CDS7848

(DDD)

Gaetano Donizetti (Bergamo, 1797 – 1848)

L’ANGE DE NISIDA
Opera in four acts - Libretto by Alphonse Royer and Guastave Vaëz
Edition by Candida Mantica © OperaRara/Peters, Lipsia
Italian Agent: Casa Musicale Sonzogno di Piero Ostali, Milano
Sylvia's Cabaletta (No. 11) edited by Candida Mantica, orchestrated by Federico Biscione
© Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

Don Fernand d’Aragon Florian Sempey

Don Gaspar Roberto Lorenzi
Leone de Casaldi Konu Kim
La comtesse Sylvia de Linarès Lidia Fridman
Le Moine Federico Benetti

Orchestra Donizetti Opera

Conductor: Jean-Luc Tingaud
Coro Donizetti Opera
Chorus Master: Fabio Tartari

Recording: Rino Trasi, Giuseppe Famularo, Vera Zanotti

Editing and Post Production: Rino Trasi

New Production by Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

Recorded at: Donizetti Opera 2019

Bergamo, Cantiere del Teatro Donizetti,
13th/16th/21st November 2019
Tracklist
PART ONE
01 Acte Premier - N. 1 Introduction - Ange d’amour (Leone, Don Gaspar) 04:52
02 Le sommeil te berce encor (Chœur de paysans) 01:42
03 N. 2 Air Don Gaspar et Chœur - Or ça, vous ignorez (Don Gaspar, Les paysans) 02:31
04 Et vous mesdames (Don Gaspar, Les paysans) 04:15
05 C’est l’inconnu qui dans notre île (Chœur de paysans, Don Gaspar) 01:35
06 N. 3 Duo Leone et Sylvia - Don Gaspar ! / Leone de Casaldi (Leone, Don Gaspar) 02:22
07 Ah ! Leone ! (Sylvia, Leone) 03:13
08 Adieu ! Pars, oublie (Sylvia, Leone) 05:34
09 Non je ne fuirai pas (Leone, Don Gaspar) 01:39
10 N. 4 Chœur et Scène - Vive le Roi ! (Don Gaspar, Chœur de paysans) 03:06
11 Acte Deuxième - N. 5 Duo Sylvia et Le Roi - Comme ces feuilles (Le Roi, Sylvia) 04:12
12 Ô ma chère patrie (Sylvia, Le Roi) 06:00
13 N. 6 Chœur - Le Ciel a béni l’étrangère (Chœur) 02:58
14 N. 7 Scène, Quatuor et Chœur - Don Fernand d’Aragon ! (Le Moine, Le Roi, Sylvia) 01:43
15 Redoutez la fureur (Le Moine, Le Roi, Sylvia, Chœur) 04:17
16 Ah ! Qu’a-t-il dit ? (Le Roi, Don Gaspar, Sylvia, Chœur, Le Moine) 04:13
17 N. 8 Récitatif et Air Leone - Ah ! Je me vengerai ! (Le Roi, Don Gaspar, Leone) 02:28
18 Quelle ivresse et quel délire ! (Leone) 04:58
19 N. 9 Final - Dites que je l’attends (Don Gaspar, Leone) 05:54
20 De mon cœur foi bénie (Sylvia, Leone, Le Roi, Don Gaspar) 03:24
21 Vous n’avez point perdu de temps (Le Roi, Don Gaspar) 01:51
22 Oh mon ange que j’implore (Le Roi, Don Gaspar, Leone, Sylvia) 04:10

RUNNING TIME 76:57

PART TWO
01 Acte Troisième - N. 10 Récitatif et Duo Le Roi et Don Gaspar - Leone ! Qu’ai je appris ! (Don Gaspar, Le Roi) 03:22
02 Non, ce triste sacrifice (Le Roi, Don Gaspar) 03:46
03 D’où viennent donc tes alarmes ? (Le Roi, Don Gaspar) 03:42
04 Le sort est jeté (Don Gaspar) 03:38
05 N. 11 Récitatif et Air Sylvia - Venez ! Qui vous arrête ? (Sylvia) 05:21
06 N. 12 Chœur - Déjà dans la chapelle (Chœur, Leone, Le Roi, Don Gaspar) 04:16
07 N. 13 Chœur et Final - Quel marché de bassesse ! (Chœur) 03:52
08 Le Roi, vers Don Gaspar en cet instant (Leone, Chœur, Le Moine) 05:29
09 Contre un pacte infâme (Le Roi, Le Moine, Don Gaspar, Leone, Chœur, Sylvia) 08:31
10 Acte Quatrième - N. 14 Chœur, Romance Leone et Final - Frères, il faut mourir !
(Chœur de Religieux, Le Supérieur) 05:14
11 Dans un instant, mon frère (Le Supérieur, Leone) 04:29
12 Hélas ! Envolez-vous, beaux songes ! (Leone) 06:40
13 Êtes-vous prêt ? (Le Supérieur, Leone) 03:30
14 Que du Très-Haut la faveur (Chœur des Moines, Sylvia, Leone) 04:50
15 Va-t-en d’ici ! (Leone, Sylvia) 04:21
16 Ses pleurs, sa voix (Leone, Sylvia) 04:00
17 Viens ! Je cède éperdu (Leone, Sylvia, Les Religieux) 06:40
18 Au secours, au secours… (Leone, Le Supérieur, Les Moines) 03:25

