anyway Verdi had much to do with
the unification of the various states in Italy.
Am I completely wrong? Its been a long time and I am not really up on my
Italian history.
DAVID MY COFFEE MUG SAYS: HOLD ME, I AM A FERMATA IT MAKES MY DAY
Luca Logi
Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia, king of Piedmont, from 1848 to 1861
fought a serie of different wars in order to conquer and unify the
several states in which Italy was divided (but Roma was conquered only
in 1871, Venezia still later and the whole process was complete only in
1918). In 1861 he was proclamated king of Italy.
In the Austrian dominated Milano an invocation to Vittorio Emanuele was
enough reason for a long term in jail. A cry VIVA VERDI - which was
meant as VIVA Vittorio Emanuele Re d'Italia (=long live Vittorio
Emanuele, king of Italy) - could not be forbidden as it sounded like an
opera fan cry.
On his own, Verdi was very fond of writing choruses in which some people
are concerned about freedom of their homeland. You can find them in
Nabucco, Ernani, I Lombardi, Macbeth, to name just a few actually
written before 1848... clearly not at all a simple coincidence. Most
voluntary soldiers actually died singing these choruses.
Va' pensiero is the most popular. Just think to it as an unofficial
national anthem.
News from the other side of the fence: the famous Radetsky March by Joh.
Strauss Sen. was written in honour of the marshal who crushed the
Italian patriots during one early attempt.
--
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy
ll...@dada.it
Mark D. Lew
(PANPERSON) wrote:
> I believe - although if anyone wants to correct me that is fine - that Verdi
> meant Viva Emanuel Re Di Italia. Did I spell that right? And that the
> Va pensiero had much to do with it. I forget what they call doing that kind
> of thing but I am sure someone will know. Anyway Verdi had much to do with
> the unification of the various states in Italy.
> Am I completely wrong? Its been a long time and I am not really up on my
> Italian history.
You're on the right track, but off on some of the particulars. Verdi had a
great interest in Italian unification, but he was more of a symbol than an
actor in the struggle. Nabucco, his third opera and first big hit,
premiered in 1842 in Milan, a time and place ripe with nationalist feeling.
Milan was under Austrian occupation at the time; explicitly nationalistic
speech was banned, but singing an operatic chorus ostensibly about Hebrew
slaves was allowed. Thus "Va pensiero" was adopted by the people as a
nationalist anthem, sung en masse at public rallies.
This made Verdi a national symbol, and his celebrity was later enhanced
when it was discovered that Verdi's name could be seen as an acronym for
"Vittorio Emmanuele Re d'Italia." I don't know for sure, but I suspect
this catchphrase didn't become current until the 1850s. In 1842, Vittorio
Emmanuele was a young prince, heir to the house of Savoy, which ruled
Kingdom of Sardinia. (In spite of its official name, this kingdom was
centered in Turin and consisted primarily of the Piedmont area of
northwestern Italy.) Interest in Italian unity and independence had been
widespread since the time of Napoleon. The Congress of Vienna (1815),
following the Napoleonic Wars, left most of northern Italy as provinces of
the Habsburg (Austrian) empire, while most of southern Italy was a single
kingdom ruled by a member of the Bourbon (French) royal family.
The Austrian Empire, under its reactionary chancellor Metternich,
vigorously opposed any sort of nationalism. As nationalist agitation
increased, so did Austrian military presence in northern Italy, and the
movement for unification came to be seen (in the north, at least) as a
struggle against Austrian occupation. In the years following 1815, several
local revolutions throughout Italy (north and south) ended in failure, and
hopes which had been raised by the July revolution in France (1830) and the
seemingly liberal Pope Pius IX (1846) proved disappointing. Consequently,
nationalist opinion gradually turned its interest to the more moderate idea
of a unified Italian monarchy under the king of Sardinia. The Savoy
kingdom, although small, was the strongest independent state in Italy at
the time, and while neither the king nor the prince were especially
liberal, they at least were more progressive than the Austrian or French.
