2007/09/28

Opera diva (1) "Lucia Popp" - Song to the moon

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File:Lucia Popp Portrait.jpg

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Popp.jpg)
Song to the moon by Lucia Popp
Watcing the moon in Mid-autumn festival  reminds me this beautiful song.  "Song to the moon"  ("Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém")  is an aria in the opera "Rusalka " composed by a Czech composer  Antonín Leopold Dvořák.   The song is beautifully written in Czech too. 

Click↓photo，and watch the opera


 A rusalka is a water spirit of Slavic mythology (I think something like a mermaid), usually inhabiting a lake or river.
The Plot: Rusalka has fallen in love with a human Prince who comes to swim in the lake, and she wants to become human to embrace him. She asked a witch, Ježibaba, for assistance. Rusalka sings her the famous song "Song to the Moon", asking it to tell the Prince of her love. Ježibaba tells Rusalka that if she becomes human and is betrayed by the prince, both she and the prince will be eternally damned, and that Rusalka will lose the power of speech when human...  then you know, it turns to be a sad ending.... 
This is a video clip found in U-tube and sung by one of my favourite soprano 'Lucia Popp'.  Lucia Popp was a popular operatic soprano from Slovakia.   Unfortunately she died in 1993 of brain cancer at the age of 54.  Although this song is Renee Fleming's signature aria, I like Lucia Popp's version more.
                                                     (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusalka_%28opera%29)


The lyrics:

Mesiku na nebi hlubokem                O moon high up in the deep, deep sky,
Svetlo tvé daleko vidi,                       Your light sees far away regions,
Po svete bloudis sirokém,                  You travel round the wide,
Divas se v pribytky lidi.                   Wide world peering into human dwellings

Mesicku, postuj chvili                        O, moon, stand still for a moment,
reckni mi, kde je muj mily               Tell me, ah, tell me where is my lover!
Rekni mu, stribmy mesicku,           Tell him. please, silvery moon in the sky,
me ze jej objima rame,                       That I am hugging him firmly,
aby si alespon chvilicku                    That he should for at least a while
vzpomenul ve sneni na mne.           Remember his dreams!
Zasvet mu do daleka,                          Light up his far away place,
rekni mu, rekni m kdo tu nan ceka!  Tell him, ah, tell him who is here waiting!
O mneli duse lidska sni,                      If he is dreaming about me,
at'se tou vzpominkou  vzbudi!           May this remembrance waken him!
Mesicku, nezhasni, nezhasni!            O, moon, don't disappear, disappear!

Translation by Jules Brunelle (brunellejules@videotron.ca)

(Song to the moon, sung by Renee Fleming)