RUNNING TIME 85:06

ALLA RICERCA DI UN’OPERA ‘PERDUTA’
di Candida Mantica
Negli ultimi anni sono tornati alla luce diversi
lavori inediti o ritenuti perduti di alcuni tra i più
celebri compositori di musica d’arte. Si pensi,
ad esempio, alla partitura del Canto Funebre di
Igor Stravinskij, rinvenuta durante le operazioni
di trasloco del Conservatorio di San
Pietroburgo nel 2015, o alle ventun composi-
zioni inedite risalenti alla giovinezza di Puccini,
ritrovate appena tre anni fa. Gli esempi diven-
gono considerevolmente più rari se si eccet-
tuano lavori giovanili o composti per celebrare
occasioni specifiche. E ancora più eccezionale
è da considerarsi la possibilità di assistere, al
giorno d’oggi, alla prima rappresentazione
assoluta di un lavoro firmato da uno dei mag-
giori compositori d’opera italiani del dicianno-
vesimo secolo, Gaetano Donizetti, come quella
immortalata in questo CD.
Ma la storia dell’Ange de Nisida non è quella
di un’opera le cui pagine ritenute material-
mente perdute siano riemerse in qualche pol-
veroso fondo d’archivio. È, piuttosto, la storia
di occasioni mancate, che hanno impedito
all’opera di poter essere eseguita quando fu
composta e che ne hanno poi ridotto la parti-
tura autografa (di cui non esistono copie
coeve) a brandelli. La musica dell’Ange de
Nisida è infatti pervenuta sotto forma di un
puzzle, le cui tessere non si trovano riunite in
un unico luogo e sono talvolta di difficile deci-
frazione. Tessere che si temeva potessero
restituire un’immagine troppo frammentaria
6
dell’opera e che, anche per questo, non si era
ancora tentato di rimettere insieme. Dopo
anni di scetticismo, il lavoro di ricostruzione è
stato avviato nel 2008 in seno a un dottorato
di ricerca alla University of Southampton. Nel
2014 la casa discografica londinese Opera
Rara ha poi commissionato a chi scrive un’e-
dizione completa dell’opera, che ha portato
alla sua ‘prima’ assoluta (Londra, Royal
Opera House, 18 luglio 2018). Diretta da Sir
Mark Elder, si trattava però di un’esecuzione
in forma di concerto finalizzata ad un’incisio-
ne che, pur avendo avuto il merito di divulgare
la musica dell’Ange de Nisida e di renderla
accessibile, era inevitabilmente priva di quegli
elementi (scenografie, costumi, azione) che
sono parte costitutiva dello spettacolo operi-
stico. Al contrario, il Festival Donizetti Opera
ha raccolto la sfida di allestire la prima rappre-
sentazione scenica dell’opera, che ha avuto
luogo a Bergamo a distanza di 180 anni dalla
sua composizione.
Un italiano a Parigi
L’ange de Nisida fu uno dei primi lavori portati a
termine da Donizetti dopo il suo trasferimento a
Parigi alla fine del 1838. Il direttore del Théâtre
de la Renaissance, Anténor Joly, aveva com-
missionato l’opera sulla scia dell’accoglienza
trionfale di Lucie de Lammermoor (adattamento
francese di Lucia di Lammermoor) in quello
stesso teatro nell’agosto del 1839. Il contratto
che ne seguì – firmato da Joly, Donizetti e i due
librettisti, Gustave Vaëz e Alphonse Royer – pre-
vedeva senza mezzi termini che le prove
dell’Ange de Nisida iniziassero nel febbraio
1840, con il chiaro (benché non dichiarato)
intento di mandarla in scena subito dopo.
Donizetti completò la partitura dell’Ange de
Nisida il 27 dicembre 1839 (come annotato
sulla sua ultima pagina); essa comprendeva
la «musica vecchia anzichenó» di Adelaide,
un’opera italiana cui il compositore aveva ini-
ziato a lavorare attorno al 1834, ma che aveva
lasciato incompiuta. È possibile che Donizetti
avesse recato la partitura incompleta di
Adelaide con sé a Parigi con l’intenzione di
proporla al Théâtre-Italien, con cui era in trat-
tative già nel 1838. Quando divenne chiaro
che non avrebbero portato a nulla di concre-
to, Donizetti usò una buona parte di Adelaide
per la composizione dell’Ange de Nisida. A tal
fine richiese a Vaëz e Royer di confezionare
un libretto che contenesse strutture di versi
tali da poter essere adattate alla musica pree-
sistente. Inserì dunque diverse pagine di
Adelaide nella nuova partitura, sostituendone
il testo verbale (compito che in alcuni casi
spettò a Vaëz), talvolta completandone l’or-
chestrazione e intervenendo sulla struttura dei
pezzi in questione in modo da sveltire gli
usuali modelli morfologici rossiniani per asse-
condare il ritmo drammatico.
Entrambe le copie del libretto dell’Ange de
Nisida consegnate alla censura il 22 gennaio
1840 recano la definizione di opéra en quatre
parties. Non si trova, invece, alcun riferimento
alla natura del soggetto dell’opera, che sem-
bra rifuggire da ogni categorizzazione rigoro-
sa anche per via del suo complesso processo
7
creativo. La struttura drammatica riprende in
parte quella di Adelaide, che si può ricostruire
a grandi linee per mezzo delle sezioni super-
stiti della sua partitura (comprese quelle con-
fluite nell’Ange de Nisida e nella Favorite). Il
soggetto deriva dal racconto Les mémoires
du comte de Comminge (Parigi, 1735) di
Claudine de Tencin da cui nel 1765 François-
Thomas-Marie de Baculard d’Arnaud trasse il
suo dramma Les amants malhereux, ou Le
comte de Comminge, considerato l’emblema
del genre sombre. Tradotto in italiano nel
1778, il dramma di Baculard d’Arnaud ispirò a
sua volta diversi lavori teatrali e operistici, tra
cui il melodramma in tre atti Adelaide maritata
di Valentino Fioravanti (1812) e il melodram-
ma semiserio Adelaide e Comingio di
Giovanni Pacini (1818), che avrebbero poi
influenzato, tramite Adelaide, anche il libretto
dell’Ange de Nisida.
I lavori operistici da cui deriva, la presenza di
un personaggio buffo (Don Gaspar) e l’am-
bientazione quasi pastorale di alcune scene
indurrebbero ad ascrivere L’ange de Nisida
nel genere semiserio. Essa devia, tuttavia, da
alcuni aspetti peculiari dell’opera semiseria
della prima metà del diciannovesimo secolo,
tra cui l’ambientazione contemporanea e il
lieto fine, spesso raggiunto tramite un salva-
taggio o una liberazione in extremis. Rebecca
Harris-Warrick ha ipotizzato che Royer e Vaëz
abbiano derivato quegli elementi estranei alla
tradizione di Adelaide e Comingio dal dram-
ma di Victor Hugo Marion De Lorme (1829),
che fu ripreso al Théâtre-Français nel novem-
bre 1839. Il risultato finale è un libretto che
mantiene la struttura principale di Adelaide,
ma ne supera l’ambientazione borghese per
presentare un soggetto storico e un conflitto
dai contorni più ampi che oppone la sfera
pubblica a quella privata. Elementi comici e
tragici sono mescolati insieme in modo sini-
stro, riflettendo l’ideale romantico di fusione e
superamento dei generi tradizionali, che
affonda le sue radici nel teatro shakespearia-
no e che qui potrebbe essere stato mediato
dal dramma coevo di Hugo. Il libretto
dell’Ange de Nisida non ha mai raggiunto la
stampa, dunque non è possibile stabilire se la
sua definizione finale avrebbe rispecchiato
quella apposta sui suoi libretti manoscritti.
Indubbiamente la neutrale locuzione «opéra
en quatre parties» si presta bene alla natura
ibrida dell’opera, che raccoglie e rielabora
diverse tradizioni: il dramma francese, tipico
del genre sombre, Les amants malhereux, i
suoi numerosi adattamenti operistici italiani,
che ricoprono tutte le sfumature del genere
semiserio, e il dramma romantico francese
Marion De Lorme.
«La Renaissance è chiusa, ed io perdo
l’Angelo di Nisida»
Sebbene le scadenze previste dal contratto
fossero state rispettate e si fosse già iniziato a
lavorare alla mise-en-scène dell’opera, la data
della ‘prima’ fu ripetutamente rinviata. Nel
maggio 1840, il Théâtre de la Renaissance
fece bancarotta, negando all’Ange de Nisida
la possibilità di raggiungere le scene.
8
La Renaissance è chiusa, ed io perdo l’angelo
di Nisida, opera (...) buona per quel solo tea-
tro. Auff!.. L’impresa era ciuccio assaie, jetta-
va denare da tutte le parti.
(Lettera a Tommaso Persico, 9 maggio 1840)
Con malcelato rimpianto, Donizetti si dimo-
strava ben consapevole che la chiusura del
Théâtre de la Renaissance avrebbe compor-
tato la perdita dell’opera così come l’aveva
inizialmente concepita. Senza alcun dubbio
avrebbe incontrato l’opposizione della censu-
ra in gran parte dei teatri italiani a causa del
suo libretto, la cui trama gravitava attorno alla
figura del re di Napoli Ferdinando d’Aragona
e della sua favorita. Né sarebbe stato meno
difficile proporla ad altri teatri parigini – i cui
diversi repertori dovevano attenersi a conven-
zioni precise – senza sottoporre la partitura a
profondi cambiamenti strutturali. Qualche
mese più tardi, Donizetti avrebbe attinto
all’Ange de Nisida per la composizione del
suo secondo grand opéra, La favorite, che
debuttò all’Académie Royale de Musique il 2
dicembre 1840. Seguendo un processo simile
a quello che da Adelaide aveva portato
all’Ange de Nisida, Donizetti smembrò la par-
titura dell’Ange e ne inserì diverse pagine in
quella della Favorite, intervenendo in maniera
significativa sul testo verbale, sulle linee vocali
e sull’orchestrazione, in alcuni casi alterando
la struttura dei pezzi in questione e adattando-
li a contesti drammatici differenti rispetto a
quelli di partenza.
Questo laborioso processo di smembramento
e di rielaborazione ci riporta ai tasselli del
puzzle e a come rimetterli insieme. La mag-
gior parte dei fogli che costituivano la partitura
autografa dell’Ange de Nisida sono conservati
alla Bibliothèque Nationale de France, a
Parigi. Nessuna rilegatura, non una partitura
completa, né una successione ordinata di
fogli: si tratta di diciotto cartelle che alternano
pagine sparse dell’Ange de Nisida a materiali
preparatori e passi rifiutati sia per quest’ope-
ra, sia per La favorite. A queste pagine si
devono poi aggiungere quelle che Donizetti
riutilizzò nella Favorite, che sono oggetto di
un mistero ben più recente. Dopo gli anni
Settanta dello scorso secolo, si è persa ogni
traccia dell’autografo donizettiano, la cui col-
locazione è attualmente sconosciuta. È dun-
que possibile consultarne solamente la sua
copia in microfilm, in bianco e nero, adesso
conservata presso la New York Public Library.
Per identificare le circa 470 pagine superstiti
dell’Ange de Nisida e per ristabilirne l’ordine
originario è stata di imprescindibile aiuto una
bozza di lavoro del suo libretto, attribuibile a
Vaëz. Questa copia di lavoro, conservata alle
Archives Nationales di Parigi, presenta diver-
se cancellature e varianti riconducibili a tre
strati di intervento complessivi. Nel terminare
l’opera, Donizetti accolse le varianti risalenti al
secondo strato del libretto, ma solo una parte
delle più recenti. Dunque, per alcune sezioni
della partitura è stato necessario identificare
un testo verbale (talvolta pesantemente can-
cellato e sostituito da quello per La favorite)
che in determinati casi era stato cassato
9
anche nella bozza del libretto. Una volta iden-
tificate le pagine superstiti e ristabilitone l’ordi-
ne, ha avuto avvio il lavoro editoriale vero e
proprio. Curare l’edizione di un’opera italiana
della prima metà del diciannovesimo secolo
(spesso composta in un lasso di tempo bre-
vissimo) comporta un lavoro che va oltre la
decifrazione del suo ‘testo’ e la sua trascrizio-
ne cosiddetta diplomatica. Non si tratta solo
di riprodurne fedelmente l’enunciato, ma di
interpretarlo, talvolta di integrarlo (o di correg-
gerlo), traducendolo nell’attuale sistema di
convenzioni, al fine di offrire una partitura che
restituisca le intenzioni del suo autore in
maniera quanto più precisa possibile, e che
sia al tempo stesso eseguibile.
Un’opera ‘ritrovata’
Tassello dopo tassello, la partitura dell’Ange
de Nisida è gradualmente tornata alla luce,
come una parete affrescata danneggiata che
riveli di sé un’immagine sempre più nitida con
l’avanzare degli interventi di restauro. Quando
il mio lavoro di ricostruzione ed edizione è
giunto al termine, si è infatti avuto accesso al
97% circa della musica composta da
Donizetti, ad eccezione di qualche passaggio
di recitativo e di parte dell’aria del soprano nel
terzo atto, che potrebbero essere andati persi
al tempo in cui la partitura autografa fu smem-
brata per la composizione della Favorite.
Alcuni dei tasselli del puzzle sono poi risultati
abbozzati nella loro struttura portante, ma non
del tutto rifiniti. Come se di alcuni elementi cir-
coscritti dell’affresco fossero definiti i contor-
ni, ma i loro colori fossero solo accennati. Una
volta completata la cosiddetta ‘partitura sche-
letro’ (basso, linee vocali ed eventuali motivi
d’accompagnamento), era infatti prassi rinvia-
re il completamento dell’orchestrazione – o
parte di essa – a un momento successivo.
Donizetti attendeva forse che fosse fissata la
data della prima rappresentazione per com-
pletare l’orchestrazione dei seguenti pezzi: il
duetto d’amore tra Sylvia e Leone nel primo
atto (N. 3), l’aria di Leone nel secondo (N. 8),
il duetto tra Fernand e Don Gaspar che apre il
terzo atto (N. 10) e il coro che segue all’aria di
Sylvia (N. 12).
Per il duetto d’amore è stato possibile ricava-
re gran parte dell’orchestrazione dalla partitu-
ra della Favorite, dove Donizetti copiò questo
numero trasponendolo dall’originale tonalità
di Re maggiore a Do maggiore e modifican-
done alcune parti di raccordo (N. 4 Récitatif et
Duo). Tale scelta sembra rispecchiare la fisio-
nomia del nuovo cast: laddove la parte di
Sylvia nell’Ange de Nisida sarebbe spettata al
soprano Anna Thillon, che aveva da poco
ricoperto i panni di Lucie al Théâtre de la
Renaissance, quella di Léonor fu invece ridi-
segnata per Rosine Stoltz, la cui tessitura era
paragonabile a quella di un moderno mezzo-
soprano. L’orchestrazione delle restanti parti
del duetto e degli altri numeri – imprescindibi-
le ai fini di un’esecuzione dell’opera – è stata
completata per Opera Rara dal maestro
Martin Fitzpatrick e ad essa si è attenuta la
produzione bergamasca racchiusa nel pre-
sente supporto. Fitzpatrick ha anche compo-
10
sto ex novo i passaggi di recitativo che sono
andati perduti o che Donizetti non portò mai a
termine: quelli che avrebbero dovuto prece-
dere il N. 3 e il N. 11 e quelli che concludono,
rispettivamente, il N. 6 e il N. 7. Dei primi due
non c’è traccia e non è detto che siano mai
stati composti. Dei recitativi conclusivi dei NN.
6 e 7 ci sono pervenute, rispettivamente, le
prime due e le prime quattro battute, a dimo-
strazione del fatto che essi furono messi in
musica ma poi andati persi.
Per questa prima rappresentazione, al
Donizetti Opera 2019, si è deliberatamente
deciso di non eseguire i recitativi composti ex
novo da Fitzpatrick, che in totale ammontano
a circa 75 delle oltre 3700 battute che costitui-
scono la partitura dell’Ange de Nisida.
L’intento, condiviso da tutti i soggetti coinvolti
e da chi scrive, è stato di invitare a guardare
L’ange come un’opera compiuta. Mettendo a
nudo i pochissimi passaggi rimasti incompleti
si è voluta sottolinearne l’irrilevanza rispetto
alla sostanziale integrità del lavoro donizettia-
no. Indirizzati dalla regia di Francesco Micheli,
attento alle più impercettibili sfumature del lin-
guaggio dell’opera, i passaggi in questione
sono stati dunque solamente agiti, in modo
da non interrompere il flusso drammatico ma
senza interpolare passaggi musicali che
siano frutto di sole mani estranee e che inevi-
tabilmente tradiscono una diversa autorialità.
Chi avesse avuto modo di assistere alla
‘prima’ londinese dell’opera, o di ascoltare
l’incisione discografica che ne è scaturita,
potrà ravvisare alcune differenze con questa
produzione già dalle prime note. I testimoni
superstiti dell’Ange de Nisida non contempla-
no alcun pezzo strumentale introduttivo ed è
possibile che Donizetti si fosse riservato di
ultimarne uno in un secondo momento, forse
a ridosso della ‘prima’. Non si può tuttavia
escludere che egli avesse inteso dare avvio
all’opera direttamente con l’Andante strumen-
tale che accompagna l’ingresso in scena di
Leone all’inizio dell’Introduction. Lucie de
Lammermoor non possiede alcuna sinfonia,
ma un breve preludio che precede il coro d’in-
troduzione senza soluzione di continuità. E,
nella sua veste originaria, non contemplava
alcun pezzo strumentale introduttivo a sé
stante neanche Linda di Chamounix (Vienna,
Kärntnertortheater, 19 maggio 1842), opera
semiseria che con L’ange de Nisida tradisce
non poche affinità strutturali. Per la ‘prima’
londinese dell’Ange de Nisida, Opera Rara ha
preferito dotare l’opera di un preludio, affidan-
done la composizione allo stesso Fitzpatrick,
che ha scritto un pezzo a partire da materiali
in senso lato donizettiani, alcuni dei quali
potrebbero presentare legami con l’opera o,
più verosimilmente, con Adelaide. Tra essi
figura anche un pezzo orchestrale conservato
alla Bibliothèque Nationale de France – e
inventariato tra i materiali autografi donizettiani
non identificati – la cui musica non è, tuttavia,
autografa. In considerazione della possibile
intenzionalità di tale omissione nell’Ange de
Nisida, che non compromette in alcun modo
l’eseguibilità dell’opera, al Festival Donizetti
Opera si è invece deciso di non usufruire del
11
Prélude messo a punto da Fitzpatrick, lascian-
do così alla sola musica certamente donizettia-
na il compito di orientare l’ascolto del pubblico
fin dalle prime battute.
Diverso è il caso del N. 11 Récitatif et Air
Sylvia, che sembra aver subito una revisione
strutturale e i cui testimoni presentano lacune
significative. La bozza del libretto esibisce
almeno due diversi strati, il più antico dei quali
era verosimilmente concepito per una tradi-
zionale aria in quattro tempi, che nella sua
forma abituale comprendeva: una scena ini-
ziale, un tempo lento (cantabile) e un cosid-
detto tempo di mezzo che conduceva alla
cabaletta conclusiva. Tra le sezioni superstiti
della partitura autografa mancano, tuttavia,
sia la scena iniziale sia la cabaletta, che
potrebbero non essere mai state messe in
musica o essere andate perse. Nella bozza
del libretto i versi del cantabile furono cassati,
esclusione che sembra essere confermata
anche dalla partitura autografa: le battute ini-
ziali del cantabile (che risale ad Adelaide)
sono infatti cancellate e le pagine che gli
dovrebbero seguire si trovano conservate in
una cartella differente, come fossero state
rimosse dalla partitura. La struttura finale
dell’aria sembra dunque aver contemplato:
una scena iniziale (perduta o mai composta),
il tempo di mezzo dell’originaria aria in quattro
tempi e una cabaletta conclusiva (anch’essa
perduta o mai composta).
Tale incongruenza tra la presunta ultima
volontà di Donizetti per l’aria di Sylvia e le
sezioni di musica che ci sono pervenute
costringe a una scelta tra alcune possibili
soluzioni esecutive di compromesso. Una
prima opzione potrebbe essere di ripristinare
il cantabile, omettendo il tempo di mezzo suc-
cessivo che avrebbe dovuto portare alla
cabaletta: così facendo si manterrebbe l’uni-
co tempo a sé stante che sicuramente fece
parte del processo creativo dell’Ange de
Nisida e, benché privilegiando una sezione
diversa, si asseconderebbe l’intenzione com-
positiva di avere un numero solistico in un
solo tempo principale. Questa prima soluzio-
ne pone, tuttavia, non poche difficoltà. Una,
non trascurabile, è quella di non concedere
alla prima donna un pezzo di bravura, ovvero
una cabaletta, come invece previsto da
Donizetti. Vi si potrebbe ovviare facendo
seguire al cantabile una cabaletta da sceglier-
si dal repertorio donizettiano; si adotterebbe
così una macrostruttura che ha fatto parte del
processo creativo dell’Ange de Nisida (e con
una sezione – la prima – così come inizial-
mente prevista), ma che Donizetti avrebbe in
seguito deciso di abbandonare. Per la ‘prima’
londinese dell’Ange de Nisida si è seguita que-
sta strada, individuando una cabaletta compati-
bile prosodicamente e vocalmente in «Benigno
il cielo arridere», aggiunta da Donizetti per la
prima parigina di Maria di Rohan (Théâtre-
Italien, 14 novembre 1843) a seguire la
Preghiera della protagonista nel terzo atto. Si
tratta di una soluzione certamente ibrida, che
tenta però di far fronte alle esigenze di produzio-
ne e alle contemporanee ‘convenienze’.
A Bergamo si è invece preferito assecondare
12
quanto più possibile le ultime intenzioni di
Donizetti, che sembrano rispecchiare un dise-
gno compositivo più ampio riguardante l’inte-
ra opera. Altrove, nella partitura dell’Ange de
Nisida, Donizetti sembra infatti aver program-
maticamente ricercato strutture morfologiche
che deviassero dalla tradizionale aria in quat-
tro tempi e dalla cosiddetta ‘solita forma’ dei
duetti, rinunciando al tempo lento e talvolta
adottando modelli di matrice francese. Non
hanno un tempo lento, ad esempio, né il duet-
to tra Sylvia e Leone nel primo atto (ove
Donizetti eliminò un cantabile che aveva in un
primo momento adattato da Adelaide), né
quello tra Sylvia e Le Roi in apertura del
secondo, ed entrambi i numeri solistici di
Leone (N. 8 e la romanza all’interno del N. 14)
mutuano invece la loro struttura finale dalla
romanza francese. L’aria di Sylvia è stata dun-
que eseguita senza cantabile e, dopo il tempo
di mezzo superstite, si è fatto ricorso a una
cabaletta tratta da una versione primigenia
inedita della corrispondente aria di Léonor
nella Favorite. Non ci è pervenuta alcuna par-
titura autografa di questa versione, ma essa è
attestata dalla più antica delle parti vocali di
Léonor, conservata alla Bibliothèque de
l’Opéra, a Parigi. La sua struttura globale
sembra combaciare con la versione finale del-
l’aria di Sylvia così come emendata nel libret-
to, con il cui testo verbale presenta diverse
analogie. Un esame della versione primigenia
dell’aria di Léonor nel suo insieme e, in parti-
colare, della linea melodica della sua cabalet-
ta sembra escludere che essa risalga diretta-
mente all’Ange de Nisida. Piuttosto, Donizetti
potrebbe aver preso l’aria di Sylvia a modello
formale, per poi riscriverla ex novo per Rosine
Stoltz. Ciononostante, questa versione primi-
genia sembra essere quanto di più vicino
all’aria di Sylvia sia sopravvissuto. E, per
quanto parrebbe più adatta a una tessitura
mezzosopranile, si può fare appello alla natu-
ra stessa delle cabalette – la cui seconda
esposizione è notoriamente luogo deputato
per variazioni e riscritture estemporanee – per
adeguarla a un registro più consono. I testi-
moni superstiti della cabaletta consentono di
ricostruirne solamente la linea vocale, quella
del basso orchestrale e uno scarno accompa-
gnamento pianistico. Il Donizetti Opera li ha
affidati alle cure del maestro Federico Biscione,
che ha realizzato l’orchestrazione della caba-
letta nel rispetto delle intenzioni di Donizetti e
delle peculiarità stilistiche dell’opera.
Altre soluzioni potranno essere testate in futu-
ro, attingendo con la necessaria consapevo-
lezza a un repertorio che di per sé ammette la
liceità di più versioni. O, chissà, future ricer-
che potranno portare al ritrovamento degli
ultimi tasselli del puzzle. Quel che più conta è
che L’ange de Nisida ha potuto finalmente
essere eseguita e – al Festival Donizetti Opera
– rappresentata, disvelando così l’ultima tela
del laboratorio operistico di Donizetti. Non si
potranno invece che azzardare ipotesi su
come l’opera sarebbe stata accolta al Théâtre
de la Renaissance, le cui sorti L’ange avrebbe
forse potuto rendere più rosee.
13
TRAVOLTI DA UN INSOLITO DESTINO
Dialogo fra Candida Mantica,
Jean-Luc Tingaud e Francesco Micheli
di Floriana Tessitore
Nel giugno 2017 il Teatro Donizetti di
Bergamo ha chiuso per inderogabili lavori di
restauro, incominciati il 5 febbraio 2018.
Ripercorrendo all’inverso il cammino che era
stato costruito per accompagnare il Teatro
verso la chiusura, la Fondazione Teatro
Donizetti e il Comune di Bergamo hanno stila-
to un calendario di attività che porterà verso la
completa riapertura. Tappa fondamentale di
questo percorso è stata, nel novembre 2019,
la prima messa in scena mondiale nel
Cantiere del Teatro dell’opera L’ange de
Nisida, lavoro di Gaetano Donizetti che si cre-
deva perduto e che invece è rinato grazie ad
una minuziosa ricerca della musicologa
Candida Mantica. Opera smembrata dallo
stesso compositore bergamasco per il riutilizzo
in lavori successivi, trova nell’allestimento
all’interno del Cantiere ideato da Francesco
Micheli, direttore artistico del festival Donizetti
Opera, il luogo ideale e un’occasione irripetibi-
le: «Il cantiere del Donizetti – spiega Micheli – è
la sala parto di Ange, col palcoscenico colloca-
to sulla platea ancora sgombra e il pubblico,
nei palchi e nella tribuna in palcoscenico, tutto
intorno a questa fragile creatura, come una
famiglia che accoglie trepidante un neonato».
Candida Mantica – studi all’Università di Pavia
e un dottorato di ricerca presso la University
of Southampton, dove è attualmente ricerca-
trice – e Francesco Micheli, in questa occasio-
ne anche nelle vesti di regista oltre che nel
suo ruolo istituzionale per il festival bergama-
sco, insieme al direttore d’orchestra Jean-Luc
Tingaud si sono confrontati a lungo sui mate-
riali dell’opera e sulla drammaturgia donizet-
tiana, tracciando alcune linee interpretative
per questa prima assoluta.
Micheli: «La vicenda delle “carte” legate
all’Ange de Nisida è molto appassionante e
sembra perfetta per Indiana Jones o Lara
Croft, perché i contorni di questa riscoperta
hanno davvero il sapore di un’avventura holly-
woodiana: delle fonti si conosceva già l’esi-
stenza ma non si era mai pensato di riordinar-
le per eseguire l’opera, considerandole mate-
riale destinato al riutilizzo nella Favorita e in
Don Pasquale. Lo spettacolo nel cantiere del
Teatro Donizetti prende forma così in uno
spazio scenico che riproduce un ammasso di
fogli sparsi del libretto e della partitura come
fossero un’isola. L’installazione si colloca
molto bene nel cantiere – come se gli operai
avessero steso un telone di copertura e,
durante il trasloco, qualche armadio fosse
“esploso” e le carte fossero precipitate sul
fondo della platea formando appunto un’iso-
la. D’altro canto, per noi è stato fondamentale
compiere un attento lavoro d’analisi storiogra-
fica ed estetica sul mondo che Gaetano
Donizetti e il librettista hanno cercato di rievo-
care (il primo Quattrocento della corte di
Napoli visto da una prospettiva parigina otto-
centesca): ecco perché quest’isola di carte
diventa rapidamente l’incarnazione immagini-
14
fica dell’Isola di Nisida. Sul telo dove si sedi-
mentano le carte il pubblico vedrà proiettate
delle stampe dell’epoca che sono state la
fonte iconografica più cospicua, sia perché
raccontano un primo Quattrocento arcaico
che ancora “puzza” di Medioevo sia perché –
a dispetto dell’immagine tradizionale delle
corti rinascimentali – il mondo che evocano è
brutale e di grande fisicità, percepibile anche
in quell’invenzione artistica e sociale che
sono i tarocchi (carte che rappresentano degli
arcani, figure totemiche nelle quali facilmente
possiamo rivedere i personaggi protagonisti
dell’opera: l’Eremita, il Bagatto, l’Imperatore,
l’Impetratrice ma anche altre figure metafori-
che come la Temperanza o le Stelle, fra le
quali si vede una florida ragazza nuda nell’ac-
qua che è la personificazione dell’angelo di
Nisida, una ragazza con le ali sotto le stelle).
Il lavoro di analisi e penetrazione dell’Ange
non può non prendere le mosse dalla cono-
scenza della Favorite (che debuttò il 2 dicem-
bre 1840) rispetto alla quale però balzano
all’occhio differenze sostanziali. Già nell’am-
bientazione, per esempio, si capisce subito la
forte influenza sul “decoro” imposto dal cam-
bio di sede: il Théâtre de la Renaissance era
altra cosa rispetto all’Opéra de Paris, dove
L’ange, diventato La favorite, avrebbe dovuto
“salire di tono” (ambientazione di corte presti-
giosa, personaggi nobili). Léonor è la Favorita
del re, protagonista di una relazione ufficiale e
consapevole; Sylvia invece è una ragazza
orfana che viene affidata alle mani del sovra-
no perché le trovi una nuova famiglia, mentre
questi è invece attanagliato dal desiderio di
possederla, la prende per sé, la rinchiude
nell’Isola di Nisida e ne fa un personale ogget-
to di piacere. Tutto ciò fa “scadere” entrambi
i personaggi: Sylvia è una pura vittima e il Re
(Don Fernand) un puro carnefice, con una
serie di ricadute di scottante attualità rispetto
alla violenza sulla donna che si consuma
ancora oggi in diversi contesti. Un meccani-
smo analogo s’innesca anche per il protago-
nista maschile: l’amante della Favorita,
Fernand, è un uomo prossimo a prendere i
voti, che rinnega per amore per poi tornare
alla sua vocazione in una circolarità sostan-
zialmente statica; totalmente diversa è invece
la storia di Leone nell’Ange, il cui
Bildungsroman lo vede figlio di un soldato di
ventura che ferisce un membro della corte e
viene condannato all’esilio: è questo il bel
pendaglio da forca del quale noi dovremmo
innamorarci, che alla fine di un tortuoso per-
corso capisce che l’unico luogo per lui è il
monastero. Dopodiché ecco il personaggio
più significativo di Ange, Don Gaspar, qui il
buffo, l’anello debole del genere semiserio,
che Donizetti (in Linda di Chamounix) o
Rossini (nella Gazza ladra) rendono artefice di
un unico dramma che unisce la dimensione
seria con quella comica. A ciò si aggiunga l’e-
redità shakespeariana, che aveva fatto risco-
prire simili personaggi dando forma a una
sensibilità che avrebbe dato origine alla cate-
goria del grottesco tipica del Romanticismo
francese. Come si vede anche nel Don
Pasquale, ma nell’Ange con un risultato ancor
15
più stupefacente, Don Gaspar contagia tutto il
resto dell’opera trasformandola in qualcosa
che definirei antesignano della commedia
all’italiana: vicende il cui contenuto profondo
è spesso amaro e chiaramente demistificato-
re dei mali dell’umanità (per esempio il cine-
ma di Risi o Monicelli), condotte però con una
levità che fa pensare al talento di Donizetti
come vicino ad artisti del calibro di Petrolini,
Totò o De Filippo. Le conseguenze di questa
fusione di registri sono poderose. Nessuno si
salva: la protagonista è vittima di un mondo in
cui, a dispetto degli ideali rinascimentali, le
leggi della violenza della sopraffazione e del
desiderio sono quelle che comandano, una
ragazza che si trova a essere schiava del
desiderio sessuale solo perché è bella e gen-
tile. Una fanciulla angelo che angelica non è
ma, assumendo la sua vicenda i connotati del
martirio, alla fine lo diventa davvero. Gli altri
subiscono la mancanza di salvezza nelle scel-
te che fanno: Leone, per esempio, si carica di
un senso di responsabilità nei confronti della
sorte paterna con poca lucidità, giungendo a
compiere azioni disastrose, non riuscendo a
leggere la minaccia che lo sovrasta finché la
realtà emerge, scagliandosi contro il Re ma
poi concentrando l’odio su Sylvia. Il Monaco
resta la figura chiave di questa commedia
umana, cioè di personaggi che come noi
hanno i loro pregi e i loro difetti: è una figura
interessantissima perché è guida spirituale
priva di cariche ecclesiastiche, ma la cui statura
morale – era confessore del padre del Re – lo
rende personaggio chiave della Chiesa a tal
punto che viene incaricato di denunciare lo
scandalo d’immoralità che si sta consumando».
Mantica: «Il primo atto si conclude con Don
Gaspar che zittisce bruscamente il coro che
egli stesso aveva fatto intonare dagli abitanti
di Nisida per accogliere sull’isola Don
Fernand, il quale avrebbe invece voluto che il
suo arrivo passasse sotto silenzio. Al suono di
“Vive le Roi!” viene proiettato lo stemma degli
Aragona che, senza soluzione di continuità, fa
da scenario anche alla prima parte del duetto
tra Fernand e Sylvia con cui si apre il secondo
atto. Il libretto descrive Sylvia seduta in una
delle stanze della sua villa, intenta a sfogliare
nostalgicamente una rosa, con Fernand ai
suoi piedi (una posa che lascia pochi dubbi
su quanto si sia appena consumato). A con-
tornare lo stemma degli Aragona si aggiunge
a questo punto un fregio circolare, che rin-
chiude metaforicamente Sylvia in un recinto,
preda e ostaggio del potere di Fernand. Nel
corso del duetto Sylvia gli rimprovera di averla
ingannata, avendola attirata a Napoli con una
falsa promessa di matrimonio, per poi relegar-
la al ruolo di concubina. Vaëz e Royer fissano
la data dell’azione attorno al 1470 e sappiamo
che a quel tempo Ferdinando I d’Aragona
(1424-1494) di fatto non aveva moglie. Unico
figlio maschio, illegittimo, di Alfonso I, nel
1440 Ferdinando fu riconosciuto dal padre e
in seguito designato erede al trono di Napoli,
ove gli succedette nel 1458. Già nel 1444
Alfonso si era impegnato a far sposare
Ferdinando con Isabella Chiaromonte, nipote
prediletta del potente barone Orsini, con l’in-
16
tento di rafforzare l’autorità della dinastia ara-
gonese a Napoli. Isabella morì nel 1465,
appena un anno dopo la conclusione della
guerra angioino-aragonese, e nel 1477
Ferdinando sposò in seconde nozze la cugi-
na Giovanna, sorella di Ferdinando il
Cattolico, saldando ulteriormente l’importante
legame del regno di Napoli con la Spagna. Il
matrimonio è dunque strumento politico per
sugellare intese e alleanze, logica che
Ferdinando non mancò di adottare pianifican-
do nozze strategiche per i numerosi figli avuti
da entrambe le mogli. Parallelamente, si ha
notizia di diverse sue concubine, da cui ebbe
altrettanti figli illegittimi. In questo quadro sto-
rico si profila il suo legame di finzione, ma sto-
ricamente verosimile, con Sylvia, bandita dal
regno di Napoli per volere della Chiesa e con-
finata sull’Isola di Nisida».
Micheli: «Tutte queste anomalie ho cercato di
renderle coerenti a partire da una riflessione
suggerita dall’esperienza che viviamo nel
nostro mondo: il Re, Don Fernand, è un uomo
che ha puntato tutto su una relazione clande-
stina e imbarazzante con Sylvia, e vive un’e-
sperienza tremendamente umiliante allor-
quando il matrimonio da lui architettato per
salvare le apparenze viene clamorosamente
scoperto dal promesso sposo. Dal suo punto
di vista, il Re ha fatto di tutto per mantenere in
vita la relazione e in cambio Sylvia scappa:
non posso non pensare a tutti gli uomini in
condizioni vagamente simili a quelle (sto con
una donna, credo di dedicarle tutta la vita e lei
“osa” disamorarsi!). Basta aprire le pagine
della cronaca nera per vedere notizie di uomi-
ni che puniscono l’abbandono con la morte,
come il Re che, scoprendo la fuga di Sylvia,
medita subito la vendetta. Il Monaco intuisce
dove possa essere scappata la donna e,
quando lei bussa al convento, lui intuisce il
pericolo e cerca di nasconderla, confidando
di farla scappare il prima possibile. La morte
di Sylvia è una morte violenta e il Monaco,
complice involontario, decide di coprire l’ac-
caduto per evitare lo scandalo che ne segui-
rebbe. Sylvia, quindi, non ha nemmeno l’onore
delle esequie e di un pianto di vittima, perché
tutti credono che il defunto sia un povero novi-
zio, in un finale che non ha nessuna consola-
zione né possibilità di catarsi; con Leone che
rifiuta l’accaduto dichiarando che domani rag-
giungerà Sylvia fuggendo da un mondo che
non permette ai giovani boccioli di fiorire».
Tingaud: «La nostra linea interpretativa per il
Festival Donizetti Opera è di conservare nella
sua interezza quel che Donizetti ha composto
per L’ange de Nisida, con ciò distaccandoci
molto da quel che ha fatto Opera Rara che –
nella sua edizione e nella versione da concer-
to data a Londra – ha aggiunto l’Ouverture e
alcune arie e recitativi scritti da un revisore
moderno. Per noi, L’ange de Nisida è un’ope-
ra interamente concepita e scritta da Donizetti
ed è così che la ascolteremo per la prima
volta in questa produzione, grazie al ragguar-
devole impegno musicologico profuso da
Candida Mantica. Nonostante manchi una
storia interpretativa di quest’opera, ne cono-
sciamo la genesi, gli interpreti per i quali era
17
stata scritta e gli autoimprestiti che vennero
fatti per La Favorite. Per chi canta, la partico-
larità risiede nello stile semiserio, che ha delle
specificità molto care al gusto parigino di
quell’epoca oltre a essere confacenti alla lin-
gua francese; una delle qualità teatrali del
libretto dell’Ange sta proprio nello spirito e
nella verve della lingua utilizzata, specialmen-
te in alcuni interessantissimi recitativi. Il nostro
lavoro è stato da un lato quello di accompa-
gnare i cantanti lungo il processo di restituzio-
ne dello spirito “frizzante” che ha ispirato
Donizetti per la sua creazione parigina – non
solo nei recitativi ma anche nella scrittura del
coro, anch’essa vivace e ironica – e dall’altro
nel dar forma a numerosi momenti tipicamen-
te belcantisti, che saranno per gli ascoltatori e
gli appassionati una vera scoperta. Per quan-
to mi riguarda, nella lettura di questa scoperta
mi sono basato su una lunga frequentazione
col Donizetti francese, specialmente quello
dell’Opéra-Comique (Rita, La fille du régiment
ecc.) e sulla mia passione per questo periodo
dell’opera francese, frequentata dai composi-
tori italiani. Con Francesco Micheli, dando vita
all’Ange de Nisida, ci è sembrato ogni giorno
più evidente che quest’opera non è solo una
curiosità ma un lavoro maturo del maestro di
Bergamo, destinato a entrare in repertorio e a
essere amato dal pubblico e dagli interpreti».
TRAMA
Atto Primo
Leone, soldato di ventura, ferisce un gentiluo-
mo e, per sfuggire alla pena capitale, scappa
da Napoli e trova rifugio a Nisida, dove si
innamora di Sylvia, nobile fanciulla ingannata
dal Re Fernand con una falsa promessa di
matrimonio e divenuta invece sua amante. Gli
ignari abitanti dell’isola, soggiogati dal suo
fascino, la chiamano l’angelo di Nisida. Un
giorno Don Gaspar, faccendiere del Re, men-
tre è in attesa che arrivi il sovrano per l’abitua-
le incontro con la fanciulla nel suo rifugio in
mezzo al bosco, si imbatte in Leone, che rico-
nosce e a cui offre la sua “protezione”. Sylvia,
inquieta per la presenza del giovane in quel
frangente, gli dichiara che il loro sentimento è
impossibile e gli chiede di lasciarla, ma Leone
si rifiuta. Arriva il Re, che, riconoscendo in lui il
condannato, ne ordina l’arresto.
Atto Secondo
Su insistenza di Sylvia, il Re concede la grazia a
Leone. Sopraggiunge un monaco, il Padre
Superiore di un monastero mandato dalla Santa
Sede a denunciare la scandalosa relazione del
sovrano. Per Sylvia si profila il convento se non
lascerà la corte. Don Gaspar cerca una soluzio-
ne: bisogna trovare qualcuno disposto a sposa-
re la donna in cambio di un’allettante ricompen-
sa. Leone, pensando che il Re voglia semplice-
mente offrire un avvenire alla giovane, si offre
egli stesso come sposo. Il Re, dapprima riluttan-
te, accetta, coll’intenzione di allontanare poi
18
Leone e continuare la sua relazione con Sylvia.
Atto Terzo
Don Gaspar ha capito che Leone ama vera-
mente Sylvia e cerca invano di dissuadere il
Re dal portare a compimento il matrimonio tra
i due. Sylvia, dal canto suo, vorrebbe dimenti-
care Leone, che crede voglia sposarla solo
per interesse. Nei pressi della cerimonia, i
cortigiani disprezzano il giovane chiamandolo
un uomo senza onore, senza che questi capi-
sca perché. Ma quando irrompe il Padre
Superiore la verità viene rivelata. Venuto a
conoscenza del piano del sovrano e del fatto
che Sylvia sia la sua amante, Leone, sconvol-
to, restituisce i titoli e gli onori offertigli dal Re
e abbandona la corte assieme al monaco,
deciso a prendere i voti.
Atto Quarto
Sylvia, che ha finalmente compreso la purez-
za dei suoi sentimenti, lo raggiunge in mona-
stero travestita da novizio, per chiedergli per-
dono. Leone inizialmente la respinge, poi
cede al suo amore, ma la fanciulla si accascia
e muore. Il Padre Superiore, richiamato dalle
sue grida di aiuto, preserva l’anonimato di
Sylvia, annunciando agli altri monaci la morte
di un novizio; Leone, sconvolto, sente la pro-
pria morte vicina.
 Lidia Fridman
(La comtesse Sylvia de Linarès)