This strategy of unifying Italy by annexing all of Italy to the Sardinian
kingdom was the ambition of Sardinian prime minister Cavour, a
progressive-minded aristocrat, much admired by Verdi. With Machiavellian
skill, Cavour manipulated France and Austria into a war in which Austria
was defeated, and then used his diplomatic influence with the other leaders
of Europe (in particular, Britain's Lord Palmerston) to negotiate a series
of settlements in which most of the Italian peninsula was formed into a new
Italian kingdom, under the Sardinian king. Thus in 1861 Vittorio Emmanuele
(who had succeeded to the throne following his father's abdication in 1848)
was proclaimed "Re d'Italia", as the V-E-R-D-I slogan had called for. In
1866 the Italian kingdom annexed Venice and its environs from Austria, and
in 1870 it annexed the papal states (nominally independent, but occupied by
France) and moved the capital to Rome.
At the personal request of Cavour, Verdi served as a member of the new
Italian parliament, but even here Verdi was not very active politically. He
voted consistently with Cavour, and after Cavour's death he declined to run
for a second term.
Throughout Italy's modern history, Italian poetry has been closely allied
to Italian politics. Italy's most revered poets have tended to be political
figures as well (eg, Mazzini, d'Annunzio). As with poetry, so also with
opera. I think most Italian operas of the past two centuries, and not just
those which are overtly political, lose something outside of the context of
the political mood of Italy at the time they were introduced, be it the
fervent nationalism of the '50s, the disillusionment and malaise of the
'80s, or the frustration following the "mutilated victory" of the first
world war.
The exception to the rule is Puccini, who was thoroughly disinterested in
all things political. This is reflected in the "timelessness" of his work,
and I think it's one of the reasons Puccini's popularity persists today,
while contemporaries like Mascagni or Montemezzi are slowly fading into
obscurity.
mdl
GRNDPADAVE
>Date: Wed, Oct 21, 1998 04:50 EDT
>Message-id: <markdlew-ya0240800...@news.earthlink.net>
In this generally excellent post, just a couple of points need to be added:
(1) Verdi was a staunch republican.
(2) He contributed generously to raise weapons for the republican cause.
(3) His hero was Garibaldi, whose army was engaged in the liberation of the
South.
(4) Verdi chose to write operas that favored Italian unity: I LOMBARDI, LA
BATTAGLIA DI LEGNANO, et. al.
(5) Verdi encountered censorship when attacking absolute monarchy: RIGOLETTO,
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, I VESPRI SICILIANI.
(6) In 1862, Verdi's INNO DELLE NAZIONI constituted a plea that Italy be
accorded a station equal to that of France and Britain.
-
In short Verdi was not merely a symbol of the Risorgimento, but a strong
proponent of it. He was a staunch patriot, accounting for the emergence of
many Verdi / Mazzini societies that flourish even today.
-
Viva VERDI !
==G/P Dave
Mark D. Lew
Logi) wrote:
> Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia, king of Piedmont, from 1848 to 1861
> fought a serie of different wars in order to conquer and unify the
> several states in which Italy was divided (but Roma was conquered only
> in 1871, Venezia still later and the whole process was complete only in
> 1918). In 1861 he was proclamated king of Italy.
Venezia was annexed in 1866, following the "Seven Weeks' War". The war was
instigated by Prussia as part of Bismarck's policy to weaken the Austrian
empire's influence in Germany, preparatory to German unification under
Prussia. Italian forces were actually defeated (on land at Custoza and at
sea at Lissa), but were instrumental in diverting Austrian forces from the
main theater of war in Bohemia. Prussia won decisively at Königgratz
(Sadowa); in the peace settlement, Italy's contribution was acknowledged
with the cession of Venezia.
