opera

"漫搵英雄淚，相離處士家。謝慈悲剃度在蓮台下。 沒緣法轉眼分離乍。赤條條來去無牽挂。 那里討煙蓑雨笠卷單行？一任俺芒鞋破缽隨緣化！"

"'Whether their ladyships and the young ladies are enjoying themselves or not,' said Bao-yu, 'what concern is it of mine?' Aroma laughed. 'Seeing that they're all doing their best to be agreeable, couldn't you try to do likewise? Surely it's much better all round if everyone will give and take a bit?' 'What do you mean, "give and take a bit"? ... They can give and take a bit if they like. My destiny is a different one: naked and friendless through the world to roam.' A tear stole down his cheek as he recalled the line from the aria. He continued to ponder its words and to savour their meaning, and ended up by bursting into tears and crying outright."

"I was planning a symphonic suite based on the music of The Gambler. But I could not make much headway with it. The close interweaving of the music and the text resulted in an intricate pattern from which it was hard to pick any thread for a single symphonic line. In the end I discarded the idea of a suite in favour of portraits of the individual characters. This, however, was not so simple either, inasmuch as the music of the different characters was scattered throughout the opera. I devised the following method: I took the score apart, picked out everything relating to a given character and spread the sheets out on the floor. Seated on a chair, I studied the pages for a long time until gradually the unrelated episodes began, as it were, to coalesce. This gave me sufficient concentrated material to work with."

"Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso, Notte e giorno d'intorno girando, Delle belle turbando il riposo, Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor."

"Così fan tutte le belle!"

"Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio... Or di fuoco, ora sono di ghiaccio... Ogni donna cangiar di colore, Ogni donna mi fa palpitar. Solo ai nomi d’amor, di diletto Mi si turba, mi s'altera il petto, E a parlare mi sforza d’amore Un desio ch'io non posso spiegar!"

"Notte e giorno faticar, Per chi nulla sa gradir, Piova e vento sopportar, Mangiar male e mal dormir. Voglio far il gentiluomo E non voglio più servir."

"Aprite un po' quegli occhi Uomini incauti e sciocchi, Guardate queste femmine, Guardate cosa son. Queste chiamate Dee Dagli ingannati sensi, A cui tributa incensi La debole ragion, Son streghe che incantano Per farci penar, Sirene che cantano Per farci affogar. Civette che allettano Per trarci le piume, Comete che brillano Per toglierci il lume."

"Ricerco un bene fuori di me, Non so chi 'l tiene, non so cos'è. Sospiro e gemo senza voler, Palpito e tremo senza saper, Non trovo pace notte né dì: Ma pur mi piace languir così."

"Would not her experience have been the same as mine? She would not have suspected, would not have dreamed what forces she was setting in motion, what passions she was playing with. And thus she was in fact guilty of everything, although innocent. Would this not be too rigorous toward her! If I were to do anything here, I would prefer to quarrel, become angry—but this silent, objective denunciation! No! No! No! I could not, I cannot, I will not, I will not do it for anything. No! No! No! I could despair over these written symbols, standing there alongside each other cold and like idle street-loafers, and the one "no" says no more than the next. You should hear how my passion inflects them. Would that I stood beside you, that I could tear myself from you with the last "no" as Don Giovanni did from the Commandatore, whose hand was no colder than the good sense with which you irresistibly sweep me off my feet. And yet, if I stood face to face with you, I would hardly say more than one "no," because before I got any further you no doubt would interrupt me with the cold response: Yes, yes. What I did was very mediocre and clumsy. Go ahead and laugh at me."

"Vivan le femmine, Viva il buon vino! Sostegno e gloria d'umanità!"

"Di rider finirai pria dell'aurora!"

"Ah! la mia lista Doman mattina D'una decina Devi aumentar!"

"Don Giovanni: Là ci darem la mano, Là mi dirai di sì. Vedi, non è lontano; Partiam, ben mio, da qui. Zerlina: Vorrei e non vorrei, Mi trema un poco il cor. Felice, è ver, sarei, Ma può burlarmi ancor."