19
IN SEARCH OF A ‘LOST’ OPERA
By Candida Mantica
In recent years, several unpublished or previ-
ously lost works written by some of history’s
foremost composers have come to light. To
mention only two: Igor Stravinskij’s Funeral
Song, which resurfaced during the St
Petersburg Conservatoire house-move in 2015,
and 21 unknown compositions from Puccini’s
youth, found three years ago. However, such
cases become considerably more rare if one
excludes early works or those written for special
occasions. In this light, having the chance to
attend the world premiere of a work by one of
Italy’s most celebrated nineteenth-century
opera composers, Gaetano Donizetti, like the
one immortalized in this CD, certainly ranks as
an exceptional opportunity.
But the tale underlying L’ange de Nisida is not
one of an opera whose score, once believed
to be physically lost, emerged from the
depths of some dusty archive. It is, rather, a
story of missed opportunities: circumstances
that prevented the opera from being staged
and then tore its autograph score (of which no
copies existed) to shreds. The music of
L’ange de Nisida came down to us as a jigsaw
puzzle whose pieces were not preserved in a
single place and at times proved extremely
difficult to decipher. There was even reason to
fear that these pieces could never lead to any
more than an overly fragmentary vision of the
opera, which may explain why an editorial
project had not been created to put them
22
together. After years of scepticism, the pro-
cess involved in reconstructing and editing
L’ange de Nisida got under way at the
University of Southampton in 2008, as part of
a doctoral project. In 2014 the recording label
Opera Rara commissioned a complete per-
forming edition of L’ange de Nisida from me,
which led to the opera’s premiere (London,
Royal Opera House, 18 July 2018). Conducted
by Sir Mark Elder, this was a concert perfor-
mance conceived for a recording that, while
admirable in making the music of L’ange de
Nisida accessible, inevitably lacked many ele-
ments (sets, costumes, action) that are essential
in a full opera production. The Donizetti Opera
Festival has recently accepted the challenge of
presenting the opera’s first stage performance,
which took place in Bergamo 180 years after the
work was composed.
An Italian in Paris
L’ange de Nisida was meant to be one of
Donizetti’s first new works to be premiered in
Paris after he had moved to the French capital
in 1838. It had been commissioned by the
director of the newborn Théâtre de la
Renaissance, Anténor Joly, in the wake of the
triumphal production of Lucie de
Lammermoor in the same theatre in August
1839. The ensuing contract – signed by Joly,
Donizetti and the opera’s two librettists,
Gustave Vaëz and Alphonse Royer – stated in
no uncertain terms that rehearsals for L’ange
de Nisida were to begin the following
February, with a clear (albeit undeclared)
intention of staging it soon thereafter. The
autograph score of L’ange de Nisida was vir-
tually complete by 27 December 1839 (as
annotated on its last page); it incorporated the
“rather old music” from Adelaide, an Italian
opera that Donizetti had drafted around 1834
– presumably for Naples – and left unfinished.
The composer may have brought the incom-
plete score of Adelaide with him to Paris with
the intention of proposing it to the Theâtre-
Italien, with whose management he was
negotiating in 1838. When it became clear
that the project would not materialize,
Donizetti used a large part of Adelaide in the
composition of L’ange de Nisida. With this
recycling already in mind, Donizetti evidently
asked Vaëz and Royer to fashion a libretto
containing specific verse types and struc-
tures, which could be set to the pre-existing
music from Adelaide. In doing so, he physical-
ly inserted numerous pages of Adelaide into
the new score, replacing the verbal text (a
task that occasionally fell to Vaëz), in some
cases completing the orchestration, and alter-
ing the overall structure of the pieces in ques-
tion, streamlining outdated Italian forms to
suit a new dramatic pace.
Both copies of the libretto for L’ange de Nisida
that were submitted to the censors on 22
January 1840 define it as an opéra en quatre
parties. The libretto’s definition bears no fur-
ther reference to the nature of the opera’s
subject, which escapes any rigorous catego-
rization as a consequence of its multifaceted
creative process. L’ange de Nisida in part
23
traces Adelaide’s dramatic layout, which can
be reconstructed from the surviving sections
of its score (including those that merged into
L’ange de Nisida and La favorite). The subject
finds its roots in Claudine de Tencin’s tale Les
mémoires du Comte de Comminge (1735),
from which François-Thomas-Marie de
Baculard d’Arnaud drew his drame Les
amants malheureux, ou Le Comte de
Comminge (1765), which is considered as a
quintessential example of genre sombre.
Translated into Italian in 1778, Les amants
malheureux inspired several plays and
operas, such as Valentino Fioravanti’s melo-
dramma in three acts Adelaide maritata
(1812), and Giovanni Pacini’s melodrama
semiserio Adelaide e Comingio (1818), which
would in turn influence L’ange de Nisida,
through Donizetti’s Adelaide.
One would easily be led to classify L’ange de
Nisida as an opera semiseria, based on the
works from which it was derived, the presence
of a basso buffo (Don Gaspar) and the almost
pastoral setting of a few scenes. It does how-
ever distance itself from some particular
aspects of early nineteenth-century opera
semiseria, including the usual contemporary
setting, and the lieto fine, frequently reached
through a salvation or a last-minute liberation.
Rebecca Harris-Warrick suggested that Royer
and Vaëz derived those dramaturgical ele-
ments that were extraneous to the literary tra-
dition of Adelaide e Comingio from Victor
Hugo’s drame Marion De Lorme (1829), which
was revived at the Théâtre-Français in
November 1839. The resulting product is a
libretto that maintains the main structure of
Adelaide, but crossing its bourgeois boarders
to present a historical subject and a wider
drama opposing the public and the private
sphere, which is typical of the new, romantic
sensibility. The comic and the tragic are sinis-
terly mixed together, reflecting the romantic
ideal of the fusion of traditional genres, that
has its roots in Shakespeare’s theatre, and
here might have been mediated through
Hugo’s contemporary drame. The libretto for
L’ange de Nisida has never been printed, and
thus we do not know whether the final defini-
tion would have been the same as the one on
the front page of the manuscript librettos.
Sure enough, the neutral label opéra en qua-
tre parties is well-suited to the hybrid nature of
the opera, bringing together different tradi-
tions: the French drame, typical of the genre
sombre, Les amants malhereux; its numerous
Italian operatic adaptations, touching all
nuances of opera semiseria; and the French,
romantic drame Marion De Lorme.
«The Renaissance has closed, and I lose the
angel of Nisida»
Even though the deadlines set down in
Donizetti’s contract were respected, and the
production process had advanced to the point
of starting work on the mise-en-scène, the date
of the premiere was repeatedly postponed. In
May 1840, the Théâtre de la Renaissance went
bankrupt, thus denying L’ange de Nisida the
opportunity to reach the stage.
24
The Renaissance has closed, and I lose the
Angel of Nisida, an opera (…) suitable only for
that theatre. Alas!... The impresario was a don-
key, he threw away money everywhere he could.
(Letter to Tommaso Persico, 9 May 1840)
Unable to conceal his regret, Donizetti was
well aware that when the Théâtre de la
Renaissance closed, he would not be able to
do anything with this opera, as he had initially
conceived it. There was no question that the
work would have been rejected by censors in
many Italian theatres, due to its libretto,
whose plot revolved around the figure of the
King of Naples, Ferdinando d’Aragona, and
his mistress. Nor was it possible to propose it
to other Parisian theatres – whose different
repertories had to conform to specific conven-
tions – without introducing deep structural
changes. A few months later, Donizetti drew
on L’ange de Nisida while composing his sec-
ond grand opéra, La favorite, which was pre-
miered at the Académie Royale de Musique
on 2 December 1840. Following a path similar
to that of his recycling of Adelaide, Donizetti
dismembered the score of L’ange and nested
a fair number of its pages within his new one,
La favorite, making significant changes to the
poetry, vocal lines and orchestration, and in
some cases altering the structure and adapt-
ing the music to different dramatic contexts.
This laborious process, with all its dismem-
berments and re-elaborations, brings us back
to the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, and how to
put them together. Most of the folios that
made up the autograph score of L’ange de
Nisida are preserved at the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, in Paris. There is no
binding, nor even an orderly sequence of
pages: what we have are 18 folders that ran-
domly alternate pages from L’ange de Nisida,
preparatory materials and discarded pas-
sages originally intended for either this opera
or La favorite. To these, one must add the
pages that Donizetti reused in La favorite, which
have become the object of a more recent mys-
tery. After the 1970s, all traces of Donizetti’s
autograph score were lost, and its whereabouts
are currently unknown. We can thus only con-
sult the black and white microfilm copy con-
served at the New York Public Library.
In identifying the roughly 470 pages of L’ange
de Nisida that have survived, and in establish-
ing their original order, a working draft of the
libretto, presumably in Vaëz’s hand, provided
essential guidance. This draft copy, housed at
the Archives Nationales in Paris, contains var-
ious erasures and alternative variants, from
which three working layers can be recognized
overall. When setting the libretto to music,
Donizetti took up the variants dating to the
second layer of the libretto, but only part of
the most recent one. Therefore, for some sec-
tions of the score it was necessary to identify
a verbal text (at times heavily stricken out and
substituted with the one for La favorite) that in
a few cases had also been deleted from the
draft version of the libretto. Once the surviving
pages had been identified and put in the cor-
rect order, the true editorial work could begin.
25
Editing an opera by a 19th-century Italian
composer (often composed in an extremely
short lapse of time) raises certain problems
that go beyond deciphering its musical and
verbal text, and providing a so-called diplo-
matic transcription. These texts must also be
interpreted, in some cases integrated (or cor-
rected), translating them into our current sys-
tem of conventions and, in the process, re-
establishing the composer’s intentions as pre-
cisely as possible while at the same time pro-
viding a score that can be performed.
An Opera ‘Regained’
Piece by piece, the score of L’ange de Nisida
gradually resurfaced like a frescoed wall,
damaged to a certain degree, that becomes
increasingly clear as the work proceeds.
When my work in reconstructing and editing
the opera came to an end, roughly 97 per
cent of the music composed by Donizetti had
come to light, with the exception of some
recitative passages and part of the soprano’s
aria in Act III, which were lost presumably at
the time when the autograph score was dis-
membered for La favorite. Some pieces of the
jigsaw proved to have been drafted as to their
overall structure, but not entirely polished off.
It was as though a few specific figures in the
fresco had revealed their outlines, while only
hinting at their colours. Once the ‘skeleton
score’ had been finished (the bass and vocal
lines, plus sketchy accompaniment motifs), it
was in fact common practice at the time for
composers to reserve the orchestration (or
part of it) for a later time. Donizetti was most
likely waiting for a precise date to be given to
the premiere before completing the orchestra-
tion for: the love duet between Sylvia and
Leone in Act I (N. 3), Leone’s aria in Act II (N.
8), the duet between Don Gaspar and King
Fernand in Act III (N. 10), and the chorus in
the same act (N. 12).
For the love duet, it was possible to derive
most of the orchestration from La favorite,
where Donizetti copied this number (N. 4
Récitatif et Duo), transposing it from its origi-
nal D major to C major and modifying a few of
its transitions. This choice seems to reflect the
features of the new cast: while the role of
Sylvia in L’ange de Nisida was to go to sopra-
no Anna Thillon, who had recently interpreted
Lucie at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, the
role of Léonor was redesigned for Rosine
Stoltz, whose vocal range was comparable to
that of a modern mezzosoprano. The orches-
tration of the remainder of the duet and the
other numbers – essential in order to perform
the opera – was completed for Opera Rara by
Martin Fitzpatrick, and the Bergamo produc-
tion included in the present CD abided by it.
Fitzpatrick also newly composed the recitative
passages that were lost or that Donizetti never
completed: those that were to precede N. 3 and
N. 11, and those that conclude N. 6 and N. 7.
There is no trace of the first two, and we have
no reason to believe they were ever composed.
Of the recitatives that conclude N. 6 and N. 7,
the first two and the first four bars respectively
have come down to us, demonstrating that their
26
music was composed but later lost.
For this first staging, at Donizetti Opera 2019, a
deliberate decision was made not to perform
the recitatives newly composed by Fitzpatrick,
which in total amount to roughly 75 of the over
3,700 measures that make up the score of
L’ange de Nisida. The aim, shared by all parties
involved as well as myself, was to invite the
audience to see L’ange as a finished opera. By
not covering up the very few passages of which
no trace has come down to us, one should
clearly see how irrelevant they are compared to
the essentially complete nature of Donizetti’s
work. Guided by Francesco Micheli’s directing,
which is able to grasp the subtlest nuances of
the language of this opera, the passages in
question have only been mimed. This will allow
the dramatic flow to continue uninterrupted, but
without introducing musical passages written
by an external composer, which inevitably
betray a different authorship.
Those who were able to attend the opera’s
London premiere, or who have listened to the
recording that arose out of it, will notice some
differences with this production, as of the very
first notes. The extant sources for L’ange de
Nisida do not include an opening instrumental
piece. Donizetti may well have intended to
prepare one at a later time, perhaps shortly
before the debut. One cannot however rule
out the possibility that he intended the opera
to begin directly with the instrumental
Andante that accompanies Leone’s entrance
onstage at the beginning of the Introduction.
Lucie de Lammermoor has no sinfonia, but
only a brief prelude that leads without inter-
ruption into the introductory chorus. Nor was
a separate introductory instrumental piece
foreseen for the original version of Linda di
Chamounix (Vienna, Kärntnertortheater, 19
May 1842), an opera semiseria that has quite
a few structural affinities with L’ange de
Nisida. For the London premiere of L’ange de
Nisida, Opera Rara chose to provide the
opera with a prelude, once again entrusting
Fitzpatrick with composing it. He wrote a
piece based on materials broadly ascribable
to Donizetti, some of which may be linked to
this opera or, more likely, to Adelaide. These
also include an orchestral piece preserved at
the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (where
it is catalogued among Donizetti’s non-identi-
fied autograph materials), whose music, how-
ever, is not autograph. Considering that such
a piece may have been intentionally omitted
from L’ange de Nisida, and that this would in
no way make the opera unfit for performance,
the decision made for the Donizetti Opera
Festival was not to use the Prélude prepared
by Fitzpatrick. Listeners will thus be oriented
by music certainly composed by Donizetti as
of the opening bars.
The situation is different with N. 11 Récitatif et
Air Sylvia, whose structure seems to have
been revised and whose sources contain sig-
nificant gaps. The draft copy of the libretto
presents at least two different layers, the older
of which was presumably conceived for a tra-
ditional Italian double aria, usually including:
a recitative, a slow cantabile and a tempo di
27
mezzo leading to a faster cabaletta.
Nevertheless, neither the opening scene nor
the cabaletta are found among the sections
that have survived in the autograph score,
meaning that these sections may never have
been set to music, or may have been lost. In
the draft copy of the libretto, the verses for the
cantabile were stricken out, and this elimina-
tion seems to be confirmed by the autograph
score: the opening bars of the cantabile are in
fact crossed out and the following pages are
preserved in a different folder, as if they had
been discarded from the score. The aria’s
final structure thus seems to have been made
up of: an initial scene (lost or never com-
posed), the tempo di mezzo of the original
aria in four sections and a final cabaletta (also
lost or never composed).
This discrepancy between Donizetti’s pre-
sumed final decision for Sylvia’s aria and the
sections of music that have survived forces us
to choose between a number of possibilities,
each of which is in some way a compromise.
One option would consist in reintroducing the
cantabile and omitting the following tempo di
mezzo, which would have led to the cabaletta.
This would allow us to maintain the only com-
plete section which was unquestionably part
of the creative process for L’ange de Nisida
and respect Donizetti’s intention of having a
solo number with only one main section, even
though it would be a different one. This
option, however, raises quite a few issues.
One that cannot be overlooked is that the
prima donna would not have a virtuoso piece,
i.e. a cabaletta, which Donizetti apparently
wished to include. This could be solved by
introducing a cabaletta after the cantabile, to
be chosen from Donizetti’s production; the
ensuing macrostructure would thus conform
to the one conceived during the creative pro-
cess for L’ange de Nisida (and with one sec-
tion – the first – as initially planned), but that
Donizetti later decided to abandon. This was
the path followed for the London premiere; after
searching for a compatible cabaletta, as
regards its prosody and vocal writing, «Benigno
il cielo arridere» was chosen, which Donizetti
added for the Paris premiere of Maria di Rohan
(Théâtre-Italien, 14 November 1843) following
the leading role’s Prayer in the third act. This is
no doubt a hybrid solution, but it does attempt
to meet both production requirements and con-
temporary ‘convenienze’.
The choice made for the Bergamo staging,
instead, was to remain as much as possible in
line with Donizetti’s last intentions, which
seem to reflect a larger compositional outline
that concerns the entire opera. Elsewhere, in
the score of L’ange de Nisida, Donizetti
seems to have programmatically circumvent-
ed traditional double forms, omitting the slow
tempo and at times adopting models coming
from the French tradition. No slow tempo is
found in Sylvia and Leone’s duet in the first
act (where Donizetti eliminated a cantabile
that he had initially taken up from Adelaide),
nor in Sylvia and Le Roi’s duet that opens the
second act. Both of Leone’s solo numbers (N.
8 and the romance that is part of N. 14),
28
instead, have a final structure adapted from
the French romance. Sylvia’s aria has thus
been performed without a cantabile and, after
the surviving tempo di mezzo, a cabaletta
taken from Léonor’s corresponding aria in La
favorite, in its earliest (and unpublished) ver-
sion, has been included. No autograph score
of this version has come down to us, but it is
found in the oldest of Léonor’s vocal parts,
conserved at the Bibliothèque de l’Opéra, in
Paris. Its overall structure seems to corre-
spond to the final version of Sylvia’s aria, as
modified in the libretto, and these two verbal
texts show various similarities. Examining the
earliest version of Léonor’s aria as a whole
and, in particular, the melodic line of its
cabaletta, it does not seem possible to trace it
back directly to L’ange de Nisida. Rather,
Donizetti may have taken Sylvia’s aria as a for-
mal model but written the piece freshly for
Rosine Stoltz. Nevertheless, this earliest ver-
sion seems to be the closest thing to Sylvia’s
aria that has survived. And, although it would
seem better suited to the vocal range of a
mezzosoprano, one could make the most of
the very nature of the cabaletta – which
includes a second exposition, known to have
welcomed variations and impromptu re-writ-
ings – and adapt it to a more appropriate
vocal range. The surviving sources of this
cabaletta only allow the vocal line to be recon-
structed, along with the orchestral bass and a
thinly outlined piano accompaniment.
Donizetti Opera gave these materials to
Federico Biscione, who orchestrated the
cabaletta in accordance with Donizetti’s inten-
tions and the opera’s stylistic features.
Other solutions may certainly be tested in the
future, showing an appropriate awareness
when drawing on a repertory that, by its very
nature, legitimises a range of versions. Or,
who knows, further research may even lead
the very last pieces of the jigsaw to be discov-
ered. The most important thing at present is
that L’ange de Nisida has finally been per-
formed and – at the Donizetti Opera Festival –
staged, thus unveiling the last hitherto
unknown canvas produced in Donizetti’s
operatic atelier. After all, we can only guess
what fate would have been in store for it at the
Théâtre de la Renaissance, whose own future
might have been brighter, had it only wel-
comed L’ange inside its doors.
OVERWHELMED BY AN UNUSUAL FATE
A Conversation between Candida Mantica,
Jean-Luc Tingaud and Francesco Micheli
By Floriana Tessitore
In June 2017 the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo
closed for urgent restoration work, which
began on February 5, 2018. Going back
through the different stages leading towards
the closure of the theatre, the Donizetti
Theatre Foundation and the City of Bergamo
are drawing up a calendar of activities that will
lead to its complete reopening. A fundamental
step in this process is, in November 2019, the
first worldwide staging at the construction site
29
of the opera house of L’ange de Nisida, a
work by Gaetano Donizetti that was believed
to have been lost but came back to new life
thanks to the painstaking research of musicol-
ogist Candida Mantica. It is a play that was
dismembered by the composer himself to be
reused in subsequent works, and it finds its
ideal place and an unrepeatable opportunity
in the construction site designed by
Francesco Micheli, artistic director of the
Donizetti Opera Festival: “Donizetti Theatre’s
construction site – explains Micheli – is ange’s
delivery room, with the stage placed on the
still unobstructed stalls and the audience, on
the stages and in the grandstand on stage, all
around this fragile creature, like a family that
anxiously welcomes a new-born baby”.
Candida Mantica – who studied at the
University of Pavia and earned her PhD from
the University of Southampton, where she is
currently a Research Fellow – and Francesco
Micheli, on this occasion also in the role of
director as well as in his institutional role for
the festival in Bergamo, with the conductor
Jean-Luc Tingaud, have discussed for a long
time about the materials of Donizetti’s work
and dramaturgy, offering some interpretative
lines for this world première.
Micheli: “The story of the ‘papers’ related to
L’ange de Nisida is very fascinating and
seems the perfect subject matter of an
Indiana Jones or Lara Croft film, because the
contours of this rediscovery really have the
flavour of a Hollywood adventure: we already
knew that sources existed, but no one had
ever thought to rearrange them to give life to
the work, because they were mainly consid-
ered to be material to be reused in La favorite
and Don Pasquale. The performance at the
Donizetti Theatre is shaped in a dramatic
space that reproduces a mass of sheets scat-
tered around from the libretto and the score
as if they were an island. The installation fits in
the construction site very well, as if the work-
ers had laid out a tarpaulin and, as they were
moved out, some wardrobes had ‘exploded’
and the papers had fallen to the bottom of the
stalls and created an island. It was also funda-
mental for us to carry out a careful work of his-
toriographic and aesthetic analysis of the
world that Gaetano Donizetti and the librettist
tried to evoke (the court of Naples at the
beginning of the fifteenth century, seen from a
nineteenth-century Parisian perspective): this
is why this island of papers quickly becomes
the imaginative incarnation of the island of
Nisida. On the cloth where the sheets are
placed, the public will see projections of prints
of the time, which were our most conspicuous
iconographic source for two main reasons:
because they represent the archaic world of
the early fifteenth century that still bears traces
of the Middle Ages and because – notwith-
standing the traditional image of the
Renaissance courts – the world they evoke is
brutal and very physical, something which also
emerges from an important artistic and social
invention, i.e. the tarots (cards representing the
arcane, totemic figures in which we can easily
recognize the characters of the work: the
30
Hermit, the Juggler, the Emperor, the
Empress, but also other metaphorical figures,
such as Temperance or the Stars, among
which we see a thriving girl naked in the water
who is the personification of the angel of
Nisida, a girl with wings under the stars)”.
The work of analysis and penetration of
L’ange is deeply rooted in the knowledge of
La favorite (which debuted on December 2,
1840) in relation to which substantial differ-
ences can, however, be noticed. As for the
setting, for example, one can immediately
detect the strong influence of the ‘decorum’
imposed by the change of venue: the Théâtre
de la Renaissance was very different from the
Opéra de Paris, where L’ange, which had
become La favorite, should have ‘risen in
tone’ according to the conveniences of the
ancient opera seria also transferred to the
romantic melodrama (a prestigious court set-
ting, noble characters). Léonor is the favorite
of the king, the protagonist of an official and
conscious relationship; Sylvia, on the other
hand, is an orphaned girl who is entrusted to
the hands of the sovereign, who has to find
her a new family just as he is gripped by the
desire to possess her, and so takes her for
himself, locks her up in the Island of Nisida
and makes her a personal object of pleasure.
All this ‘spoils’ both characters: Sylvia is mere-
ly a victim and the King (Don Fernand) merely
an executioner, which also sounds to us
extremely topical considering the violence
women still experience nowadays in different
contexts. A similar mechanism is triggered for
the male protagonist: the Favorite’s lover,
Fernand, is a man who is about to take his
vows but recants them for love, just to come
back on his steps and resume his vocation in
a highly static circularity; the story of Leone in
L’ange is utterly different, as this work is a
Bildungsroman in which he is the son of a sol-
dier of fortune who hurts a member of the
court and is sentenced to exile; in L’ange he
is the fascinating rascal with which we should
fall in love and, who at the end of a winding
path, understands that the only place for him
is the monastery. We also see the most signif-
icant character of L’ange, Don Gaspar, who is
the funny and odd character, the weakest link of
the semi-serious genre, a role that Donizetti (in
Linda of Chamounix) or Rossini (in La gazza
ladra) turned into the author of a drama that
combines the serious dimension with the comic
one. In addition to this, the Shakespearean
legacy was responsible for the rediscovery of
similar characters and for the creation of an
aesthetic taste that would later give rise to the
grotesque, a category that was typical of the
French Romanticism. As you can see in Don
Pasquale (even though the result is even
more remarkable in L’ange), Don Gaspar has
a strong impact on the whole work, since it
transforms it into something that seems to me
as the forerunner of the Italian comedy: he is
the protagonist of events that are often
imbued with bitterness and are clearly meant
as a demystification of the human evil (as, for
example, in the films by Risi or Monicelli) but
which are developed with a kind of lightness
31
that brings Donizetti’s genius closer to
Petrolini’s, Totò’s or De Filippo’s.
The consequences of such mingling of regis-
ters are powerful. No one can be saved: the
protagonist is the victim of a world in which,
notwithstanding Renaissance ideals, the laws
of violence, oppression and desire are the rul-
ing ones. She is a girl who finds herself a
slave to sexual desire only because she is
beautiful and kind; a girl-angel who is not
angelic but, in the end, really becomes so
because her story takes on nuances of mar-
tyrdom. The others suffer from the impossibil-
ity to be saved in the choices they make:
Leone, for example, charges himself with a
sense of responsibility towards his father’s
fate only due to his lack of clearness of the
mind, which leads him to disastrous actions
when he fails to understand the threat that
surrounds him until he is overwhelmed by it,
and when he hurls himself against the King
but then concentrates his hatred on Sylvia.
The Monk remains the key role in this human
comedy, that is the story of characters who –
just like us – have their merits and their flaws:
he is a very interesting figure because he is a
spiritual guide with no ecclesiastical office,
but whose moral stature – he was the confes-
sor of the King’s father – makes him a key fig-
ure of the Church to the point that he is the
one who has to denounce the scandal of
immorality that is taking place.”
Mantica: “The first act ends on Don Gaspar
abruptly silencing the chorus that he himself
had asked the inhabitants of Nisida to sing as
a way to welcome Don Fernand to the island,
even though he wanted his arrival not to be
noticed. To the sound of ‘Vive le Roi!’, the
coat of arms of the Aragons is projected and
it will serve as the background also of the first
part of the duet between Fernand and Sylvia
which opens act two. The libretto describes
Sylvia sitting in one of the rooms of her villa,
nostalgically leafing through a rose, with
Fernand at her feet (a pose that leaves little
doubt as to how much has just been con-
sumed). The Aragonese coat of arms is now
surrounded by a circular frieze, which
metaphorically encloses Sylvia in a fence, as
a prey and hostage to Fernand’s power.
During the duet, Sylvia reproaches him for
having deceived her, having drawn her to
Naples with a false promise of marriage, and
then having relegated her to the role of his
concubine. Vaëz and Royer set the date of the
action around 1470 and we know that at that
time Ferdinand I of Aragon (1424-1494) had
no wife. The only son to Alfonso I (though ille-
gitimate), Ferdinand was recognized by his
father in 1440 and was later appointed heir to
the throne of Naples, where he succeeded in
1458. In 1444 Alfonso had already undertaken
to have Ferdinand marry Isabella Chiaromonte,
the favourite niece of the powerful Baron
Orsini, aiming to strengthen the authority of the
Aragonese dynasty in Naples. Isabella died in
1465, just a year after the end of the angevin-
Aragonese war, and in 1477 Ferdinand married
his cousin Giovanna, the sister of Ferdinand
the Catholic, strengthening even further the
32
important bond between the Kingdom of
Naples and Spain. Marriage was, therefore, a
precious political instrument for agreements
and alliances, a logic that Ferdinand strictly fol-
lowed when he planned strategic weddings for
each of the several children he had had from
both wives. At the same time, there is news of
several concubines he is believed to have had,
from whom he had as many illegitimate chil-
dren. In this historical context, we set his fic-
tional – but historically plausible – bond to
Sylvia, who was banned from the Kingdom of
Naples by the will of the Church and confined
to the Island of Nisida”.
Micheli: “I have tried to create a consistent
structure for all these anomalies starting from
a reflection suggested by the experience we
live in our world: the King, Don Fernand, is a
man who has devoted himself to a clandes-
tine and embarrassing relationship with
Sylvia, and who lives a tremendously humiliat-
ing experience when the marriage he
designed to save appearances is blatantly
discovered by the promised groom. From the
King’s point of view, he has done everything
to keep the relationship alive and, in return,
Sylvia runs away: I cannot help but think of
men who nowadays live experiences that are
very similar to this one (I have a relationship
with a woman, I think I’m dedicating my whole
life to her and she ‘dares’ to fall out of love!).
One only has to read the black news to find
men who have punished a woman’s aban-
donment with death, something which recalls
what King does when he discovers the
escape of Sylvia and immediately meditates
on revenge. The Monk guesses where the
woman may have escaped and, when she
knocks on the convent’s doors, he tries to
hide her, hoping to make her escape as soon
as possible. Sylvia’s death is a violent death
and the Monk, turned into an involuntary
accomplice, decides to cover up what hap-
pened to avoid the scandal that would follow.
Sylvia therefore does not even have the right
of a funeral and of a victim’s crying, because
everyone believes that the deceased is a poor
novice, in an ending that offers no consolation
and no chance of catharsis: Leone opposes
what happened by declaring that he will soon
join Sylvia... leaving behind a world that does
not allow young buds to flourish”.
Tingaud: “Our musical choice for the
Donizetti Festival is to preserve only and
entirely what Donizetti composed for L’ange
de Nisida. In this respect, we are very different
from Opera Rara which, in its edition and in
the London concert version, added elements
such as the overture or some arias and recita-
tives written by a modern ‘revisor’. For us,
L’ange de Nisida is a work well conceived and
written by Donizetti and this is how we will
hear it for the first time in our production
thanks to the remarkable work of the musicol-
ogist Candida Mantica. Although there is no
history of the performance of this work, we do
know its origin, the performers for whom it
was written, the loans that will later be made
in La favorite. A feature that is very peculiar for
interpreters is the semi-serio style, which is
33
very uncommon but was in line with the
Parisian spirit of that time and very well suited
the French language. The theatrical quality of
the libretto of L’ange and the spirit, the verve
of the language used, especially in recitatives,
are particularly interesting. Our work consists,
on the one hand, in bringing the singers to
restore the sparkling spirit that inspired
Donizetti in his creation for Paris – especially
in the recitatives, but also in the lively and
ironic writing of the choir – and, on the other
hand, in shaping the many singing moments
that will be a real discovery for Donizetti’s lis-
teners and lovers. As regards me, I took inspi-
ration from my long experience with Donizetti
in French, particularly at the Opéra Comique
(Rita, La Fille du Régiment etc.), and my pas-
sion for this period in the history of the French
opera revitalized by Italian composers! While
giving life to L’ange de Nisida, Francesco
Micheli and I agreed on the fact that this work
is not only curious but also a major work by
the master from Bergamo and that it will hope-
fully become part of the repertoire of operatic
works loved by audiences and artists”.
SYNOPSIS
Act One
Leone, a soldier of fortune, has wounded a
nobleman in Naples and, to escape a possi-
ble death sentence, has found refuge on the
island of Nisida, where he has fallen in love
with the fair Sylvia. The young woman has
been deceived by King Fernand with a false
promise of marriage and is now the King’s
lover. The island’s inhabitants, fascinated by
her beauty and good heart, call her the angel
of Nisida. One day, while Don Gaspar, King
Fernand’s chamberlain, waits for the
sovereign’s daily arrival at Sylvia’s hidden
abode in the woods, he chances upon Leone,
whom he recognizes and promises to help.
Sylvia, troubled by the presence of the young
man she too loves with the King about to
arrive, implores him to leave and forget her,
but Leone refuses to listen. Arriving on the
scene, the King recognizes Leone as the fugi-
tive and orders his imprisonment.
Act Two
The King bends to Sylvia’s pleas and grants
Leone forgiveness. On the scene a monk now
arrives; it is the Superior of a convent sent by
the Holy See to denounce Fernand’s scan-
dalous relationship: Sylvia must leave the court
immediately or face being locked in a convent.
Don Gaspar hatches a plan: they must find
someone willing to marry Sylvia in exchange
for a rich reward. Leone, thinking the King sim-
ply wants to offer the young woman a future,
offers to marry her himself. Fernand at first is
reluctant, but then accepts, planning to send
the young man away right after the marriage
and thus continue his relationship with Sylvia.
Act Three
Don Gaspar has realized that Leone genuine-
ly loves Sylvia and tries in vain to convince the
King to stop the marriage. Sylvia, on the other
34
hand, wants to forget Leone because she
thinks that he is marrying her merely out of
self-interest. The courtiers scorn the young
man, calling him a man without honour, with-
out him understanding why. But then the
Superior suddenly arrives at court and the
truth is revealed. When Leone learns about
the King’s plot and the fact that Sylvia is his
lover, he furiously returns the titles and hon-
ours bestowed on him and leaves with the
monk, wanting to take religious vows.
Act Four
Sylvia, who has finally realized his innocence in
the scheme plotted by the King, reaches the
monastery disguised as a novice, to ask his
forgiveness. Leone initially rejects her, but then
yields to her love. However, the young woman
falls to the ground and dies. The Superior,
summoned by his cries of help, preserves
Sylvia’s anonymity, announcing to the other
monks the death of a novice; Leone, prey to
despair, feels his own death approach.
Roberto Lorenzi (Don Gaspar)

