Gems - Victor Opera Company (1916)
- hace 6 meses
James Joyce refers to this opera in his major works of literature. One cannot understand all of Joyce's works if a person knows nothing of this opera.
Gems from The Bohemian Girl
Victor Opera Company
Victor 35603
1916
1) Away to hill and glen
2) I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls
3) Heart bowed down
4) Silence, the lady moon
5) Fair land of Poland
6) Happy and light
SUMMARY OF OPERA: An exiled Polish prince named Thaddeus has lived with a gypsy band for several years. There he met Arline, daughter of Count Arnheim, who was abducted as a child and grew up with the gypsies. The two were in love, but Arline has reunited with her father and now lives in his castle. While secretly visiting her there, Thaddeus has been discovered. Arline defends Thaddeus before her father, saying that she loves him even though he is a gypsy. Thaddeus then surprises them both by announcing his true heritage.
"When the fair land of Poland" is Thaddeus's aria from The Bohemian Girl
When the fair land of Poland was ploughed by the hoof
Of the ruthless invader, when Might,
With steel to the bosom, and flame to the roof,
Completed her triumph o'er Right,
In that moment of danger, when Freedom invoked
All the fetterless sons of her pride,
In a phalanx as dauntless as Freedom e'er yoked,
I fought and I bled by her side.
My birth is noble, unstained my crest
As is thine own: let this attest!
Pity for one in childhood torn
From kindred with whom she dwelt,
Ripened in after-years to love,
The fondest that heart hath felt,
Has made me, thus far, faith renew
With outlaws chance first linked me to.
As a foe, on this head let your hatred be piled,
But despise not one who hath so loved your child.
Gems from The Bohemian Girl = Victor Opera Company on Victor 35603 (1916) music by Balfe.
Gems from The Bohemian Girl
Victor Opera Company
Victor 35603
1916
1) Away to hill and glen
2) I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls
3) Heart bowed down
4) Silence, the lady moon
5) Fair land of Poland
6) Happy and light
SUMMARY OF OPERA: An exiled Polish prince named Thaddeus has lived with a gypsy band for several years. There he met Arline, daughter of Count Arnheim, who was abducted as a child and grew up with the gypsies. The two were in love, but Arline has reunited with her father and now lives in his castle. While secretly visiting her there, Thaddeus has been discovered. Arline defends Thaddeus before her father, saying that she loves him even though he is a gypsy. Thaddeus then surprises them both by announcing his true heritage.
"When the fair land of Poland" is Thaddeus's aria from The Bohemian Girl
When the fair land of Poland was ploughed by the hoof
Of the ruthless invader, when Might,
With steel to the bosom, and flame to the roof,
Completed her triumph o'er Right,
In that moment of danger, when Freedom invoked
All the fetterless sons of her pride,
In a phalanx as dauntless as Freedom e'er yoked,
I fought and I bled by her side.
My birth is noble, unstained my crest
As is thine own: let this attest!
Pity for one in childhood torn
From kindred with whom she dwelt,
Ripened in after-years to love,
The fondest that heart hath felt,
Has made me, thus far, faith renew
With outlaws chance first linked me to.
As a foe, on this head let your hatred be piled,
But despise not one who hath so loved your child.
Gems from The Bohemian Girl = Victor Opera Company on Victor 35603 (1916) music by Balfe.