Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: "Signore, ascolta!" from Turandot

Elizabeth Schwarzkopf is unsurpassed! This is by far the most beautiful rendition and interpretation of the famous aria, Signore ascolta! from Pucini's masterpeace TURANDOT, and aria that I could hardly stop listening to it over and over again. True bel-canto, magnifico!!

Elizabeth Schwarzkopf:

More on this aria and Turandot:

Turandot Synopsis 

Signore, ascolta by Renata Tebaldi 

Music Reading Made Easy

Signore, ascolta by Maria Callas

Renata Tebaldi & Jussi Björling in Turandot

Renata Tebaldi & Jussi Björling in Turandot

Veramour correctly said: "Jussi Björling had no small voice when he sang opposite Renata Tebaldi & Milanov at the Met. His artistry was certainly less histrionic than that of MDM and Corelli. Victoria de los Angeles described her first impression of Bjorling's live voice as speechless awe -- its sound, size and range were to her surreal," so I took the liberty to quote her here.

Enjoy listening Tebaldi & Bjoerling in Turandot.

Signore, ascolta by Renata Tebaldi

Signore, ascolta by Maria Callas

Music Reading Made Easy

Signore, ascolta! by Renata Tibaldi

Signore, ascolta! by Renata Tibaldi, from Act I of the Italian opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini

Role: Liú, a slave girl
Voice Part: soprano      
Fach: lyric soprano
Setting: The streets of Peking
Synopsis: Liù, Calaf and Timur are in the midst of a processional to the execution of the Prince of Persia who attempted to win the Princess Turandot by answering three riddles. If he had given the correct answers, he would have married the Princess, but the price for incorrectly answering them was death. During the processional, Calaf catches a glimpse of Turandot, falls in love with her immediately, and decides to attempt to answer the three riddles. Liù sings this aria to beg him not to risk his life for the Princess.

Alla Liù della Tebaldi non manca davvero nulla per giungere alla completa perfezione. Toccante interpretazione, saldezza assoluta nella linea vocale, fluidità senza alcun, seppur minimo, tentennamento, lucentezza timbrica senza eguali, pianissimo che letteralmente tolgono il fiato per il loro nitore e per la loro perfetta proporzione con gli altri volumi della voce. Senza dubbio una Liù senza rivali.

Signore, ascolta! translation is in the blog post with the Maria Callas's Signore, ascolta! version.

Music Reading Made Easy!

Maria Callas: "Signore ascolta!" from Turandot | Lyrics & Translation

Signore, ascolta! by Maria Callas, from Act I of the Italian opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto: Giuseppe Adami

Role: Liú, a slave girl
Voice Part: soprano      
Fach: lyric soprano
Setting: The streets of Peking
Synopsis: Liù, Calaf and Timur are in the midst of a processional to the execution of the Prince of Persia who attempted to win the Princess Turandot by answering three riddles. If he had given the correct answers, he would have married the Princess, but the price for incorrectly answering them was death. During the processional, Calaf catches a glimpse of Turandot, falls in love with her immediately, and decides to attempt to answer the three riddles. Liù sings this aria to beg him not to risk his life for the Princess.

 

Lyrics:

Signore, ascolta! Deh!, signore, acolta!
Liù non regge più!
Si pezza il cuore! Ahimè,
quanto cammino
col tuo nome nell'anima
col nome tuo nell'labbra
Ma se il tuo destino,
doman, sarà deciso,
noi morrem sulla strada dell'esilio.
Ei perderà suo figlio...
io l'ombra d'un sorriso!
Liù non regge più!
ha pietà!

English Translation:

Lord, hear! Ah, sir, listen!
Liu no longer holds, it breaks my heart! 

Alas, what with your name in my way,
with your name on the lips!
But if your fate will be decided tomorrow,
we die on the road of exile.
He would lose his son …

I am the shadow of a smile.
Liu does not hold anymore! 

Ah!

Music Readings Made Easy

Turandot Synopsis | Giacomo Puccini's Masterpeace

Toward the end of his career, Giacomo Puccini was influenced by the compositions of Rimsky-Korsakov, Strauss, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky, early forerunners of the Impressionistic Music Era. As Impressionistic music diverged from traditional harmonies, Puccini endeavored to assimilate a more contemporary style into the writing of "Turandot," an opera based on Italian dramatist's Carlo Gozzi's play by that name. Puccini's "Turandot" is by far his most grand opera, replete with climaxes, choruses, and full pageantry.

Princess Turandot, according to the fable that served as Gozzi's inspiration, lived in the City of Peking. She was destined to marry but had pledged to thwart any attempts of suitors because of an ancestor's abduction by a prince and resultant death. With each suitor, Turandot posed three riddles. If the suitor answered all three riddles correctly, he won the hand of the princess. If he failed, he lost his head.

TURANDOT by Giacomo Puccini 

ACT I. Peking, legendary times. In a quarter swarming with people near the Forbidden City, a Mandarin reads an edict: any prince seeking to marry Princess Turandot must answer three riddles - and if he fails, he will die. Her latest suitor, the Prince of Persia, is to be executed at the rise of the moon. Bloodthirsty citizens urge the executioner on, and in the tumult a slave girl, Liù, calls out for help when her aged master is pushed to the ground. A handsome youth recognizes him as his long-lost father, Timur, vanquished king of Tartary. When the old man tells his son, Prince Calàf, that only Liù has remained faithful to him, the youth asks her why. She replies it is because once, long ago, Calàf smiled on her. The mob again cries for blood, but the moon emerges, and all fall into sudden, fearful silence. The doomed suitor passes on the way to execution, moving the onlookers to call upon Turandot to spare his life. Turandot appears and, with a contemptuous gesture, bids the execution proceed. The crowd hears a death cry in the distance. Calàf, smitten with the princess' beauty, determines to win her as his bride, striding to the gong that proclaims the arrival of a new suitor. Turandot's ministers Ping, Pang and Pong try to discourage the youth, their warnings supplemented by the entreaties of Timur and the tearful Liù. Despite their pleas, Calàf strikes the fatal gong and calls out Turandot's name.