Florian Sempey (Don Fernand D’Aragon)

35
 LIBRETTO
with parallel English translation

36
L’ANGE DE NISIDA
Opéra en quatre parties
Libretto di Alphonse Royer e Gustave Vaëz
Don Fernand d’Aragon, Roi de Naples
Don Gaspar, chambellan du Roi
Leone de Casaldi
Le Moine (aussi le Supérieur)
La Comtesse Sylvia de Linarès
Habitants de Nisida; Seigneurs et Dames de
la Cour de Naples; Gardes, Serviteurs;
Moines.
L’action se passe à la fin du XVème siècle,
dans le Royaume de Naples (1470).
Les deux premiers acts dans l’île de Nisida.
Le troisième dans le palais de la Comtesse,
à Naples.
Le quatrième dans un convent, à quelques
lieues de Naples.
PART ONE
Prélude
ACTE PREMIER
Les jardins d’une villa. À gauche le palais
avec un péristyle ; sur les degrés des vases
de fleurs.
Scène 1ère
Le jour commence à paraître. Leone, seul,
regarde le balcon du palais.
37
L’ANGE DE NISIDA
Opera in four parts
Libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz
Don Fernand of Aragon, King of Naples
Don Gaspar, the King’s Chamberlain
Leone de Casaldi
The Monk (also the Superior)
Countess Sylvia de Linarès
People of Nisida; Gentlemen and Ladies of
the Court of Naples; Guards, Servants;
Monks.
The action takes place at the end of the 15th
century, in the Kingdom of Naples (1470).
The first two acts are set on the island of
Nisida. The third in the palace of the
Countess, in Naples.
The fourth in a convent,
near Naples.
PART ONE
Prelude
ACT ONE
The gardens of a villa. On the left, a palace
with a peristyle; on its steps, some flower-
pots.
First Scene
It is dawning. Leone, alone, stares at the bal-
cony of the palace.
 01 Leone - ange d’amour,
douce fée inconnue !
Tu n’es point revenue
consoler le proscrit...
Par cette lettre au moins
apprends ce qu’il souffrit.
Il s’approche du péristyle et dépose une lettre
entre les fleurs d’un vase qui orne les degrés.
Dites-lui que mon cœur l’appelle,
ô vous qu’elle aime, humides fleurs !
Lorsqu’elle passera, faites monter vers elle
et vos parfums et mes douleurs.
On vient... Fuyons...
Il disparaît entre les arbres.
01 Leone - angel of love,
sweet, unknown fairy!
You did not return
to comfort the proscribed…
From this letter, at least,
learn how much he has suffered.
He approaches the peristyle and places a let-
ter in a pot of flowers that adorn the steps.
Tell her that my heart yearns for her,
dewy flowers which she loves!
When she passes by, send towards her
your sweet scents and my sorrow.
Someone’s coming... I’d better leave...
He disappears among the trees.

Scène 2ème Scene II

Don Gaspar, les habitants de Nisida, portant Don Gaspar, people of Nisida, bringing
des bouquets. flowers.

