Opera Cat's Opera Translations

"Vous qui faites l'endormie," Mephistopheles's aria from Gounod's Faust. Mephistopheles sings a mocking serenade outside Marguerite's house.

( Don't open the door, my beauty, until the ring is on your finger. )

Verdi's opera Don Carlos was originally performed in French, but is better known in its Italian version, Don Carlo. This time, I have chosen to translate the French version of this duet, in which Rodrigue tries to console his friend Don Carlos for the arranged marriage of his beloved Elisabeth to Carlos's father King Philip. The two men swear eternal brotherhood and devotion to the cause of liberty. The Italian version is "Dio, che nell'alma infondere." In my opinion, this duet deserves to be better known. It may well be the most beautiful tenor/baritone duet I am familiar with, the only rival being "Au fond du temple saint" from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.

I have omitted some background lines sung by the chorus and the Monk.

( Let us be united in life and death )

This charming duet is from Hector Berlioz's opera Béatrice et Bénédict, based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

The italics indicate spoken dialogue.

Thanks to my mother and Sonya Taaffe for helping me figure out a confusing sentence. Any remaining mistakes are entirely mine.

( I will make it my study to displease you in everything. )

While I'm working on Oberto, here's a bit of French opera to tide you over.

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