ACT II. In their quarters, Ping, Pang and Pong lament Turandot's bloody reign, 

praying that love will conquer her icy heart so peace can return. As the populace gathers to hear Turandot question the new challenger, the ministers are called back to harsh reality.

The aged Emperor Altoum, seated on a high throne in the Imperial Palace, asks Calàf to give up his quest, but in vain. Turandot enters and tells the story of her ancestor Princess Lou-Ling, brutally slain by a conquering prince; in revenge Turandot has turned against all men, determining that none shall ever possess her. She poses her first question: what is born each night and dies each dawn? "Hope," Calàf answers correctly. Unnerved, Turandot continues: what flickers red and warm like a flame, yet is not fire? "Blood," replies Calàf after a moment's pause. Shaken, Turandot delivers her third riddle: what is like ice but burns? A tense silence prevails until Calàf triumphantly cries "Turandot!" While the crowd gives thanks, the princess begs her father not to abandon her to a stranger, but to no avail. Calàf generously offers Turandot a riddle of his own: if she can learn his name by dawn, he will forfeit his life.

ACT III. In a palace garden, Calàf hears a proclamation: on pain of death, no one in Peking shall sleep until Turandot learns the stranger's name. The prince muses on his impending joy; but Ping, Pang and Pong try unsuccessfully to bribe him to withdraw. As the fearful mob threatens Calàf with drawn daggers to learn his name, soldiers drag in Liù and Timur. Horrified, Calàf tries to convince the mob that neither knows his secret. When Turandot appears, commanding the dazed Timur to speak, Liù cries out that she alone knows the stranger's identity. Though tortured, she remains silent. Impressed by such endurance, Turandot asks Liù's secret; "Love," the girl replies. When the princess signals the soldiers to intensify the torture, Liù snatches a dagger from one of them and kills herself. The grieving Timur and the crowd follow her body as it is carried away. Turandot remains alone to confront Calàf, who at length takes her in his arms, forcing her to kiss him. Knowing physical passion for the first time, Turandot weeps. The prince, now sure of his victory, tells her his name.

As the people hail the emperor, Turandot approaches his throne, announcing that the stranger's name is - Love.

From the Turandot:

Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti
Signore, ascolta! by Maria Callas
Signore, ascolta! by Renata Tebaldi

Music Reading Made Easy

Renata Tebaldi as Tosca: Vissi d'arte (lyrics and translation)

Watch and listen Renata Tebaldi as she sings Vissi d'arte, Tosca's aria from Giacomo Pucini's opera of the same name - Tosca. Comparing Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas indeed is a dead end.

Different talents, different intellects, different voices. Both brilliant diamonds. So when I offer you Maria Callas's Vissi d'arte I'm not inviting you to compare, no, I offer you different enjoyments and two great singers, real divas...

Dijo Tosacanini de ella: Questa voce me e piu bella...Per me e La Voce dun angelo Y, El Gran Maestro, no se equivovo. Esta- mos ante La Voz En Su Mas Puro Estado De Gracia; Pocas, pero muy pocas, Voces poseyeron Tanta Belleza en Su Mas Pura Genuinidad; Estoy hablando de una voz que tiene el Sonido Mas Puro Que se pueda tener para cantar. Es Una En Un Millon, Que se puedan encontrar, Voces, como Esta De Tebaldi, Y De Tanta Cali- dad.

Vissi d'arte (lyrics and translation)

Maria Callas as Tosca: Vissi d'arte (lyrics and translation)

Maria Callas as Tosca. Watch, listen and enjoy Vissi d'arte from Act II of the Italian opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini.

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa

Role: Floria Tosca, a famous singer
Voice Part: soprano Fach: spinto
Setting: Scarpia's study
Synopsis: In the midst of a uncomfortable conversation with Scarpia about the fate of Tosca's lover, Tosca sings of the two great driving forces in her life, love and music.

Vissi d'arte, Tosca's aria from Tosca Lyrics
 
Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore,
non feci mai male ad anima viva!
Con man furtiva 
quante miserie conobbi aiutai.
Sempre con fè sincera
la mia preghiera
ai santi tabernacoli salì.
Sempre con fè sincera
diedi fiori agl’altar.
Nell’ora del dolore
perchè, perchè, Signore, 
perchè me ne rimuneri così?
Diedi gioielli della Madonna al manto,
e diedi il canto agli astri, al ciel,
che ne ridean più belli.
Nell’ora del dolor
perchè, perchè, Signor,
ah, perchè me ne rimuneri così?



Vissi d'arte, Tosca's aria lyrics English translation 

I lived for my art, I lived for love,
I never did harm to a living soul!
With a secret hand
I relieved as many misfortunes as I knew of.
Always with true faith
my prayer
rose to the holy shrines.
Always with true faith
I gave flowers to the altar.
In the hour of grief
why, why, o Lord,
why do you reward me thus?
I gave jewels for the Madonna’s mantle,
and I gave my song to the stars, to heaven,
which smiled with more beauty.
In the hour of grief
why, why, o Lord,
ah, why do you reward me thus?

Also, check out Vissi d'arte by Renata Tebaldi.