Don Gaspar - (aux paysans) Don Gaspar - (to the peasants)

Piano, piano !.. Qu’on s’arrête ! Hush, hush! Let’s stop here!
Il écoute. He listens.
Tout sommeille... (regardant la fenêtre du All is quiet... (looking at a window of the
château) palace)
Pour ta fête, châtelaine aimable, We’re here to fête you, lovely lady of the manor,
prête ton oreille à nos chansons. we’ve come to sing you our songs.
(aux paysans) Commençons ! (to the peasants) Let’s begin!
02 Le Chœur - Le sommeil te berce encor 02 Chorus - Sleep still rocks you
et déjà voici l’aurore, but dawn is already here,
son premier rayon colore its first ray tinges
le velours de tes rideaux. the velvet of your curtains.
La fauvette est réveillée, The warbler has awoken,
et dans la plaine émaillée, and our herds are already grazing
déjà paissent nos troupeaux. on the enamelled plain.
Viens, toutes ces harmonies, Come, all these harmonies,
38
ces parfums, ces voix bénies,
pour la fête sont réunies,
ange aimé de Nisida.
Viens reprendre ton empire ;
quand tes yeux si beaux vont luire,
quand ta bouche va sourire,
fleurs, rayons, tout pâlira,
viens, devant tout pâlira.
03 Don Gaspar - Or ça, vous ignorez
quelle est cette étrangère,
votre bon ange, votre Dieu !
Qui soudain toute seule apparut en ce lieu,
s’entourant d’ombre et de mystère…
L’ignorez-vous ?
Les paysans - (avec un mouvement de curiosité)
Nous l’ignorons.
Don Gaspar - C’est bien.
Apprenez donc... qu’il faut
que vous n’en sachiez rien.
Pour moi, c’est le contraire,
je suis connu de toute part.
Villageois, je suis... Don Gaspar.
Ma puissance n’est pas mince,
je suis chambellan du prince,
ma clef d’or entre partout.
Mon génie est prompt, fertile,
et de tout en homme habile
à mon gré je viens à bout.
Je tiens l’œil de la police
et la main de la justice
et de plus, l’oreille du Roi.
Je tiens l’oreille du Roi,
venez à moi, venez à moi,
ordonnez, pour tout service,
je suis là, venez à moi.
39
these scents, these happy voices,
are for you,
beloved angel of Nisida.
Come and regain your empire;
when your fair eyes open,
when your lips smile,
flowers and sunrays pale,
come, before you all things pale.
03 Don Gaspar - Now, you ignore
the identity of this foreign lady,
your merciful angel, your goddess!
She suddenly appeared in this place,
wrapped in shadow and mystery…
You do ignore it, don’t you?
Peasants - (with a hint of curiosity)
We do.
Don Gaspar - Very well.
Learn that... it is necessary
for you to know nothing about her.
As for me, it’s the opposite,
I’m known everywhere.
Villagers, I am... Don Gaspar.
My power is considerable,
I am the King’s chamberlain,
my golden key opens any door.
My mind is quick, fertile,
and adroit as I am
I get what I want.
I have the eye of the police,
the hand of justice
and what’s more, the King’s ear.
The King listens to me,
come to me, come to me,
order me, I’m at your service,
Here I am, come to me.
Que veut-on ? Magistratures ?
Ambassades, sinécures,
je puis tout vous accorder.
Pensions, faveurs, offices,
titres, grades, bénéfices,
vous n’avez qu’à demander.
D’obtenir tout je me charge,
mon crédit en cour est large,
car je suis l’ami du Roi.
Si quelqu’un veut une charge
je suis là, venez à moi!
04 Et vous mesdames, à vos ennuis,
ô tendres âmes ! je compatis.
Vierges candides, veuves en rides
d’amour avides, que voulez-vous ?
Cœur qui soupire n’a qu’à me dire
ce qu’il désire, est-ce un époux ?
Sur tous je verse ma charité,
venez j’exerce l’humanité.
Venez les vieux péchés
par moi seront cachés,
venez, mes belles, vous qui cherchez
j’offre un mari croyant,
par mes yeux seuls voyant…
Et je les ferme pour mettre un terme
à vos ardents désirs, à vos soupirs.
Les paysans - De notre hommage
avec faveur reçois le gage
mon doux seigneur, ô bon seigneur,
ô doux seigneur, ô cher seigneur.
Don Gaspar - Venez donc, soit belle ou
laide
le veuvage vous excède,
Don Gaspar vient à votre aide,
pour votre ennuis j’ai le remède :
40
What do you want? Magistracies?
Embassies, sinecures?
I can get them all.
Lodgings, favours, offices,
titles, ranks, benefits,
you only need to ask.
I’ll get them all for you,
my credit at court is huge
for I am the King’s friend.
If anyone wants an office,
here I am, come to me!
04 And you, ladies, tender souls,
I sympathize with your worries.
Immaculate maidens, wrinkled widows
longing for love, what do you seek?
Sighing hearts, you need only tell me
what you desire: is it a husband?
I lavish kindness on everyone,
come, I’m a most humane person.
Come, I shall hide
your past sins,
come, fair ladies, to you who seek
a faithful husband I offer one
who sees through my eyes…
And I close them to put an end
to your ardent desires, to your sighs.
Peasants - Receive the pledge
of our homage and of our favour,
kind sir, good sir,
gentle sir, dear sir.
Don Gaspar - Come then, fair and unsightly
ones,
discard your widowhood,
Don Gaspar comes to your rescue,
I have the remedy for your problems:
c’est un mari. Je suis là. Venez !
Et vous mesdames, à vos ennuis,
ô tendres âmes ! je compatis.
Les paysans - Ô cher seigneur !
Don Gaspar - À vos ennuis, ô tendres âmes !
etc.
Il n’est rien que je ne puisse,
je tiens l’œil de la police,
et la main de la justice
et je suis l’ami du Roi,
pour tout service venez à moi.
Pour toute belle j’ai des maris,
je suis l’échelle de mes amis,
tout privilège sort de ma main,
et je protège le genre humain,
je vous protège, je vous allège,
j’ai pour cortège la charité.
Sur tous je verse la charité,
venez, j’exerce l’humanité.
Le Chœur - À tous, vraiment,
il tend la main ;
il est l’ami de tout le genre humain.
Que de bonté, d’humanité !
Don Gaspar après son air rassemble tous les
bouquets que portent les paysans, et chargé
de cette moisson de fleurs, il se dirige vers le
château en dansant.
Don Gaspar - Des chants et des bouquets !
Le réveil est galant :
«Don Gaspar vous êtes charmant !»
Voilà ce que va dire
la belle châtelaine, avec un
doux sourire.
Il entre au château. Les paysans se montrent
les uns aux autres Leone, qui à travers les
41
a husband. Here I am. Come!
And you ladies, tender souls,
I sympathize with your worries.
Peasants - Dear sir!
Don Gaspar - Tender souls, I sympathise!
etc.
There is nothing I cannot do,
I have the eye of the police,
the hand of justice
and the King is my friend,
come to me for anything you need.
I have husbands for all,
I am a stepping stone for my friends,
I hand out all kinds of benefits,
I protect humankind,
I protect you, I soothe you,
kindness is my distinctive trait.
I am merciful with everyone,
come, I am a most humane person.
Chorus - Indeed, he gives a hand
to everyone;
he is a friend to every human being.
What goodness, what humanity!
After his aria, Don Gaspar gathers
all the bouquets from the peasants
and heads for the manor,
dancing.
Don Gaspar - Songs and flowers!
What a romantic awakening!
«Don Gaspar, you are so charming!»
That is what
the fair lady of the manor will say with a
sweet smile.
He enters the manor. The peasants point out
to one another Leone, who, through the
arbres semble épier ce qui se passe devant
le palais.
05 Le Chœur - C’est l’inconnu qui dans notre île
semble venu chercher asile ;
ainsi qu’un fugitif, un soir il aborda.
Quelques paysans - Qu’importe à nous,
chantons l’ange de Nisida.
Tous - Chantons l’ange de Nisida.
Le sommeil te berce encor
et déjà voici l’aurore...
Don Gaspar - (paraît sur le parvis du châ-
teau reparaissant de mauvaise humeur)
Silence donc ! De votre aubade,
on vous dispense, maladroits !
La belle étrangère est malade.
Pour chanter ne peut-on choisir
d’autres endroits ?
Partez, et dans une heure
devant cette demeure
revenez tous, piano, piano.
Pour fêter un personnage
qui céans de son passage
vous honore incognito. Allez.
Les paysans - Partons sans bruit, partons.
Don Gaspar - Allez, allez. Presto, presto.
Il les pousse dehors avec impatience ; ils
sortent par la gauche ; Leone paraît du côté
opposé ; quand Don Gaspar se retourne ils
se reconnaissent.
trees, seems to observe what is happening
on the square of the manor.
05 Chorus - He’s the foreigner who
has come to our island for shelter;
he landed one night like a fugitive.
Some Peasants - What do we care?
Let us fête the angel of Nisida.
All - Let us fête the angel of Nisida.
Sleep still rocks you
but dawn is already here...
Don Gaspar - (appearing on the square fac-
ing the manor, in a bad mood)
Be silent! You are dispensed
from your serenade, clumsy people!
The fair lady is not well.
Can’t you find another place
for your singing?
Go, and in one hour
return quietly
to this place
to revere a person
who, with his passing,
honours you incognito. Go.
Peasants - Let’s go, hush, let’s leave.
Don Gaspar - Go, go. Quickly.
He pushes them out impatiently; they leave
from left; Leone appears from the opposite
side; when Don Gaspar turns around, they
recognize each other.

Scène 3ème Scene III

Leone, Don Gaspar Leone, Don Gaspar

06 Leone - Don Gaspar ! 06 Leone - Don Gaspar!

Don Gaspar - (avec surprise) Don Gaspar - (in surprise)
42
Leone de Casaldi. Leone de Casaldi.
Leone - Moi-même. Leone - Indeed, it is I.
Don Gaspar - Vous ici ! Don Gaspar - You here!
Par ma foi vous êtes un problème : My word, you’re a problem:
débarquer à la cour, to land at court,
vous battre en duel et fuir, fight a duel and flee,
c’est l’affaire d’un jour. all in one day.
Leone - Le malheur me poursuit. Leone - Misfortune pursues me.
Don Gaspar - La loi n’est pas commode. Don Gaspar - Law is rigorous.
Peine de mort ! Mais avec moi A death penalty! But with me
la justice s’accommode. justice becomes tolerant.
Que n’êtes-vous venu... What have you come to...
Leone - J’espérais le secours Leone - I had hoped for the help
d’un vieil ami de mon père, un saint homme, of an old friend of my father’s, a holy man,
le confesseur du Roi défunt. the confessor of the late King.
Don Gaspar - Il est à Rome. Don Gaspar - He’s in Rome.
Leone - On me l’apprit. Mais vous, quel Leone - They have told me. And you,
dessein vous guida what has led you
chez cette belle solitaire to this fair recluse
que l’on appelle ici l’ange de Nisida ? whom they call, here, the angel of Nisida?
Don Gaspar - Quoi… vous savez... Don Gaspar - What… do you know...
Leone - Rien ; le plus grand mystère Leone - I know nothing; that she is wrapped
l’entoure, in mystery,
on la bénit ici pour ses bienfaits, that they bless her for her kindness,
son nom est Sylvia, c’est tout ce que je sais... and that her name is Sylvia is all I know...
Don Gaspar - Chut ! Imprudent jeune homme ! Don Gaspar - Hush! Reckless young man!
(avec mystère) Si ce nom parvenait (mysteriously) If that name
aux oreilles de Rome… reached the ears of those in Rome…
De ce mystère, You will unravel
à Naples, this mystery
où ce soir vous viendrez… in Naples,
Vous percerez le voile. where you will come tonight.
C’est votre bonne étoile… It’s your good star
qui vous conduit ici… that has led you here…
Je pars ; vous m’attendrez I’m leaving; wait for me

43
dans une heure en ces lieux.
Leone - Consentez à m’apprendre.
Don Gaspar - Pour faire sentinelle
au port je dois me rendre,
adieu mon cher ; vous restez là, c’est dit.
Don Gaspar prouvera qu’il a quelque crédit.
Leone - Mais… Don Gaspar… Don Gaspar…
Il sort par le fond ; Leone remonte le théâtre
avec lui. Sylvia paraît sur le péristyle du châ-
teau, elle s’arrête devant un vase de fleurs et
cherche la lettre que Leone y a cachée ;
Sylvia la porte à ses lèvres.
Scène 4ème
Leone, Sylvia
07 Sylvia - Ah ! Leone ! Le Ciel t’envoie,
viens, ah! viens, que je te voie.
Je ne trouve un peu de joie
qu’en rêvant auprès de toi !
Leone - Tu m’aimes ?
Sylvia - Hélas ! Oui, je t’aime !
Leone - Oh ! Je défie la destinée ennemie
qui s’élève contre moi ;
car mon seul rêve c’est toi, toi seule, toi.
Sylvia - Oh ! Mon Dieu !
Leone - Dans ma prière
sois bénie ! En toi j’espère,
toi qui seule, après ma mère,
toi qui seule m’as aimé.
Sylvia - Malheureux, en vain je t’aime !
Pour nous cette heure est extrême !
Pleure ! À notre amour lui-même
tout avenir est fermé !
Leone - D’un vague effroi
44
in one hour in this place.
Leone - Tell me more.
Don Gaspar - I’m on sentry duty
at the harbour, I must go,
farewell, dear friend; stay here, we’re agreed.
Don Gaspar will prove to you to be well-connected.
Leone - But… Don Gaspar… Don Gaspar…
He leaves from the back; Leone accompa-
nies him upstage. Sylvia appears on the peri-
style of the manor, stops before a pot of flow-
ers and looks for the letter Leone has hidden;
Sylvia puts it to her lips.
Scene IV
Leone, Sylvia
07 Sylvia - Ah! Leone! Heaven has sent you,
come, ah! Come, let me look at you.
My only joy
is in dreaming by your side!
Leone - Do you love me?
Sylvia - Alas! Yes, I love you!
Leone - Oh! I defy the adverse destiny
that rises against me;
for you, you alone is what I wish.
Sylvia - Oh! Merciful God!
Leone - In my prayers
I bless you! I trust in you,
you who alone, after my mother,
have loved me.
Sylvia - Poor wretch, I love you in vain!
For us this is the last time!
Weep! Our love
has no future!
Leone - A strange fear
mon cœur se glace, chills my heart,
quel est le coup qui me menace ? what misfortune threatens me?
Oh ! parle, parle... Oh! Speak, speak...
Sylvia - Il faut me fuir. Sylvia - You must flee from me.
Leone - Te fuir ! Leone - Flee from you!
Sylvia - C’est un sort inflexible Sylvia - A rigorous fate
qui le veut. requires it.
Leone - Te perdre ! Impossible ! Leone - To lose you! Impossible!
Sylvia - Avant une heure, il faut partir ! Sylvia - You must leave within the hour!
Leone - Partir ? Ma Sylvia, te fuir ! Leone - Leave? Sylvia, to abandon you!
08 Sylvia - Adieu ! 08 Sylvia - Farewell!
Pars, oublie un rêve envolé. Go, forget a dream that has vanished.
L’amour qui nous lie Our love
doit être immolé. must be sacrificed.
Mon âme qui saigne My heart, which bleeds
de mille douleurs for a thousand sorrows,
se brise et dédaigne is breaking and disdains
la plainte et les pleurs. moans and tears.
Adieu sur la terre ! Farewell on this earth!
et si jusqu’aux cieux And if my prayers
parvient ma prière, reach up to Heaven
tu dois être heureux. you shall be happy.
Leone - Que moi, je t’oublie ! Leone - I, forget you!
ne plus te revoir… See you no more…
t’aimer c’est ma vie, To love you is my life,
sans toi, plus d’espoir. without you I have no more hope.
Mon cœur qui se brise My breaking heart
sera froid, mon Dieu ! will have stopped beating, oh God!
avant qu’il ne dise before I can ever
jamais cet adieu. pronounce this farewell.
Maudit sur la terre, I am cursed on this earth,
hélas! Sous quels cieux alas! Where to
traîner ma misère, drag my miserable self?
où puis-je être heureux ? Where can I ever be happy?
De mes douleurs, oh! je t’adjure, Ah! I beseech you,
45
ne comble pas la mesure.
Sylvia - Rester c’est te perdre… va, fuis !
et ne cherche jamais à savoir qui je suis !
Leone - Quel est donc ce mystère étrange ?
À moi qui t’aime, ô mon bon ange !
par pitié, tu le diras.
Sylvia - Jamais, ne m’interroge pas.
Leone - Ah ! Que moi, je t’oublie etc.
Sylvia - Adieu, adieu, pars, va, fuis !
Leone, pars, va, tu dois être heureux.
Leone - Jamai, jamais, non, non,
jamais cet adieu, où traîner ma vie,
où puis-je être heureux ?
Sans toi, plus d’espoir.
Sylvia s’éloigne. Leone, les mains jointes,
cherche à la retenir. Sur le seuil du palais,
Sylvia se retourne, jette un dernier adieu à
Leone, et disparaît précipitamment.
Scène 5ème
Leone d’abord seul, puis Don Gaspar et les
paysans
09 Leone - Non je ne fuirai pas ;
j’attends le sort funeste
qui m’est promis…
Quand je perds son amour
que m’importe le reste !
Pour un cœur sans espoir
de quel prix est le jour.
Don Gaspar - (entrant vivement et appelant d’un
geste les paysans qui accourent de tous côtés)
Vite, vite ! Que l’on s’empresse.
Don Gaspar cherchant des yeux Leone et
s’approchant de lui
46
do not add to my sorrows!
Sylvia - If you stay, I will lose you… go, flee!
And never try to learn who I am!
Leone - What is this strange mystery?
Oh, my sweet angel, tell me,
for the sake of my love, have pity!
Sylvia - No, do not ask.
Leone - Ah! To forget you, etc.
Sylvia - Farewell, farewell, go, fly!
Leone, leave, go, you deserve to be happy.
Leone - Never, never, no, no,
no farewells, where could I go,
where could I ever be happy?
Without you, there is no more hope.
Sylvia goes off. Leone, with joined hands,
beseeches her to stop. On the manor’s
threshold, Sylvia turns around, gives Leone a
last farewell and hurries away.
Scene V
Leone alone; then Don Gaspar and the
peasants
09 Leone - No, I will not leave you;
I shall await the fatal destiny
that is in store for me…
If I lose her love,
what do I care about the rest?
For a heart without hope,
life has no value!
Don Gaspar - (rushing in and summoning
the peasants, who come in from all sides)
Quick, quick! Hurry.
looking around for Leone and approaching
him
Leone… Bravo ! Leone… Bravo!
(aux paysans) (to the peasants)
Vous, mes enfants, de l’allégresse, You, my friends, make merry,
de la chaleur, que votre ivresse be cheerful, let your happiness
de mille cris frappe l’écho. burst out in a hundred cries.
L’enthousiasme est de commande. Show great enthusiasm.
Il vous sera payé, sans qu’on marchande. You shall be paid, and generously.
Répétez-tous : Vive le Roi ! Repeat: long live the King!
Leone - (surpris) Le Roi… Leone - (in surprise) The King…
Les paysans - Que dites-vous, le Roi ? Peasants - What? The King?
Don Gaspar - Le voici ! Don Gaspar - Here he is!
Criez avec moi : 10 vive le Roi ! Shout with me: 10 long live the King!
Le Chœur - Vive le Roi ! Chorus - Long live the King!
Le Chœur / Don Gaspar - Vive le Roi ! Notre Chorus / Don Gaspar - Long live the King!
père ! Our father!
Vive notre souverain ! Long live our sovereign!
Que le peuple en sa misère Whom the people in need
n’implora jamais en vain ; never implored in vain;
Vive le Roi ! Notre père, Long live the King! Our father,
vive notre souverain. long live our sovereign!

Scène 6ème Scene VI

Les précédents, le Roi. Il entre pendant le The above, the King. While the peasants
chœur, il est simplement vêtu et suivi d’un cheer, he enters, in simple attire and followed
seul gentilhomme. by a single gentleman.

Le Roi - (aux paysans) Mes bons amis,
mon cœur vous remercie,
adoucir votre peine est le soin de ma vie,
vous rendre heureux est ma tâche et mon droit.
(bas à Don Gaspar)
(Qui donc sur mon passage a réuni tout ce
village ?)
Don Gaspar - Vous devez cet hommage
à votre chambellan, Gaspar…
47
King - (to the peasants) Dear friends,
I heartily thank you,
to soothe your troubles is my life’s purpose,
to make you happy is my goal and my duty.
(aside to Don Gaspar)
(Who has gathered all these people on my
path?)
Don Gaspar - You owe this homage
to your chamberlain, Gaspar…
Le Roi - (Maladroit !)
Don Gaspar - (stupéfait) Hein !...
Maladroit… mon attente est trompée,
décidément, j’ai du malheur.
Leone - (à part) (Le Roi !)
Le Roi - (l’apercevant) Leone !
Don Gaspar - (gracieusement) Monseigneur,
c’est moi qui l’ai conduit
pour sa folle équipée,
ne montrons pas trop de courroux…
Le Roi - (sévèrement) Ah! Don Gaspar...
Don Gaspar - Sire, j’ai fait pour vous
de la clémence anticipée.
Le Roi - (à Leone) Vous avez provoqué,
blessé dans un combat, un gentilhomme…
Leone - Il insultait mon père
du nom de parvenu...
Mon père était soldat !
Don Gaspar - (à Leone, avec assurance)
Avec le Roi, j’arrangerai l’affaire.
Le Roi - (à Leone) Rendez-nous votre épée.
(à Don Gaspar) Et vous au justicier
vous répondrez, monsieur, de votre prisonnier.
Le gentilhomme, venu avec le Roi, prend l’é-
pée de Leone. Don Gaspar reste muet de
surprise ; le Roi monte les degrés du
château.
Les paysans - (reprenant leur chœur)
Vive le Roi ! Vive le…
Don Gaspar - (aux paysans, les faisant taire) Chut !
Les paysans - (baissant la voix) Vive le…
Don Gaspar - Chut !
Les paysans - (bas) Vive…
Don Gaspar - Chut !
Il s’éloigne lui-même en silence.
48
King - (Inept!)
Don Gaspar - (surprised) What!...
Inept… I wasn’t expecting this,
really, what bad luck.
Leone - (aside) (The King!)
King - (seeing him) Leone!
Don Gaspar - (graciously) My Lord,
it is I who led him here
in his foolish flight,
let’s not show too much anger…
King - (severely) Ah! Don Gaspar...
Don Gaspar - Sire, on your behalf,
I granted clemency in advance.
King - (to Leone) You provoked
and wounded a gentleman in duel…
Leone - He had insulted my father,
calling him a parvenu...
My father was a soldier!
Don Gaspar - (to Leone, reassuringly)
I will settle the matter with the King.
King - (to Leone) Hand us your sword.
(to Don Gaspar) And you, sir,
shall answer for your prisoner to the justice.
The gentleman who has come with the King
takes Leone’s sword. Don Gaspar is speech-
less with surprise; the King climbs the steps
to the manor.
Peasants - (once again)
Long live the King! Long live…
Don Gaspar - (silencing them) Quiet!
Peasants - (more softly) Long live…
Don Gaspar - Quiet!
Peasants - (in a whisper) Long…
Don Gaspar - Quiet!
He goes off in silence.
ACTE DEUXIÈME ACT TWO

Une salle dans la villa de la Comtesse. A hall in the manor of the Countess.

Scène 1ère First Scene

Sylvia assise, effeuillant une rose ; le Roi Sylvia seated, pulling the petals off a rose;
assis à ses pieds. the King sitting at her feet.

