Scentual Sunday

The Magic Flute – play bill of the first performance on September 30, 1791 at Schikaneder’s Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (“This image is enchantingly lovely”) is an aria from the 1791 opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The aria comes from Act I, scene I of the opera. Prince Tamino has just been presented by the Three Ladies with an image of the princess Pamina, and falls instantly in love with her.

German original

English translation

Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön Wie noch kein Auge je geseh’n! Ich fühl’ es, wie dies Götterbild Mein Herz mit neuer Regung füllt. Dies’ etwas kann ich zwar nicht nennen, Doch fühl’ ichs hier wie Feuer brennen. Soll die Empfindung Liebe sein? Ja, ja, die Liebe ist’s allein. O, wenn ich sie nur finden könnte! O, wenn sie doch schon vor mir stände! Ich würde, würde, warm und rein, Was würde ich? Ich würde sie voll Entzücken An diesen heissen Busen drücken Und ewig wäre sie dann mein.

This image is enchantingly lovely, Like no eye has ever beheld! I feel it as this divine picture, Fills my heart with new emotion. I cannot name my feeling, Though I feel it burn like fire within me, Could this feeling be love? Yes! Yes! It is love alone! Oh, if only I could find her, If only she were standing before me, I would, I would, with warmth and honor … What would I do? Full of rapture, I would fold her in this glowing bosom, And then she would be mine forever!

Scentual Sunday

Image via Wikipedia

Die Zauberflöte, (K. 620) is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue.

Act II Scene 7: A hall in the temple of Ordeal

Tamino and Papageno must again suffer the test of silence, a more difficult variation this time: Pamina enters and tries to speak with Tamino. Since Tamino silently refuses to answer, Pamina believes he no longer loves her. (Aria: “Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden”) She leaves in despair.

Ach, ich fühl’s, is considered one of the most beautiful pieces of music in the Magic Flute, and perhaps in all of Mozart Opera. The Orchestral accompaniment presses forward as if desperate heart was beating, and when coupled with the lyric vocal line, shows us Pamina’s pain and longing for Tamino. In the premiere performance of Die Zauberflöte the role of Pamina was sung by the 17-year-old Anna Gottlieb. Gottlieb had previously created the role of Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro

Ach, ich fühl's - Pamina's aria from Die Zauberflöte
Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden,  Ah, I feel it, it has disappeared
Ewig hin der Liebe Glück!              Forever gone  love's  happiness!
Nimmer kommt ihr Wonnestunde           Nevermore will come the hour of bliss
Meinem Herzen mehr zurück!             Back to my heart!
Sieh', Tamino, diese Tränen,           See, Tamino, these tears,
Fließen, Trauter, dir allein!          Flowing, beloved,  for you alone!
Fühlst du nicht der Liebe Sehnen,      If you don't feel the longing of love
So wird Ruh' im Tode sein!             Then there will be peace in death!

Scentual Sunday

I’ve chosen some of the most beautiful opera overtures.

1) Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro.
2) Mozart: The Abduction from the Seraglio.
3) Mozart: The Magic Flute.
4) Mozart: Don Giovanni.
5) Beethoven: Fidelio.
6) Rossini: William Tell.
7) Rossini: La Gazza Ladra.
8) Rossini: The Barber of Seville.
9) Rossini: Semiramide.
10) Rossini: L’italiana in Algeri.
11) Wagner: The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.
12) Wagner: Tannhäuser.
13) Wagner: Lohengrin.
14) Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld.
15) Bizet: Carmen.
16) Verdi: Nabucco.
17) Verdi: La Traviata.