Rome was taken in 1870, with very little fighting. Once the French
garrison was withdrawn (to be redeployed on the Rhine for defense against
Prussia), the only obstacles to Italian annexation of Rome were political,
not military. Following the French withdrawal Vittorio Emanuele remained
opposed to annexation, while his prime minister and public opinion were in
favor. After the French defeat at Sedan (Sept 1), the king was persuaded
to change his position, but even then he apologized to the Pope, saying
that political reality had forced the decision upon him against his own
judgment. The Italian army marched on Rome (Sept 20), but met only a token
resistance from the Papal mercenaries. In October, a plebiscite was held
in Rome, resulting in overwhelming approval of the annexation.
It's a stretch to say that Vittorio Emanuele "fought a series of wars".
Before Cavour's death in 1861, VE was not very active in policymaking.
Although Garibaldi's fighting in the south had Sardinia's clandestine
support, officially the government knew nothing of it. The only war which
VE can really be said to have fought was for Venezia in 1866.
I've already gone off-topic far enough, so I'll refrain from discussing 1918.
Getting back to opera.... Luca, I'd be interested in whatever you can tell
me about the phrase "perché muta dal salice pendi". I was once told that
"hanging from the willow tree" is an old metaphor representing suffering in
silence, related to some sort of pre-Christian myth, but I've never been
able to confirm that in any source. Is "pendere dal salice" a common
phrase in Italian?
mdl
PS. For those taking notes, I see that I made two errors in my previous
post: (1) I misspelled Vittorio Emanuele's name. (2) I said Italy annexed
the "papal states" in 1870; in fact, all papal territory except the city of
Rome was taken in 1861.
Mark D. Lew
(GRNDPADAVE) wrote:
> In this generally excellent post, just a couple of points need to be added:
> - <snip>
> In short Verdi was not merely a symbol of the Risorgimento, but a strong
> proponent of it. He was a staunch patriot, accounting for the emergence of
> many Verdi / Mazzini societies that flourish even today.
I certainly wouldn't dispute Verdi's patriotism, but Panperson's original
comment that "Verdi had much to do with the unification of the various
states in Italy" might suggest to some that Verdi's participation was on a
par with that of Garibaldi, Mazzini or Cavour, which was certainly not the
case. Verdi's patriotism and influence is unquestionable, but even so he
was less involved in the risorgimento than were hundreds of others whose
work was devoted exclusively to politics.
Mark D. Lew
> This made Verdi a national symbol, and his celebrity was later enhanced
> when it was discovered that Verdi's name could be seen as an acronym for
> "Vittorio Emmanuele Re d'Italia." I don't know for sure, but I suspect
> this catchphrase didn't become current until the 1850s.
Now I find a reference in Charles Osborne's "Complete Operas of Verdi". He
says the slogan was first heard at the premiere of Ballo -- February 1859,
in Rome.
mdl
DAVID A DI LUZIO
> In this generally excellent post, just a couple of points need to be
added:
> (1) Verdi was a staunch republican.
> (2) He contributed generously to raise weapons for the republican cause.
> (3) His hero was Garibaldi, whose army was engaged in the liberation of
the
> South.
> (4) Verdi chose to write operas that favored Italian unity: I LOMBARDI,
LA
> BATTAGLIA DI LEGNANO, et. al.
> (5) Verdi encountered censorship when attacking absolute monarchy:
RIGOLETTO,
> UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, I VESPRI SICILIANI.
> (6) In 1862, Verdi's INNO DELLE NAZIONI constituted a plea that Italy be
> accorded a station equal to that of France and Britain.
> -
> In short Verdi was not merely a symbol of the Risorgimento, but a strong
> proponent of it. He was a staunch patriot, accounting for the emergence
of
> many Verdi / Mazzini societies that flourish even today.
> -
> Viva VERDI !
> ==G/P Dave
Great post but bad conclusion. I fully agree w/ GDave
Viva Verdi! Forz' Italia! Va fuori gli stranieri da Italia specialmente
i deficenti turisti Americani !
JOSE MARIA GIL PEREZ
http://php.indiana.edu/~lneff/libtlist.html
Un saludo desde Madrid - Spain
mcor...@nexo.es
Arnau van Wyngaard escribió en mensaje <70clb3$c6u$1...@news2.saix.net>...