11 Le Roi - Comme ces feuilles empourprées 11 King - Like these purple petals
que ta main, Sylvia, livre au souffle du vent, which your fingers, Sylvia, release into the breeze,
quand je suis loin de toi, vers ces douces contrées when I am far from you, my heart’s sighs
les soupirs de mon cœur s’envolent bien souvent. often fly to this sweet place.
Sylvia - Cette rose est plutôt l’image Sylvia - This rose is rather the image
de mes jours autrefois parfumés et fleuris, of my life, once sweet-scented and blossoming.
qui loin d’un monde ingrat Far from an ungrateful world,
dont le mépris m’outrage, whose contempt outrages me,
s’effeuillent maintenant oubliés et flétris. it now withers in oblivion.
Le Roi - (tendrement) Tais-toi ! King - (tenderly) Hush!
Sylvia - (se levant) Quand je quittai Sylvia - (standing up) When I left
le château de mon père, the castle of my father,
oh ma belle Andalousie… my fair Andalusia…
hélas, sur cette terre alas, I thought I was coming here
je croyais suivre un époux… following a husband…
Le Roi - Oh ! Tais-toi ! King - Oh! Hush!
Sylvia - Fernand tu m’as trompée ! Sylvia - Fernand, you have deceived me!
En ce bois solitaire dont l’ombre In this solitary wood,
cache mal la maîtresse d’un roi… which does little to hide the King’s mistress,
Le mépris de ta cour vient encor jusqu’à moi. the scorn of your court still reaches me.
12 Ô ma chère patrie, 12 Oh my dear homeland,
mon Espagne fleurie ! my flowery Spain!
Ma pauvre âme flétrie My poor, withered soul
à toi revole encor. still flies to you.
Souvenir qui m’enchante ! Charming memory!
j’entends la voix touchante I hear the dear voice
de la brise qui chante of the breeze singing
49
dans tes citronniers d’or.
Le Roi - Ah laisse la patrie,
laisse-moi de ta vie
par l’amour embellie,
savourer le trésor ;
dans cette île odorante
ton Espagne est vivante,
c’est sa brise qui chante,
dans les citronniers d’or.
Sylvia - Plus de bonheur pour moi !
Le Roi - Ma bien aimée, espère...
À toi sera mon trône un jour !
Sylvia - Braverez-vous l’Eglise ?
Un ordre du Saint-Père
en secret vint déjà me bannir de la cour.
Son courroux tombera
sur la pauvre étrangère.
Le Roi - Ah ! Pour te protéger
n’as-tu pas mon amour ?
Sylvia - Ma patrie, ma patrie.
Le Roi - Sylvia… Sylvia…
Sylvia - Ô ma chère patrie etc.
Le Roi - Dans cette île odorante etc.
Qui vient ici ?
Sylvia - C’est l’heure
où dans ce lieu tranquille
les habitants de cette île
m’apportent chaque jour leur
hommage et leurs vœux.
Le Roi - Vous êtes, Sylvia,
l’ange des malheureux !
50
among the golden lemon trees.
King - Ah, forget your homeland,
allow me to enjoy your treasure,
my life,
beautified by love;
in this sweet-scented island
your Spain relives,
the breeze still sings
among the golden lemon trees.
Sylvia - For me there is no more happiness!
King - My beloved, hope...
One day you will sit with me on the throne!
Sylvia - Would you challenge the Church?
An order of the Holy Father,
issued in secret, already bans me from court.
His anger will fall
upon me, the wretched foreigner.
King - Ah! Have you not my love
to protect you?
Sylvia - My homeland, my homeland.
King - Sylvia… Sylvia…
Sylvia - Oh my dear homeland, etc.
King - On this sweet-scented island, etc.
Who is coming?
Sylvia - At this hour
the people of this island
offer me, every day,
their homage
and their good wishes.
King - Sylvia, you are
the angel of those in need!
Scène 2ème Scene II
Le Roi, Sylvia, paysans et paysanne, le gentil- The King, Sylvia, peasants, the gentleman in
homme de la suite du Roi, les serviteurs de the retinue of the King,
la Comtesse. servants of the Countess.

13 Les paysans - Le Ciel a béni l’étrangère
que sa bonté nous accorda ;
fleuris toujours sur notre terre,
suave lys de Nisida.
Les laboureurs - Nos blés arrachés par
l’orage
séchaient dans le sillon fangeux.
Les bergers - Nos troupeaux dans leur pâturage
mouraient sous un soleil en feux.
Les pêcheurs - La mer avait sur le rivage
brisé nos barques sous nos yeux.
Tous - Vous nous avez rendu
tous ces biens précieux !
Le Ciel a béni l’étrangère
que sa bonté nous accorda ;
fleuris toujours sur notre terre,
suave lys de Nisida.
13 Peasants - Heaven has blessed the foreigner
it has sent us in its mercy.
Blossom forever in our land,
beautiful lily of Nisida.
Ploughmen - Our wheat, uprooted by the
storm,
was drying up in muddy furrows.
Shepherds - Our herds, on the pastures,
were dying under the scorching sun.
Fishers - The sea had shattered
our shored boats under our very eyes.
All - You have given all these
precious things back to us!
Heaven has blessed the foreigner
it has sent us in its mercy;
blossom forever in our land,
beautiful lily of Nisida.

Scène 4ème Scene IV

Les précédents, un Moine. The above, a Monk.

14 Le Moine - (au Roi) Don Fernand 14 Monk - (to the King) Don Fernand of
d’Aragon ! Aragon!
Vous tenez la couronne de Naples et de Sicile, You have the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily,
et tous les droits au trône, and owe the right to rule
du Saint-Siège de Rome. to Rome’s Holy See.
Avez-vous oublié que tous les fronts des Rois Have you forgotten that all Kings
sous l’Église ont plié ? must bow to the Church?
Le Roi - Je sais ce qu’un chrétien King - I know the duties of a Christian
doit au chef de l’Église. towards the head of the Church.
51
Le Moine - Et vous savez aussi
comme un sceptre se brise...
Le Pape vous ordonne une dernière fois
de rompre avec le crime !
Le Roi - (à part) (Oh fureur !)
Le Moine - Par ma voix, il vous parle.
Sylvia - Plus d’espérance !
Le Roi - Enfin, que voulez-vous ?
Long silence.
15 Le Moine - Redoutez la fureur
d’un Dieu terrible et sage ;
il punit qui l’outrage,
et pardonne au pécheur.
Vous bravez la tempête,
imprudent ! et sans voir
planer sur votre tête
l’ange du désespoir.
Le Roi / Sylvia - D’une sombre fureur
s’est voilé son visage ;
et son œil plein d’outrage
a plongé dans mon cœur.
Cette affreuse tempête
ne me laisse entrevoir
que l’éclair sur ma tête
dans un ciel sans espoir.
Don Gaspar - Ce ton, cette fureur
est d’un mauvais présage.
Quoi ! Le Roi qu’il outrage
est muet de stupeur.
Tout prédit la tempête,
notre ciel devient noir,
en deuil ce jour de fête
se change avant le soir.
Le Moine - (aux paysans) Vous tous
qui m’écoutez, fuyez cette demeure !
52
Monk - You must also know
that a sceptre can be broken...
The Pope orders you for the last time
to abandon your sinful ways!
King - (aside) (Oh fury!)
Monk - He speaks to you through my voice.
Sylvia - No more hope!
King - What do you want, then?
Long silence.
15 Monk - Beware the wrath
of a God that is terrible and wise;
he punishes those who offend Him,
and forgives the sinners.
You brave the storm,
reckless man! And do not see
the angel of gloom
gliding over you.
King / Sylvia - A dark fury
transpires from his face;
and his eyes full of outrage
have pierced my heart.
This dreadful storm
lets me foresee nothing
but the lightning that threatens me
in a hopeless sky.
Don Gaspar - His tone, his fury
are a bad omen.
What! The King, insulted,
is struck speechless?
All announces a storm,
the sky darkens,
this happy day
will turn sorrowful before night.
Monk - (to the peasants) All of you
who can hear me, leave this place!
(montrant Sylvia) Fuyez, car cette femme
est maudite de Dieu...
Sylvia - Juste Ciel ! Juste Ciel !
Le Roi - Sylvia ! Sylvia !
Le Moine - (aux paysans) Fuyez !
Sylvia - Ah ! Que je meure…
Le Chœur - Quittons ces lieux !
Le Roi - (au moine avec fureur) Ah! de quel
droit ?..
Le Moine - (lui présentant un parchemin
auquel pend le sceau papal)
Voici la bulle du Saint-Père.
(lisant) Si demain Sylvia de Linarès,
bravant les foudres de L’Église,
et mon humble prière,
n’a point de vos états repassé la frontière
je la fais enfermer… Sire! dans un couvent.
Sylvia / Le Roi / Don Gaspar / Le Chœur -
(stupéfaits) Ah !
16 Le Roi - Ah ! Qu’a-t-il dit ?
Quelle horrible pensée !
Ma Sylvia dans un cloître placée !
Et la vengeance en mon âme blessée
sommeillerait quand je commande en Roi.
Non ! Que plutôt ma couronne brisée
sous l’anathème ici croule avec moi !
Don Gaspar - Ah ! Qu’a-t-il dit ?
Quelle horrible pensée !
Quoi ! la Comtesse en un cloître placée.
Des pénitents sur la dalle glacée
il traînerait la maîtresse du Roi.
Moine imprudent ! ta colère insensée
aura bientôt à compter avec moi.
Sylvia - Ah ! Qu’a-t-il dit ?
Quelle horrible pensée !
53
(showing Sylvia) Go away, for this woman
has been cursed by God...
Sylvia - Good Heavens! Good Heavens!
King - Sylvia! Sylvia!
Monk - (to the peasants) Go away!
Sylvia - Ah! I am dying…
Chorus - Let us go away from here!
King - (to the monk, furiously) Ah! With what
right?
Monk - (showing him a parchment bearing
the Papal seal)
Here is the bull of the Holy Father.
(reading) If by tomorrow Sylvia de Linarès,
defying the ire of the Church
and my humble request,
has not crossed the borders of your kingdoms,
I, Sire, will have her locked in a convent.
Sylvia / King / Don Gaspar / Chorus -
(astounded) Ah!
16 King - Ah! What did he say?
What a dreadful thought!
My Sylvia in a cloister!
And would my wounded soul not
exact vengeance, I being the King?
No! I’d rather my crown broke
under the anathema, and I with it!
Don Gaspar - Ah! What did he say?
What a dreadful thought!
What! The Countess locked in a cloister!
He would drag the King’s mistress
to that cold penitents’ enclosure!
Reckless Monk! Your mad fury
will have to deal with me.
Sylvia - Ah! What did he say?
What a dreadful thought!
Comme une infâme, dans un cloître placée.
L’Église ordonne, et mon âme insensée
appelle en vain la vengeance du Roi.
C’est trop souffrir ! La douleur m’a brisée :
pour me cacher, terre ingrate, ouvre-toi.
Le Chœur - Ah ! qu’a-t-il dit ?
Quelle horrible pensée !
Quoi ! la Comtesse dans un cloître placée !
L’homme de Dieu sur sa tête abaissée
du désespoir fait descendre l’effroi.
Ciel ! Fuyons tous, car la foudre est lancée,
et ce palais va crouler sur le Roi.
Le Moine - (aux paysans, il la déploie)
Voici la bulle du Saint-Père.
Les paysans tombent à genoux.
Ah ! Loin d’ici cette femme abaissée
car du Seigneur la clémence est lassée.
Le Ciel ordonne, et cette âme insensée
appelle en vain la vengeance du Roi.
(aux paysans) Vous fuyez tous !
Car la foudre est lancée
et maudissez ce palais avec moi.
Le Roi / Don Gaspar - Ah ! Redoutez…
Sylvia - Juste Ciel !
Le Moine - Obéissance ! Obéissance !
Sylvia - L’Église ordonne, et mon âme insen-
sée
appelle en vain la vengeance du Roi. Etc.
Sylvia, se cachant la tête dans les mains, sort
éperdue par la gauche ; les paysans se retirent
par le fond, sur un geste du Moine qui les suit
après avoir lancé au Roi un dernier regard.
54
Locked in a cloister like an infamous woman!
The Church orders, and my foolish soul
expects in vain the King’s vengeance.
It’s too cruel! Grief is crushing me:
open up, ungrateful earth, and hide me.
Chorus - Ah! What did he say?
What a dreadful thought!
What! The Countess locked in a cloister!
The man of God has caused
her head to bow in despair.
Heaven! Let us flee, for lightning will strike,
and this palace shall crush upon the King.
Monk - (to the peasants, showing the bull)
Here is the bull of the Holy Father.
The peasants fall to their knees.
Ah! Far from here the abased woman,
for the Lord’s clemency has come to an end.
Heaven has ordered and her foolish soul
expects in vain the King’s vengeance.
(to the peasants) Leave, all of you!
For lightning is about to strike,
and curse this palace as I do.
King / Don Gaspar - Ah! Beware…
Sylvia - Good Heavens!
Monk - Obedience! Obedience!
Sylvia - The Church orders, and my foolish
soul
expects in vain the King’s vengeance. Etc.
Sylvia, hiding her face in her hands, leaves
from the left; the peasants withdraw from the
back, urged by the Monk, who follows them
after casting the King a last glance.
Scène 5ème
Le Roi, Don Gaspar puis Leone
17 Le Roi - Ah ! Je me vengerai !
Don Gaspar - Piano ! Ce mot d’un sage
est un très bon adage…
Leone - (entrant, au Roi)
Roi, vous m’avez fait grâce...
Pour ce bienfait mon sang vous appartient.
Le Roi - (avec amertume)
Mes bienfaits... ce n’est pas du Roi
seul qu’on les tient.
Demandez tous au Ciel
que la haine se lasse
de poursuivre une enfant ;
dont la douce vertu
m’a fait juste et clément!
Don Gaspar, me suis-tu ?
Je brûle de connaître...
Don Gaspar - Mon plan est là !
C’est un vrai coup de maître...
Le Roi et Don Gaspar sortent.
Scène 6ème
Leone - (seul) Je suis libre !
Chez elle ! Oui, le sol sous mes pas
garde l’empreinte encor de ses pieds délicats.
18 Quelle ivresse et quel délire !
De bonheur, mon Dieu ! j’expire.
L’air brûlant qu’elle respire
met la fièvre dans mon cœur.
Dans l’écho sa voix murmure, douce extase !
Sa figure m’apparaît touchante et pure,
comme un ange de pudeur !
55
Scene V
The King, Don Gaspar, then Leone
17 King - Ah! I’ll get revenge!
Don Gaspar - Easy! Take the word of a wise man,
which is good advice…
Leone - (entering, to the King)
Sire, you pardoned me...
For this favour, my life is yours.
King - (bitterly) My favours...
they are not only
the King’s doing.
You must all plead with Heaven
that hatred may stop
pursuing a child
whose sweet virtue
has turned me just and merciful!
Don Gaspar, would you follow me?
I’m eager to know...
Don Gaspar - Here is my plan!
It’s a real master stroke…
The King and Don Gaspar leave.
Scene VI
Leone - (alone) I am free!
Close to her! Yes, the earth under me
still bears the imprint of her delicate feet.
18 What intoxication! What happiness!
My God! I am dying with joy.
The warm air she breathes
sets my heart on fire.
The echo repeats her voice, what sweet bliss!
She appeared to me, tender and pure,
like an angel of modesty!
Mais je dois fuir sa présence… But I must flee from her…
Elle m’en supplia… She implored me…
sans doute une noble alliance... Undoubtedly a noble alliance…
oui, j’ai compris... pour moi plus d’espérance, Yes, I understand… there is no hope for me,
pauvre soldat sans nom ! Ah ! Sylvia ! poor soldier without a title! Ah! Sylvia!
Je voudrais qu’un sort contraire If only an adverse fate
l’eût jetée à cette terre had led her in her misery
pauvre et belle en sa misère ! to this poor and beautiful land!
Si j’étais alors un roi, je dirais : If I were a king, then I’d say:
à toi mon trône ! here is my throne!
Que l’amour soit ma couronne, Love shall be my crown,
que ton cœur à moi se donne, give your heart to me
l’univers sera pour toi ! and the universe will be yours!

Scène 7ème Scene VII

Leone, Don Gaspar, sortant de la coulisse où Leone; Don Gaspar, coming from the wings
il est entré avec le Roi ; un serviteur de la where he had left with the King; a servant of
Comtesse le suit. the Countess follows him.

Don Gaspar - (au serviteur qui sort aussitôt Don Gaspar - (to the servant who comes
du côté où est l’appartement de Sylvia) from the apartment of Sylvia)
19 Dites que je l’attends porteur d’une nouvelle... 19 Tell her that I have news for her...
(à part, descendant la scène) (aside, coming forth)
Enfin le Roi consent… mais partir The King has agreed… but to leave
avec elle... ce moine... un cloître... with her... that monk... the cloister...
Imprudent Don Gaspar, Reckless Don Gaspar,
songe au sort d’Abélard ! think of Abelard’s fate!
Il semble frappé d’une idée subite en voyant Seeing Leone, he appears struck by a
Leone. sudden idea.
(Leone ! Providence !) (Leone! What providence!)
(haut) J’ai failli vous mener, (aloud) My dear man, I failed
mon cher, à la potence, lo lead you to the scaffold,
mais en faveur de mon intention, but considering my good intentions
vous m’eussiez pardonné cette distraction. you will forgive me.
Maintenant je réclame un service de vous… Now I need a favour from you...
56
Leone - Qu’est-ce donc ?
Don Gaspar - Une dame pour Naples va partir...
c’est vous qui l’escortez…
Le rôle, mon galant, vous convient, j’imagine...
Point de remerciements…
C’est dit, vous consentez.
Leone - Une dame ?
Don Gaspar - Une pauvre orpheline,
par le Roi protégée, et qui va dès demain
recevoir à la cour un époux de ma main.
Leone - (à part) (Serait-ce ?)
Don Gaspar - Descendez là, sous cette
fenêtre…
Leone - (l’interrompant) Un mot, de grâce...
Don Gaspar - (sans l’écouter) Et quand vous
m’y verrez paraître, venez...
Leone - Un mot…
Don Gaspar - Plus tard ; auprès le Roi
je me rends…
Leone - (avec rêverie, à part) (Orpheline !)
Don Gaspar - (impatient) Eh ! bien ?
Leone - (résolument) Comptez sur moi !
Il sort.
Scène 8ème
Don Gaspar, Sylvia, sortant de son apparte-
ment.
Don Gaspar - Oh ! justement la voici...
Sylvia - (avec calme) De vous je viens apprendre
quel sort m’est réservé,
mon âme est résignée
et je puis tout entendre, parlez.
Don Gaspar - Tout est sauvé !
C’est un trait de génie, un prodige d’adresse.
57
Leone - What favour?
Don Gaspar - A lady is leaving for Naples...
you will escort her…
This role suits you, I imagine…
Do not thank me…
It’s agreed, you will do it.
Leone - A lady?
Don Gaspar - A poor orphan,
a protégée of the King to whom, tomorrow,
I shall give a husband, at court.
Leone - (aside) (Could she be it?)
Don Gaspar - Go over there, under that
window…
Leone - (interrupting him) A word, please...
Don Gaspar - (without listening) And when
you see me appear, come…
Leone - A word…
Don Gaspar - Later; I must go
to the King…
Leone - (dreamingly, aside) (An orphan!)
Don Gaspar - (impatiently) Well, then?
Leone - (resolutely) Count on me!
He leaves.
Scene VIII
Don Gaspar; Sylvia, coming out of her apart-
ment.
Don Gaspar - Ah! Here she is...
Sylvia - (calmly) You are here to tell me
what my fate will be.
My heart is resigned,
I am prepared for anything, speak.
Don Gaspar - All will be fine!
It’s a stroke of genius, a miracle of skill.
L’on se dira demain : «Où donc est
la Comtesse de Linarès ? Bannie ?»
Erreur. «Au cloître ?» Non.
«Où donc est-elle ?..» À Naples...
Elle porte le nom de son mari.
Sylvia - Qui ?.. moi ?..
Don Gaspar - Don Gaspar est habile,
du pays de l’amour puisque l’on veut demain
que vous soyez bannie...
Eh bien ! Je vous exile…
dans le royaume de l’hymen.
Sylvia - A quel homme
irez-vous sans amour offrir un cœur flétri ?
Don Gaspar - Mais il ne s’agit pas
d’aimer votre mari.
Pour rassurer la cour de Rome
ce mariage suffira ;
et de la présence maussade
de votre époux, quelque ambassade
aussitôt nous délivrera.
Le Roi paraît au fond, et il écoute.
Sylvia - Quel indigne marché !
Don Gaspar - Pour un nom que l’on donne,
de titres, et d’honneurs être gratifié...
C’est beau !
Sylvia - (Courbons le front pour
que Dieu me pardonne !)
Don Gaspar - (Pourquoi faut-il que je sois
marié !)
Sylvia - (haut) Je suis prête ;
s’il est un homme assez infâme
pour vendre ainsi son nom,
son honneur et son âme...
Dites-lui bien que mon mépris
de son lâche marché complétera le prix.
58
Tomorrow they will say: «Where is
the Countess of Linarès? Exiled?»
You’re mistaken. «In a cloister?» No.
«Where is she, then?» In Naples...
She carries the name of her husband.
Sylvia - Who? Me?
Don Gaspar - Don Gaspar is clever,
since they want you, by tomorrow,
banished from the land of love…
Well! I send you into exile
to the kingdom of marriage.
Sylvia - To whom
are you going to offer a loveless, withered heart?
Don Gaspar - It is not a question
of loving your husband.
This marriage will serve
to reassure the court of Rome,
and from the unwanted presence
of your husband, some embassy
will soon deliver us.
The King appears at the back and listens.
Sylvia - What an unworthy deal!
Don Gaspar - He’ll have a name,
he’ll be gratified with titles and honours...
It’s a fine thing!
Sylvia - (I must bow my head
so that God may forgive me!)
Don Gaspar - (Why on earth am I already
married!)
Sylvia - (aloud) I am ready;
if this man is so unworthy
as to sell his name,
his honour and his soul,
tell him openly that my contempt
shall be the price of this cowardly deal.
Scène 9ème Scene IX
Les mêmes, le Roi The above, the King

Le Roi - (s’avançant, à Sylvia) Ah ! Tu King - (coming forward, to Sylvia) Ah! Do you

consens ?
Sylvia - Qu’au moins je sois conduite
loin d’ici par pitié !
Don Gaspar - Tout est prêt pour la fuite...
Il va faire signe à la fenêtre.
Le Roi - (à Sylvia) Tu pars avec lui.
Don Gaspar - Non, pour suite,
je lui donne de mon choix
un chevalier preux et courtois
qui saura la défendre...
Sylvia - (à part) (Ah ! J’ai peur de comprendre)
Don Gaspar - Le voici.
consent?
Sylvia - At least take me away from here,
for pity’s sake!
Don Gaspar - All is ready for the flight...
He goes to the window and makes a signal.
King - (to Sylvia) Go with him.
Don Gaspar - No, as an escort,
I give her a gentleman of my choice
valiant and courteous,
who will defend her…
Sylvia - (aside) (Ah! I fear to know)
Don Gaspar - Here he is.