"Delle vecchie fa conquista Pel piacer di porle in lista; Sua passion predominante È la giovin principiante. Non si picca – se sia ricca, Se sia brutta, se sia bella; Purché porti la gonnella, Voi sapete quel che fa."

"Nella bionda egli ha l'usanza Di lodar la gentilezza, Nella bruna la costanza, Nella bianca la dolcezza."

"Madamina, il catalogo è questo Delle belle che amò il padron mio; un catalogo egli è che ho fatt'io; Osservate, leggete con me. In Italia seicento e quaranta; In Almagna duecento e trentuna; Cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna; Ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre."

"Ellen Orford, a widow, Borough schoolmistress"

"Balstrode, retired merchant skipper"

"Auntie, landlady of The Boar"

"Two Nieces"

"Mrs. (Nabob) Sedley, a rentier widow"

"Swallow, a lawyer"

"Ned Keene, apothecary and quack"

"Rev. Horace Adams, the rector"

"Mr. Hobson, a carrier"

"Borough Villagers (in chorus)"

"Peter Grimes, a fisherman"

"Bob Boles, fisherman and Methodist"

"No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible."

"The essential novelty of Dafne and Euridice was the fusion of two apparently incompatible elements, the spoken comedy of the theatre and the lyrical melody of the chamber. Plays with incidental music were no new thing; but we can see from the musical plays of our own day that the two elements form a mechanical mixture and not a chemical combination, whether we judge the effect by the standard of Egmont or by that of The Geisha. With Dafne and Euridice the audience were taken into a new world, of which the songs and madrigals of earlier days had only shown them fleeting glimpses. Only when they were enclosed within the magic circle of unbroken musical sound from the beginning of the story to its end, could they partake of that strange and wonderful experience which opera has revealed to us, that consciousness that we ourselves are a shadows of unrealities cast for a moment on those Elysian fields where Tristan and Isolde have gone to join Orpheus and Eurydice in an existence which is real and eternal."

"I love this opera. I always return to it every year because it keeps me centered. I love the story, and it reminds me to focus on what's really important in life"

"For, without cruelty, only a limited success is ever possible in opera."

"An exotic and irrational entertainment, which has been always combated, and always has prevailed."

"Aida! Do not shame yourself, and me, with such witless sentiment! Do not tell me this Egyptian grieves for the Nubian men executed, the women ravaged, and the children taken into slavery. Any soft word you have given this Captain, any soft word, betrays the innocents who suffered at his hands and at the hands of every soldier he commands. You will cut this man from your heart!"

"Every story, new or ancient, bagatelle or work of art: all are tales of human failing; all are tales of love at heart... --"Every Story is a Love Story""

"Perfection is such hard work to maintain, but worth the effort, don't you think?"

"Conversation? Wit? I am a doubter. Manners? Charm? They're no way to impress. So forget the inner me - observe the outer: I am what I wear and how I dress! -- "My Strongest Suit""

"They want a goddess and I'm just...human."

"Are you trying to get me drunk, Radames? You know it's not necessary."

"This should have been my time; It's over. It never began. -- "I Know the Truth""

"Nothing is an accident, we are free to have it all. We are what we want to be; it's in ourselves to rise or fall. -- "Fortune Favors the Brave""

"And who'd have thought I'd throw my world away to be with someone I'm afraid will say "Not me."...Not me. --"Not Me""

"I'm sorry for everything I've said and for anything I forgot to say too. When things get so complicated I stumble, at best, muddle through. I wish that our lives could be simple; I don't want the world: only you. I wish I could tell you this face to face, but there's never the time - never the place! So this letter will have to do; I love you. -- "Radames Letter""

"You are all I'll ever want, but this - I am denied. Sometimes in my darkest thoughts I wish I'd never learned what it is to be in love and have that love returned. -- "Written in the Stars""

"Evil's a distinctive smell. -- "Like Father, Like Son""

"I'm no chip off any block, i wouldn't wish those words on anyone -- "Like Father, Like Son""

"I've done wrong, I can't deny -- "Like Father, Like Son""

"If I have to search for a hundred lifetimes, I will find you again, Aida."

"[about Radames] What that man understands could be etched in a grain of sand."