Opera Songs of Love, Lust, and Longing

St. Valentine's Day is around the corner, so here are a few romantic bits from the opera for the many shades of love one finds in real life and on the stage. Click on the name of the arias to get to a Youtube sample clip (if the clip isn't available, just search the site for the song title and you should easily find another one):

Arborphilic Reverence:
'Ombra mai fu' from Handel's Serse (Xerxes)
Loosely based on the story of Serse I of Persia, Händel's 1738 opera was a rather spectacular flop partly because it dares to feature comical moments in the otherwise serious (seria) story. The first bit of that is theatrically absurd introduction to the title character, King Serse, as he sings this timelessly gorgeous melody to his beloved plane tree. I suppose it is only fitting that his world (according to the opera) becomes quite significantly disorderly the moment he turned his romantic attention to the more suitable species; Female human beings...
"Ombra mai fu ........ Never was there any shade
di vegetabile............. of any plant
cara ed amabile,....... more dear, lovely,
soave più.................... and soothing."

Brotherly Love:
'Au fond du temple saint' from Georges Bizet's Les pecheurs de perle (The Pearl Fishers)
"Oui, c'est elle! C'est la deesse!........ Yes, it is she! It's the goddess!
En ce jour qui vient nous unir,.......... who now comes to unite us.
Et fidele a ma promesse,.................... And, faithful to my promise,
Comme un frere je veux te cherir!.... as a brother I will cherish you!
C'est elle, c'est la deesse.................... It is she, the goddess,
Qui vient en ce jour nous unir!.......... Who now comes to unite us!
Oui, partageons le meme sort,.......... Yes, let's partake on the same fate,
Soyons unis jusqu'a la mort! ........... and remain united until death!"

Zurka (baritone) and Nadir (tenor) are childhood best friends reuniting after a long rift caused by their mutual attraction to the attractive Leïla. Determined to put the past behind them, the virtual brothers launch into this noble airing of virtuous ideas - pledging to one another to never again let any woman come between their friendship. Of course, such a vow can't be kept if any operatic story is going to continue after this point in the first act. But no matter how predictable the story line of Bizet's opera maybe, even the most logically stubborn among us would be hard pressed to not be impressed by the men's conviction.

Sisterly Love:
'Mira, o Norma' from Vincenzo Bellini's Norma
If you weren't sure that you know what bel canto music/singing sounds like, have a listen to this sublime duet and marvel at the quality of singing that must have been available in 1831 Italy for Vincenzo Bellini to create this number for. Norma was so devastated that her beloved Pollione was shagging Adalgisa that she was prepared to profess her indignant by murdering her children with the unfaithful man along with herself... That is, until she fails to bring the knife down on them. That's when guilt-ridden Adalgisa bursts in promising to leave Pollione and stick by her friend and mentor once more.

"Mira, o Norma, a' tuoi gnocchi..... Look, o Norma, down by your knees,
Questi cari tuoi pargoletti!.............. How dear your children are!
Ah! Pietade di lor ti tocchi,.............. Ah, have pity on them,
Se non hai di te pietà!...................... if you have none for yourself!"
It is a spectacularly beautiful and conversational duet that moves the story along as well as it stops all the clock within hearing distance. You literally listen to the two women blending their voices so passionately that you wonder why either would have any need for a man in their life afterward.

Motherly Love:
'Naak's Lullaby' from Somtow Sucharitkul's Mae Naak
While most spouses find it all they can handle to stay faithful until 'death doth us part', Mae Nak, the legendary Thai ghost, is known for taking marital commitment to a whole new level. Having died in childbirth while her husband was away at war, she showed up to greet and live with him when he returned. Nak got away with it until one day she carelessly supernaturally elongated her arm in order to retrieve a fallen lemon from the ground floor of their house... while remaining seated on the upper floor. Anyhow, both the mother and the son are dead, and so, according to Thai legend, cannot withstand the sun. Since the boy had never seen daylight (and since the story took place in the pre-photographic 1800's), he can only imagine what the light-giving orb actually looks like from his mother's chromatically undulating vocal line.

Fatherly Love:
'Figlia/ Mio padre!' (Rigoletto - Gilda duet) from Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto
A rather mean spirited man in his own right hunchback court jester Rigoletto reserves all of his more humane feelings for his only daughter, Gilda. Arriving home after a particularly rough day at the office (having earned a well placed curse from Count Monterone) he tells his inquisitive daughter of her saintly deceased mother and that she is the only good thing in his life.

Lustful Longing:
'D'Amour, l'ardente flamme' from Hector Berlioz's La damnation de Faust
Based, of course, on the timeless story of Faust, the doctor who sold his soul to the Devil for the love of a woman. Though in this moment in the story, the woman, Marguerite, is paying a heavier price for the ordeal. Having given up her virginity to the devilishly enchanting Faust, she now keeps a tireless watch by the window, awaiting (in vain) his promised return. Being composed by a Frenchman, this liltingly rhythmically suggestive lamentation gives this normally-treated-as-an-innocent-victim character quite a bit more various shades than one would find just reading Goethe's book. And when you have a suitably romantic cor d'anglais player echoing Marguerite's line in the background the music can really turn more than blush-inducing in its erotic coloration.

PG-13-Rated Love:
'Ah, perdona, al primo affetto' from Wolfgang Mozart's La clemenza di Tito
Annio and Servillia love each other, but now that Emperor Tito has chosen the latter as his consort, Annio must resist showing her his affections. Their little lovers dispute quickly graduates into a charming love duet that is most unoperatically full of virtues at the expense of lust. It is cute enough to make one sink into a reverie reminiscing nostalgically of a childhood crush. The world seemed innocent and whole once. Why can't it ever be again?

R-Rated Love:
'O soave fanciulla' from Giacomo Puccini's La La Bohème
Love at first sight followed closely by a healthy dose of lust is how I would describe this ear-catching duet that ends the first act of Puccini's most popular opera. Rodolfo had only met Mimi a couple of minutes ago and they are already undressing each other with their vocal line. It's only lucky that Rodolfo's friends cut in to remind them to follow the gang to dinner at Cafe Momus or this little tune might have crossed the line into the 'adult-only' category of music!

X-Rated Love:
'O sink hernieder/ So starben wir, um ungetrennt' (Love Duet/ Liebesnacht) from Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
"So starben wir um ungetrennt,....... So we might die together
ewig einig ohne End'........................ ever united without ending;
ohn' Erwachen, ohn' Erbangen...... never waking, never fearing,
Namenlos in Lieb' umfangen,.......... Namelessly enclosed in love
ganz uns selbst gegeben,................ with no thought of self,
der Liebe nur zu leben!.................... to live for love alone!"
Going by the text, this is rather morbid, isn't it? Tristan meets up with his uncle's wife, Isolde, in the garden in the middle of the night. Close your eyes and listen to the erotic thrusting in the orchestra as the two love birds work their voices up into a giant climax of vocal orgasm.... If the music gets anymore
explicit than this they would have to ban kids and people with heart condition from attending a performance of this opera or some of us might take that first line of the lyric too literally to become a repeated customer to the opera house.

There are many more wonderful love (and lust) music to be indulged on from the opera, of course. If you find yourself humming along while listening to these selected few, why not drop in at the opera house nearby or the classical section of the music store near you and check out a few more? Who knows how many others would join in to your humming there!