Scène 10ème Scene X

Les Précédents, Leone The above, Leone

Le Roi / Sylvia - Leone… King / Sylvia - Leone…

Leone - Dieux… Sylvia… Leone - Good heavens… Sylvia…
Don Gaspar - Partez. Don Gaspar - Leave.
Le Roi - (hésitant) Don Gaspar... King - (hesitantly) Don Gaspar...
Leone - Par grâce, arrêtez. Leone - I beg you, wait.
(au Roi) J’ai tout appris... à cette jeune fille, (to the King) I understand... to this young woman,
Roi, vous voulez donner l’appui d’une famille ; Sire, you want to give the support of a family;
je n’ai point de blason dont je puisse être vain, I have no coat of arms of which I can boast,
mais l’épée anoblit autant que l’origine, but the sword ennobles as much as the bloodline,
j’offre un nom de soldat pour la pauvre orpheline ! I offer the poor orphan the name of a soldier!
Accordez-moi sa main. Grant me her hand.
Le Roi / Sylvia - Lui ? King / Sylvia - He?
Don Gaspar - Que dit-il ? Don Gaspar - What is he saying?
Sylvia - (à part) (Infamie…) Sylvia - (aside) (What disgrace!)
20 De mon cœur foi bénie, 20 Trust, be banished

59
à jamais soit bannie, from me forever!
s’avilir à mes yeux... To abase himself before me…
pour de l’or m’épouser. to marry me for gold!
Lui que seul sur la terre The only person on earth
j’ai cru noble et sincère, whom I believed noble and trustworthy,
lui que j’ai tant aimé, je le dois mépriser. the man I loved so deeply, now I despise him!
Leone - Du bonheur de ma vie, espérance bénie, Leone - Sweet hope of a happy life,
un refus, un seul mot peut, hélas ! te briser, a rejection, a single word, alas, can shatter you!
doux rayon qui m’éclaire Sweet ray that shed light on me
dans ma nuit solitaire, in my solitary night,
par pitié, par pitié, ne viens pas m’abuser. for pity’s sake, do not deceive me.
Le Roi - La faveur qu’il envie King - The favour he desires
sur sa honte est bâtie; is founded on shame;
lui que j’ai cru si noble il a su m’abuser he, whom I thought so noble, deceived me,
loyauté mensongère, was falsely loyal to me;
le saint nom de son père, the unworthy son sells the good name
fils indigne, il le vend et le fait mépriser. of his father and makes it despicable.
Don Gaspar - Folle tête étourdie ! Don Gaspar - What a fool I am!
Cet ami que j’oublie, I was forgetting this friend,
comme époux c’est bien lui it is he
qu’il fallait proposer; I should propose as a husband;
sa fortune est à faire, he has no wealth,
mais au Prince il va plaire, but the King will like him,
et d’honneur son crédit and his trust
ne peut mieux se baser. could not be better placed.
Leone - (regardant le Roi) D’un mot Leone - (looking at the King) From your lips
j’attends le bonheur de ma vie. I await the word that will make me happy.
21 Le Roi - (bas à Don Gaspar) 21 King - (aside to Don Gaspar)
Vous n’avez point You have
perdu de temps, merci. lost no time, thank you.
Don Gaspar - (s’inclinant) Toujours Don Gaspar - (bowing) Don Gaspar
pour vous servir Don Gaspar est ainsi. is always at your service.
(à part) (Sublime effort de mon puissant génie !) (aside) (Sublime effort of my mighty genius!
Je dote Sylvia d’un mari complaisant, I give Sylvia a complacent husband,
je sers le Roi mon maître et voilà qu’à présent I serve the King my master, and in a jiffy
60
j’enrichis ce jeune homme... Ouf !
Ma tâche est finie.
Le Roi - Oh ma Sylvia…
22 Oh mon ange que j’implore,
sur ma vie étends encor
ton amour, brillante aurore
qui promet un jour si pur.
Doux rayon, viens, et colore
mon beau golfe au ciel d’azur.
Don Gaspar - Tout le monde ici m’implore,
Don Gaspar triomphe encor,
radieux comme l’aurore,
mon génie est prompt et sûr.
Je parais, tout se colore
et l’ombre devient azur.
Leone - Ton amour, brillante aurore,
me promet un ciel plus pur.
Doux rayon, viens, et colore
mon beau rêve aux yeux d’azur.
Sylvia - De ce jour que je déplore
un démon ternit l’azur.
Je ne puis t’aimer encor,
toi qui fis ce pacte impur.
Le Roi - (à Leone) Marquis !
Allez à Naples attendre votre femme.
(à Sylvia) Vous, avec Don Gaspar
vous partirez, madame…
61
I make that young man wealthy. Ouf!
My job is done.)
King - Oh, my Sylvia…
22 Oh, my angel, I implore you,
stretch once again, over my life,
the bright dawn of your love,
which heralds a clear day.
Sweet ray, come and tinge with azure
the sky over my beautiful gulf.
Don Gaspar - Everyone implores me,
Don Gaspar triumphs again,
as bright as dawn,
my mind is prompt and reliable.
When I appear, all shines
and even shadows are tinged with azure.
Leone - Your love, bright dawn,
heralds a clearer sky.
Sweet ray, come and tinge with azure
my beautiful dream.
Sylvia - Of this deplorable day
a demon has tarnished the azure.
I can no longer love you,
you who made this sinful agreement.
King - (to Leone) Marquis!
Go to Naples and await there for your wife.
(to Sylvia) You, madam,
shall leave with Don Gaspar…
PART TWO
ACTE TROISIÈME
Une salle très riche dans le palais de Sylvia,
à Naples. L’entrée au fond, à gauche une
large sortie, à droite l’appartement de Sylvia.
Une lampe à parfums brûle sur un léger pié-
destal de bronze.
Scène 1ère
Don Gaspar, entrant par le fond.
01 Don Gaspar - (avec agitation) Leone !
Qu’ai-je appris !... Il aime la Comtesse…
Chez elle… ici… m’attend le Roi…
S’il découvrait… grand Dieu !
Le danger presse !
Il faut avec adresse rompre le mariage,
ou bien c’est fait de moi.
Le Roi - (Sort de l’appartement de Sylvia.
Entrant et s’avançant vers Don Gaspar)
De la cérémonie, enfin, l’heure s’avance…
As-tu préparé tout ?
Les lettres de créance de Leone ?
Don Gaspar - (embarrassé) Non…
C’est-à-dire, si… mais il faut les signer…
Le Roi - Tu les as ?
Don Gaspar - Les voici!
Le Roi veut les prendre, Don Gaspar retire sa
main.
Daignez m’écouter, Sire !
Le Roi - Que veux-tu dire ?
Don Gaspar - (hésitant) Ce mariage…
Le Roi - Eh! bien ?
62
PART TWO
ACT THREE
A rich hall in Sylvia’s palace in Naples. The
entrance is at the back; on the left, a large
exit, on the right, Sylvia’s apartment. A lamp
burns on a slender bronze pedestal.
First Scene
Don Gaspar, entering from the back.
01 Don Gaspar - (in a state of agitation) Leone!
What have I learnt! He loves the Countess…
In her apartments… here… the King awaits me…
If he ever found out… good heavens!
Danger looms!
I must find a way to stop the marriage,
or I’ll be doomed.
King - (Coming from Sylvia’s apartment and
going towards Don Gaspar)
The hour of the ceremony approaches…
Have you everything ready?
The letters of credence for Leone?
Don Gaspar - (embarrassed) No…
I mean, yes… but they must be signed…
King - Have you got them with you?
Don Gaspar - Here they are!
The King would take them, but Don Gaspar
withdraws his hand.
Please listen to me, Sire!
King - What do you want?
Don Gaspar - (hesitantly) This marriage…
King - What about it?
Don Gaspar - N’est il pas imprudent…
Inutile, du moins, pour sauver la Comtesse ?
Le Roi - Le projet vient de toi…
Don Gaspar - C’est vrai, je le confesse…
mais à l’exécuter, j’hésite cependant.
Le Roi - Ah… Qu’entends-je ?
Quel changement étrange !
Don Gaspar - C’est un mauvais moyen.
Jamais je ne m’abuse ;
je crains que cette ruse
ne vous conduise à rien !
Le Roi - Mais c’est ma seule chance et
ma dernière espérance !
Don Gaspar - J’ai réfléchi sept fois,
combien ce mariage
doit vous porter ombrage,
et mieux vaut, c’est plus sage
y renoncer, je crois.
02 Le Roi - Non, ce triste sacrifice
qui pour mon âme est un supplice,
il faut qu’il s’accomplisse
en ce funeste jour.
D’un autre elle sera la femme !
Oh ! Quel partage infâme !
Mais seul j’aurai son âme,
j’aurai seul son amour.
Don Gaspar - Partage infâme !
(à part) (Pour me tirer d’affaire,
à présent, comment faire ?
Pourrai-je me soustraire
à ma perte, en ce jour.)
(au Roi) Craignez la jalousie
quand l’âme en est saisie,
c’est une frénésie
rongeant comme un vautour.
63
Don Gaspar - Is it not imprudent,
or even pointless, to save the Countess?
King - This plan is your doing…
Don Gaspar - That’s true, I confess it…
and yet… I hesitate to put it into practice.
King - Ah… What do I hear?
What an unexpected change!
Don Gaspar - It’s a bad stratagem.
I am never wrong;
I fear that this ruse
will lead you to nothing!
King - But it’s my only chance
and my last hope!
Don Gaspar - I have thought it over,
this marriage
will overshadow you
and it would be better, wiser
not to go ahead with it, I believe.
02 King - No, this painful sacrifice,
which is torture for my heart,
must be carried out
on this sad day.
She will be someone else’s wife!
Oh! How horrible, having to share her!
But I alone will have her soul,
I alone will have her love.
Don Gaspar - How horrible for you to share her!
(aside) (To get out of this fix,
now, what to do?
Will I be able
to avoid my doom, today?)
(to the King) Beware of jealousy,
when it seizes one’s heart
it’s a frenzy
that devours like a vulture.
 03 Le Roi - D’où viennent donc tes alarmes ?
Don Gaspar - La Comtesse a tant de
charmes…
Pour un mari, c’est dangereux !
Si Leone… devenait… amoureux !
Le Roi - (terrible) Qu’as-tu dit ?
Don Gaspar - (effrayé) Sire…
Le Roi - Ah ! malheur à tous deux !
S’il était vrai… redoute pour toi-même…
Don Gaspar - Sire... je supposais...
Impossible qu’il aime...
Jamais… ce soir il part…
Le Roi - C’est à ce prix…
Don Gaspar - Fort bien…
Le Roi - Qu’il peut de ma faveur,
espérer le soutien.
Sylvia ! Mon amour brave
l’univers et Dieu pour toi,
à tes pieds je suis esclave,
mais l’amant se lève roi.
Don Gaspar - Plus d’obstacle, plus
d’entrave,
vous pouvez compter sur moi.
Don Gaspar réjouit et brave
ciel et terre pour son Roi.
Le Roi - Rien ne peut finir l’ivresse
de mes jours liés aux tiens.
Pour toujours ma belle maîtresse,
pour toujours tu m’appartiens.
Le Roi signe les lettres de créance. Don
Gaspar en proie à ses pensées, est réveillé
par le Roi qui lui rend les lettres.
Don Gaspar - Ah !Pour sauver votre tendresse
mon génie à l’aide vient.
Désormais votre maîtresse,
64
03 King - What worries you?
Don Gaspar - The Countess is a charming
woman…
For a husband, that is dangerous!
Leone… might fall… in love with her!
King - (alarmed) What did you say?
Don Gaspar - (in fear) Sire…
King - Ah! Curse you both!
If it ever happens… fear for your own life…
Don Gaspar - Sire... it was just a supposition...
It’s impossible...
Never… Tonight he’ll leave…
King - That is the price…
Don Gaspar - Indeed…
King - … at which he can hope
in my favour.
Sylvia! My love defies
the universe and God for you.
Your slave kneels at your feet,
but your lover rises again as King.
Don Gaspar - No more obstacles, no more
hindrances,
you can count on me.
Don Gaspar happily defies
heaven and earth for his King.
King - Nothing will tarnish the happiness
of my life close to you.
Fair mistress, you are mine,
mine forever.
The King signs the letters of credence. Don
Gaspar, absorbed in his thoughts, is shaken
out of them when the King hands them to him.
Don Gaspar - Ah! To save your love,
my brilliant mind comes to the rescue.
From now on your mistress
pour toujours vous appartient. Etc.
Le Roi - Pour toujours tu m’appartiens etc.
Le Roi sort.
Scène 2ème
Don Gaspar, d’abord seul, puis Sylvia
04 Don Gaspar - Le sort est jeté…
Pourquoi trembler d’avance ?
N’est-il pas après tout…
Marquis… Ambassadeur…
Nos deux têtes dans la balance
doivent peser plus que son cœur.
(apercevant Sylvia. Allant au devant la Comtesse)
Comtesse…
(se reprenant) Eh! Non… Marquise…
Sylvia - Hélas !
Don Gaspar - L’autel flamboie
de mille cierges radieux,
qui vont pâlir devant ces jolis yeux,
si pleins d’amour et de joie.... Permettez...
Sylvia - Je désire être seule un instant.
Don Gaspar - (à part) (Qu’elle est aimable.)
(haut) Pourtant…
Sylvia - Pour pitié… je vous suis !
Don Gaspar - (Quelle grâce touchante !)
(à Sylvia) Surtout n’oubliez pas
que de votre bonheur
c’est moi, moi seul, qui suis l’auteur.
Sylvia - (d’un air suppliant) Eh ! bien ?
Don Gaspar - Je pars, Marquise.
(Elle est charmante !)
Il sort.
65
will be yours forever. Etc.
King - You will be mine forever, etc.
The King leaves.
Scene II
Don Gaspar, at first alone, then with Sylvia
04 Don Gaspar - The die is cast…
Why tremble in advance?
Isn’t he, after all…
a Marquis… an Ambassador…
Our two heads on the balance
will weigh more than his heart.
(spotting Sylvia and going to her)
Countess…
(correcting himself) Ah! No… Marquise…
Sylvia - Alas!
Don Gaspar - The altar is bright
with a thousand lit candles,
which pale before your fair eyes
so full of love and happiness… Allow me…
Sylvia - I wish to remain alone for a moment.
Don Gaspar - (aside) (How lovely she is!)
(aloud) But…
Sylvia - For pity’s sake… I’ll follow you presently!
Don Gaspar - (What enchanting grace!)
(to Sylvia) Don’t forget
that I, I alone
am the author of your happiness.
Sylvia - (beseechingly) Well then?
Don Gaspar - I’m going, Marquise.
(She’s so charming!)
He leaves.
Scène 3ème Scene III

Sylvia - (prenant dans son sein les lettres de Sylvia - (producing from her bosom Leone’s
Leone) letters)
Je ne veux rien garder qui me rappelle I will keep nothing
le souvenir de celui que j’aimais. that reminds me of the man I loved.
Brûlons ces lettres… qu’à jamais Let’s burn these letters… let’s put out
s’éteigne en moi la dernière étincelle for good the last flame
de cet amour que je hais ! of a love I now hate!
Elle allume les lettres à la flamme d’une lampe à She puts the letters to the fire of an oil lamp
parfums, et les regarde tristement se consumer and desolately watches them burn
Ainsi s’anéantit mon rêve ! Thus, my dream is reduced to nothing!
Le sacrifice qui s’achève The sacrifice that is being carried out,
sépare pour toujours, wetted by my tears,
par mes larmes mouillé, separates for ever
l’époux que je méprise the husband I despise
et l’amant oublié ! from the forgotten lover!
05 Venez ! Qui vous arrête ? 05 Come! Who stops you?
Des fleurs ornent ma tête, Flowers adorn my hair,
et pâle, à votre fête, and I, dejectedly, you cruel ones,
ingrats, j’irai m’asseoir ! shall attend your feast!
Victime abandonnée Victim abandoned
à ton cruel devoir ! to her cruel duty,
Subis ta destinée, suffer your destiny
et pleure un fol espoir. and weep for a foolish hope!
Venez ! De mon sourire Come! Discover
surprendre les secrets. the secret of my smile.
C’est le feu du délire It is the excitement of madness,
qui brille sur mes traits. which brightens my countenance.

Scène 4ème Scene IV

Sylvia, le Roi, Leone et Don Gaspar, entrant Sylvia, the King, Leone and Don Gaspar, fol-
suivis d’une foule de seigneurs et de dames. lowed by a large group of gentlemen and ladies.

06 Le Chœur - Déjà dans la chapelle 06 Chorus - Already in the chapel,

66
dont la voûte étincelle, its vault bright with light,
la voix du prêtre appelle the voice of the priest calls
devant Dieu les époux ! the spouses before God!
Allons, belle Comtesse ! Come, fair Countess,
bannissez la tristesse banish all sadness
car des jours d’allégresse for a life of happiness
vont se lever pour vous. opens up before you.
Leone - (richement habillé) Leone - (elegantly dressed)
De son bonheur mon âme est enivrée ; My soul is full of happiness;
rêve accompli, faveur my dream comes true, what an unexpected
inespérée ! favour!
Oh! la fortune a passé mes souhaits ! Ah! Good fortune has surpassed my wishes!
Le Roi - Pour qu’on sache King - So that the Court may know
à la Cour combien je vous honore, how much I honour you,
Marquis de Montréal… Marquis of Montréal…
à vous, cet ordre encor. receive this order as well.
Leone met un genou à terre. Le Roi détache Leone bends one knee to the ground. The
le collier de son ordre et le passe autour du King takes a neckless
cou de Leone. and places it around Leone’s neck.
Quelques Seigneurs - (formant un groupe à part) Some Gentlemen - (in a group aside)
À l’infamie… honneurs, bienfaits. Honours and benefits to a disgraceful man…
Don Gaspar - (à part) (Très bien ! Don Gaspar - (aside) (Excellent!
Mais comment va-t-il prendre But how is he going to take
ce qu’enfin je lui dois apprendre ? what I must tell him?
Et surcroît d’embarras ! How most awkward!
J’ai cru voir près de lui I think I saw near him
le moine sur mes pas.) the monk who is following me.)
Le Roi - (bas à Leone qui vient de se relever) King - (in a low voice to Leone, who has risen)
Tout est prêt… J’ai signé All is ready… I have signed
vos lettres de créance. your letters of credence.
Leone - (avec surprise) Mes lettres ? Leone - (in surprise) Letters?
Don Gaspar - (vivement) Vous saurez. Don Gaspar - (lively) I will inform you.
Le Roi - (à Leone) De votre obéissance King - (to Leone) Don Gaspar
Don Gaspar m’est garant. vouches for your obedience.
Leone - (cherchant à comprendre) Sire ! Leone - (trying to understand) Sire?

67
Don Gaspar - (à Leone) Dans le jardin,
tout à l’heure en sortant, rejoignez-moi.
Leone - Pourquoi ?
Don Gaspar - Sachez vous taire !
Leone - Don Gaspar ! Quel mystère…
Don Gaspar - (haut et gracieusement)
Marquis,
n’oubliez pas que votre femme attend.
Le Chœur - Déjà dans la chapelle etc.
Leone va prendre la main de Sylvia qui est
restée pâle et muette pendant toute cette
scène. Le Roi se met à l’autre côte de la
Comtesse, ils sortent par la gauche ; les dames et
quelques courtisans
les suivent. Don Gaspar sort le dernier par le fond.
Scène 5ème
Plusieurs seigneurs, restés seuls.
07 Un groupe - Quel marché de bassesse !
D’autres seigneurs - C’est trop fort ! Par ma foi.
Les premiers - Épouser la Comtesse !
Les autres - La maîtresse du Roi...
Les premiers - Venir de sa province...
Les autres - sans nom ; sans bien acquis...
Les premiers - Le Roi l’a fait marquis
Les autres - Messieurs ! Il sera prince.
Les premiers - Lui donner le collier de
Montésa…
Les autres - Lui donner des terres...
Tous - De ses vertus austères
il fallait le payer.
Ah ! que du moins notre mépris qu’il brave
à son orgueil vienne mettre une entrave ;
que nul de nous ne cherche sa faveur !
68
Don Gaspar - (to Leone) Shortly,
when we go out, meet me in the garden.
Leone - Why?
Don Gaspar - Be quiet!
Leone - Don Gaspar! What mystery…
Don Gaspar - (aloud and courteously)
Marquis,
don’t forget that your wife awaits you.
Chorus - Already in the chapel, etc.
Leone goes to take the hand of Sylvia, who
has remained aside, pale and tearful. The
King goes to the other side of the Countess,
and they leave from the left; the ladies and
some courtiers follow them. Don Gaspar
leaves last, from the back.
Scene V
Several gentlemen, who have remained alone.
07 Some - What a despicable market!
Others - It’s too much! I swear!
The first - To marry the Countess!
The others - The King’s mistress...
The first - To come here from the provinces...
The others - without a title; without wealth...
The first - The King made him a Marquis
The others - Gentlemen! He will be a prince.
The first - To grant him the order of
Montésa…
The others - To give him lands...
All - He had to be paid
for his deplorable virtues.
Ah! Let our scorn, at least,
put a curb to his haughtiness.
Let no one seek his favour!
Qu’il reste seul avec son déshonneur.
Scène 6ème
Les précédents, Leone
08 Leone - (à lui-même) (Le Roi, vers Don
Gaspar
en cet instant m’envoie… Que me veut-il ?)
(apercevant les seigneurs)
Ah! Partagez ma joie,
soyez témoins de mon bonheur ;
elle est à moi cette femme adorée,
est-il un bien plus rare ? Oh ! dites…
Les seigneurs - Oui, l’honneur !
Leone - L’honneur !
Toute ma vie à lui fut consacrée,
je l’ai reçu pour dot en mon berceau ;
pas un seul de ces biens aujourd’hui
mon partage ne vaut cet héritage.
Les seigneurs - (avec mépris) Il en est pourtant
qui vous semble plus beau.
Leone - Qu’avez-vous dit ?
De cette injure j’aurai raison...
Il s’arrête.
Mais non, j’ai mal compris.
Prouvez-le moi, je vous conjure.
Votre main, mes amis...
Les seigneurs - (retirant leurs mains)
Ce titre ? Trouvez bon qu’à l’avenir,
Marquis, nous ne l’acceptions plus de vous.
Leone - Ah ! Cet outrage,
vous le paierez, il veut du sang !
Les seigneurs - Eh ! bien !
Vous en aurez, marchons !
Leone - Marchons !
69
Let him remain alone with his disgrace.
Scene VI
The above, Leone
08 Leone - (to himself) (The King has sent
me
to Don Gaspar… What can he want?)
(sighting the gentlemen)
Ah! Share in my happiness,
be the witnesses of my joy;
the adored woman is mine,
is there anything more precious? Tell me…
Gentlemen - Yes, honour!
Leone - Honour!
I pursued it throughout my life,
I have had this gift since the cradle;
not one of the riches bestowed upon me today
is as valuable as that legacy.
Gentlemen - (in disdain) Yet there is one
that you deem more attractive.
Leone - What have you said?
You shall account for this insult...
He draws back.
But no, I must have misunderstood.
Prove it to me, I pray.
Let’s shake hands, my friends...
Gentlemen - (ignoring the gesture)
Friends? Know that from now on,
Marquis, we won’t accept this word from you.
Leone - Ah! You will pay for this insult.
This calls for blood!
Gentlemen - Very well!
Let’s go!
Leone - Let’s go!
Ils se dirigent vers la porte.
Scène 7ème
Les précédents, le Moine
Le Moine - (à Leone) Auras-tu le courage,
malheureux Leone,
de contempler en face un ami de ton père,
dont le saint nom fut par toi profané ?
Leone - Qu’ai-je donc fait ?
Le Moine - Cœur vil, où l’honneur dégénère !
Leone - Comment ai-je souillé mon nom,
répondez-moi !
Les seigneurs - En épousant la maîtresse
du Roi !
Leone - (atterré) En épousant la maîtresse du Roi...
Quoi, Sylvia... L’enfer brûle ma tête...
Le Moine - L’ignorais-tu ?
Leone - (hors de lui) La maîtresse du Roi !
Le Moine - Leone.
Leone - (éclatant) Tout leur sang et le mien !
Le Moine - (regardant au fond) On s’apprête
à quitter la chapelle…
Leone - Ici je les attends.
Le Moine - Fuis !
Leone - Oh ! non, je prétends me venger !
Le Moine - Leone, que vas-tu faire ?
Leone - Dieu seul le sait, mon Père.
Le Moine - Quels éclairs dans ses yeux !
Le Moine / Les seigneurs - C’est le Roi !
Scène 8ème
Les précédents, Don Gaspar, le Roi, Sylvia,
toute la cour. Un long silence ; Leone regarde
fixement le Roi ; le Moine se tient derrière lui.
70
They head for the door.
Scene VII
The above, the Monk
Monk - (to Leone) Have you the courage,
wretched Leone,
to look in the face a friend of your father,
whose good name you have tarnished?
Leone - What have I done?
Monk - Vile man, who has forgotten honour!
Leone - How have I tarnished my name,
answer me!
Gentlemen - By marrying the King’s
mistress!
Leone - (dismayed) The King’s mistress...
What! Sylvia... Hell burns within me...
Monk - Didn’t you know?
Leone - (beside himself) The King’s mistress!
Monk - Leone.
Leone - (thundering) All their blood and mine!
Monk - (looking towards the back) They are
leaving the chapel…
Leone - I shall face them.
Monk - Flee!
Leone - Ah! No, I must get revenge!
Monk - Leone, what do you intend to do?
Leone - Only God knows it, Father.
Monk - What threatening glances!
Monk / Gentlemen - Here comes the King!
Scene VIII
The above, Don Gaspar, the King, Sylvia,
courtiers. A long silence; Leone stares
squarely at the King; the Monk is behind him
Leone - Sire ! Je vous dois tout,
ma fortune et ma vie ;
le titre de marquis…
ma nouvelle splendeur...
des dignités… de l’or…
tous les biens qu’on m’envie ;
mais vous vous êtes, Monseigneur,
payé trop chèrement au prix de mon honneur !
09 Le Roi - Contre un pacte infâme
qu’il a rejeté,
l’honneur dans son âme
s’est donc révolté.
Grand Dieu ! cet outrage qui tombe sur moi
rougit mon visage de honte et d’effroi !
Le Moine - Péris ! Pacte infâme
qu’il a rejeté. Honneur, noble flamme !
Rends-lui sa fierté.
Déjà cet outrage qui frappe le Roi,
rougit son visage de honte et d’effroi !
Don Gaspar - Quel fou!
Sur mon âme ! Il perd par fierté honneurs,
biens et femme qui m’ont tant
coûté.
Ce beau mariage, demain loin du Roi,
m’exile, je gage, adieu mon emploi.
Leone - Péris ! Pacte infâme
qui m’a tant coûté.
Honneur! noble flamme !
Rends-moi ma fierté.
J’affronte l’orage qui gronde sur moi,
car j’ai mon courage, la force est au Roi.
Sylvia - Qu’entends-je ? La trame
se montre à mon âme,
le piège infâme c’est l’œuvre du Roi.
Soupçon qui l’outrage, va, fuis loin de moi !
71
Leone - Sire! I owe you everything,
my fortune and my life;
the title of Marquis…
my new splendour...
honours… wealth…
all the goods people envy;
but, my Lord, you have repaid yourself
at the costly price of my honour!
09 King - Honour, in his heart,
has finally revolted
against this shameful pact,
which he rejects.
Good heavens! This insult
makes me blush with shame and fear!
Monk - Perish the vile pact
which he has rejected! Honour, noble flame,
restore his pride!
The insult that has struck the King
already makes him blush with shame and fear!
Don Gaspar - What a fool!
My word! Because of his pride le loses honours,
wealth and the woman, which have cost me
so much.
This fine marriage, I bet, will exile me
far from the King, I will lose my employment.
Leone - Perish the disgraceful pact
that has cost me so much!
Honour, noble flame,
restore my pride.
I must brave the storm that threatens me
with courage, for the King is powerful.
Sylvia - What do I hear?
I understand now,
the evil plot was the King’s work.
Misguided suspicions, away from me!
Son noble courage me glace d’effroi. His noble courage freezes me with fear.
Les seigneurs - Grand Dieu ! Cet outrage Gentlemen - Almighty God! The insult
qui frappe le Roi rougit son visage he hurled against the King makes him blush
de honte et d’effroi ! with shame and fear!
Le Roi - Marquis de Montréal… King - Marquis of Montréal…
Leone - J’ai tout appris, Altesse… Leone - Now I know everything, Sire…
Sylvia - (avec un éclair de joie) Sylvia - (with a show of joy)
(Il ne savait donc pas.) (He knew nothing, then.)
Leone - C’est pour une bassesse, Leone - You chose me
qu’on m’a choisi. for a vile task.
Le Roi - Marquis.. King - Marquis…
Leone - Ce nom n’est pas le mien. Leone - That title does not belong to me.
De ces présents du Roi I will keep none
je ne veux garder rien… of the King’s presents…
Messieurs, rendez-moi votre estime, Gentlemen, give me back your esteem,
du sort pauvre victime… I am a poor victim of fate…
Je pars, oui, et n’emporte d’ici I am leaving, yes, and will bring with me
que le nom de mon père… nothing but the good name of my father…
Sylvia - (avec élan) Oh ! Leone, merci ! Sylvia - (with enthusiasm) Oh! Leone, thank you!
Noble cœur ! Noble heart!
Leone - (au Roi, détachant de son cou l’ord- Leone - (to the King, removing from his neck
re qu’il a reçu du Roi) the order he has received from him)
Ce collier qui paya l’infamie, This necklace, which rewarded dishonour,
je vous le rends. I give it back to you.
Il tire son épée. He draws his sword.
Cette épée avilie, This defiled sword,
qui de mes ennemis jadis était l’effroi, which was the terror of your enemies,
je la brise… à vos pieds ! I break it… at your feet!
Il brise son épée et la jette aux pieds He breaks his sword and throws it to the
du Roi. King’s feet.
Car vous êtes le Roi ! For you are the King!
Je maudis cette alliance, I curse this alliance,
je maudis l’indigne offense I curse the disgraceful humiliation
que sur moi votre démence that in your madness
a jettée avec de l’or ! you inflicted on me, dressed in gold!

72
Roi, gardons, vous la puissance,
moi, l’honneur, mon seul trésor !
Sylvia - Grâce, ô Roi, pour son offense,
ah! J’embrasse sa défense.
Noble cœur ! de ta souffrance
sur moi pèse le remords.
Va ! Je t’aime ! Ton absence
c’est déjà pour moi la mort.
Le Roi - Ah ! C’est trop de ma clémence
protéger tant démence…
Tremble, ingrat ! Car ton offense
fait sur toi planer la mort.
Mais non fuis... Ah ! ta vengeance
est déjà dans mon remords.
Le Moine - Roi ! Déjà pour vous commence
du pécheur la chute immense,
sur le trône est la souffrance
sous la pourpre est le remords.
(à Leone) Viens, mon fils, dans sa clémence,
Dieu peut seul t’ouvrir un port.
Don Gaspar - Contre moi tourne la chance,
j’ai perdu mon assurance,
plus d’espoir, hélas ! d’avance,
j’entrevois quel est mon sort.
J’irai faire pénitence
dans un cloître ! ah ! je suis mort.
Qu’elle est noble sa vengeance,
mais je tremble pour son sort.
Les seigneurs - Qu’elle est noble sa vengeance,
mais je tremble pour son sort.
Mouvement général ; Leone sort avec le
Moine. Les seigneurs ouvrent respectueuse-
ment leurs rangs pour le laisser passer, et
mettent chapeau bas devant lui.
73
Sire, keep your power,
I shall keep my honour, my only treasure!
Sylvia - Sire, forgive his insult,
ah! I embrace his defence.
Noble heart! Your suffering
burdens me with remorse.
Go! I love you! Your absence
for me is already like death.
King - Ah! It’s too much clemency
to forgive such foolishness…
Tremble, ungrateful man! Your insult
makes death plunge upon you.
But no, leave... Ah! You have your revenge,
it’s my remorse.
Monk - Sire! You have already plunged
into the sinner’s abyss,
on the throne there is suffering
and under the purple robe remorse.
(to Leone) Come, my son, in His mercy,
only God can give you shelter.
Don Gaspar - Fate has turned against me,
I have lost my self-confidence,
no more hope, alas! I can already
foresee my destiny.
I will go and do penance
in a monastery! Ah! I am as good as dead.
His vengeance is noble
but I tremble for his fate.
Gentlemen - His vengeance is noble
but I tremble for his fate.
General movement; Leone leaves with the
Monk. The gentlemen respectfully open their
ranks to let them pass and take off their hats.
ACTE QUATRIÈME
L’intérieur d’un couvent. Sur un côté la cha-
pelle avec une fenêtre gothique à vitraux de
couleur. Au fond du théâtre une montagne
sillonnée par un chemin tournant. Parmi les
cyprès, des croix de bois sur des tombes.
Auprès de la chapelle une grande croix de
pierre avec une marche pour s’agenouiller.
Scène 1ère
L’aube commence à paraître. Les moines
sont occupés à creuser leurs fosses sur la
montagne. Ils répètent à diverses reprises :
«Frères, il faut mourir !» Un religieux dont la
tête est cachée dans son capuchon est pro-
sterné au pied de la croix de pierre. C’est
Leone.
10 Les Religieux - Frères, il faut mourir !
Le Supérieur entre ; c’est le Moine des actes
précédents.
Le Supérieur - Les cieux s’emplissent d’étincelles,
vers Dieu montez avec transport,
chœur pur des pénitents fidèles,
assis dans l’ombre de la mort.
Les Religieux - (répondent) Les cieux s’emplissent
d’étincelles etc.
Et après les moines disparaissent dans la
montagne.
Scène 2ème
Le Supérieur, Leone
Le Supérieur - (s’approchant de Leone)
74
ACT FOUR
Inside a convent. On one side, the chapel
with a gothic stained-glass window. At the
back, a mountain with a path winding up it.
Among some cypresses, wooden crosses
marking some graves. Near the chapel, a
large, stone cross with a step for kneeling.
First Scene
It is dawning. The monks are busy digging
their graves. They repeat from time to time:
«Brethren, we must die!» A monk whose
head is hidden under a hood is prostrated at
the foot of the stone cross. It is Leone.
10 Monks - Brethren we must die!
The Superior enters; it is the Monk of the
preceding acts.
Superior - The sky is turning bright,
Lift your spirits towards God,
faithful penitents
who sit in the shadow of death.
Monks - (echoing him) The sky
is turning bright, etc.
The Monks disappear up
the mountain.
Scene II
The Superior, Leone
Superior - (approaching Leone)
 11 Dans un instant, mon frère 11 In a moment, brother,
un serment éternel vous arrache à la terre an eternal vow will sever you from the world
pour vous lier au Ciel. to bond you with Heaven.
Leone - (resté à genoux jusqu’à ce moment, Leone - (who has remained on his knees,
se relève) rises)
Oh ! Vous m’avez montré Ah! You showed me
les vanités du monde the vanity of the world
quand je vous vis à Naples when I saw you, in Naples,
apparaître en vengeur, appear like an avenger,
et moi je vous suivis, and I have followed you
loin de la foule immonde far from the foul crowds,
versant sur le chemin while I spilt on the way
tout le sang de mon cœur ! all the blood of my heart!
Le Supérieur - Vous pouvez fuir encor Superior - You can still leave,
si votre âme chancelle, if your heart hesitates,
mais songez-y mon fils ! but think well, my son!
Un tel vœu prononcé entre le monde If you take the vow, you place a
et vous est un tombeau placé. tombstone between the world and yourself.
Leone - (avec terreur) Vous me quittez ? Leone - (in fright) Are you leaving me?
Le Supérieur - Entrez dans la chapelle ; Superior - Go into the chapel;
un novice arrivé d’hier en ce couvent a novice who arrived yesterday
m’attend dans sa cellule... awaits me in his cell…
Leone - (avec tristesse) Un novice… Leone - (sadly) A novice…
Le Supérieur - Un enfant, Superior - A youth,
pauvre fleur sur le sol a poor flower
par l’orage abattue struck by the storm,
qui va mourir peut-être… who might even die…
Leone - Oh ! oui, la douleur tue ! Leone - Ah! Yes, grief can kill!
Le Supérieur sort. The Superior leaves.

Scène 3ème Scene III

Leone - (seul) Leone - (alone)

Après une longue rêverie. After a long pause.
La maîtresse du Roi ? The King’s mistress?
75
Dans l’abîme creusé, Into the abyss,
sous un piège infernal, due to an infernal ploy,
ma gloire est engloutie, my glory has fallen,
et de mon triste cœur and hope has left
l’espérance est sortie. my dejected heart.
12 Hélas ! Envolez-vous, beaux songes ! 12 Alas! Fly away, beautiful dreams!
Vous que j’aimai tant, doux mensonges, Sweet deceiver, whom I loved so deeply,
envolez-vous avec l’espoir ! fly away with my hope!
Pourtant ma vie était si belle, Yet life was so beautiful,
quand près de la gloire fidèle when I had glory
l’amour aussi venait s’asseoir… and love…
Mais qu’importe la terre But what does this broken heart
à ce cœur consumé ; care about the world?
sur moi, froid monastère, Remote monastery,
reste toujours fermé. close on me forever.
Parfois, sous les traits d’une femme At times I see, in a fiery beam,
je vois dans un rayon de flamme a blue-eyed angel descend
descendre un ange aux yeux d’azur, with the features of a woman,
mais ce fantôme à l’aile blanche but that winged ghost
qui sur mon front la nuit se penche, that hovers over me at night
hélas! n’est qu’un démon impur. alas! is nothing but a foul demon.
Hélas ! Envolez-vous, beaux songes ! Alas! Vanish, beautiful dreams!
Envolez-vous avec l’espoir ! Vanish with my hope!

Scène 4ème Scene IV

Leone, le Supérieur, les moines Leone, the Superior, the Monks

13 Le Supérieur - (à Leone) Êtes-vous prêt ? 13 Superior - (to Leone) Are you ready?
Leone - Mon père, Leone - Father,
à la chapelle je vous suis. I follow you to the chapel.
Le Supérieur - Ô mon fils ! Superior - My son!
Qu’à vous Dieu se révèle. May God reveal Himself to you.
Le Supérieur et Leone entrent les premiers The Superior and Leone enter the chapel
dans la chapelle, tous les religieux défilent en first, all the other monks follow them in
silence et les suivent. Sylvia paraît sous le silence. Sylvia appears disguised as a
76
costume d’un novice. Elle se place à l’entrée
de la chapelle, cherchant à distinguer les
traits des religieux qui passent la tête baissée
sous leurs capuchons.
Scène 5ème
Sylvia - (seule) Depuis hier
encor je n’ai pu le trouver…
Pourtant ce monastère
est le lieu qu’il habite…
Sous l’habit d’un novice,
oh mon Dieu que j’irrite,
jusqu’à lui permets-moi d’arriver !
Par la douleur ma force est épuisée,
je vais mourir ! oui ! je vais mourir !
Merci de ce don !
Prends mon âme brisée
mais que de Leone j’emporte le pardon.
14 Chœur des moines - (dans la chapelle)
Que du Très-Haut la faveur t’accompagne,
vœu du fidèle, adorable tribut.
Oh! qu’ils sont beaux,
mon Dieu, sur la montagne
les pieds de l’ange annonçant le salut !
Sylvia - Qu’entends-je ?
C’est un vœu qui de l’autel s’élève,
une âme que le Ciel à cette terre enlève.
Leone - (dans la chapelle) Je me consacre
à te servir, Seigneur !
Viens! Que ta grâce illumine mon cœur !
Sylvia - (avec délire) Cette voix !
C’est bien lui ! Lui ! Perdu pour la terre…
ange ! Remonte au Ciel !
Je fuis ce cloître austère,
77
novice. She takes position at the entrance of
the chapel, trying to make out the features of
the monks that pass before her with their
heads bowed and hidden under their hoods.
Scene V
Sylvia - (alone) Since yesterday
I haven’t been able to find him…
Yet this is the monastery
where he lives…
Disguised as a novice,
grant me to get to him,
oh God whom I have angered!
Grief has robbed me of all strength,
I am going to die! Yes! I will die!
Thank you for this gift!
Take my broken soul,
but allow me to obtain Leone’s forgiveness.
14 Chorus of Monks - (in the chapel)
May you be accepted by the Most-High,
faithful vow, adorable tribute.
Oh! How beautiful,
Lord, are the feet
of the angel announcing salvation!
Sylvia - What do I hear?
Someone is taking his vow at the altar,
Heaven takes a soul from this world.
Leone - (in the chapel) I consecrate myself
to your service, oh Lord!
Come! Let your grace enlighten my heart!
Sylvia - (in a frenzy) This voice!
It is he! He! Lost to the world…
angel! Return to Heaven!
I must fly from this austere monastery,
mais… je ne puis… la mort glace mon sang. but… I cannot… death courses through my veins.
Elle tombe épuisée au pied de la croix. She falls senseless at the foot of the cross.

Scène 6ème Scene VI

Sylvia, Leone Sylvia, Leone

Leone - (sortant avec agitation de la Leone - (coming out of the chapel in a state
chapelle) of agitation)
C’en est fait... je suis prêtre... It is done... I am a monk...
et malgré moi And yet
descend dans mon âme inquiète, my restless soul is seized
une terreur secrète. by a mysterious fright.
J’ai fui loin de l’autel... I rushed away from the altar...
Sylvia - (sortant de l’évanouissement) Sylvia - (coming to)
Essayant de se soulever She tries to stand up
Mon Dieu ! Je souffre… hélas ! Oh God! How I suffer… alas!
J’ai froid... I am cold...
Leone - Qu’entends-je ? Leone - What do I hear?
Il se retourne et aperçoit Sylvia qu’il ne He turns and sees Sylvia, without recognizing
reconnaît pas. her.
Un malheureux sur la terre… A poor wretch on the ground…
Il s’approche. He approaches.
Relevez-vous, mon frère. Let me help you, brother.
Sylvia - C’est lui ! Sylvia - It is he!
Leone - (la reconnaissant ; reculant) Leone - (recognizing her and drawing back)
(avec épouvante) Grand Dieu ! (in fright) God Almighty!
Sylvia - Ne me maudissez pas ! Sylvia - Do not curse me!
15 Leone - Va-t-en d’ici ! De cet asile 15 Leone - Go away from here! You will sully
tu troublerais la pureté. the purity of this sanctuary.
Laisse la mort froide et tranquille, Let death, cold and tranquil,
faire son œuvre en liberté. freely accomplish its task.
(avec ironie) Dans son palais ton roi t’appelle (sarcastically) Your King awaits you in his palace
pour te parer de honte et d’or, to cover you with shame and gold.
son amour te rendra plus belle, His love will make you more beautiful,
plus belle et plus infâme encor. more beautiful and more infamous yet.
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Sylvia - Oh ! Par pitié ! De ta colère
suspends l’injuste châtiment.
Mon Leone ! Qu’un mot t’éclaire,
n’ajoute pas à mon tourment.
Ce roi, cette cour criminelle
où mes pleurs se cachaient sous l’or,
j’ai tout quitté. La mort m’appelle,
en ton cœur seul j’espère encor.
Leone - (Dit-elle vrai ?)
Sylvia - Jusqu’à ce monastère
en priant j’ai marché…
les ronces et la pierre
ont meurtri mes genoux.
Leone - De moi qu’espérez-vous ?
Sylvia - Ce n’est pas votre amour !
Pauvre femme avilie !
L’ai-je accepté jamais ?
Je vous pressais de fuir…
et pourtant je vous aimais !
Croyez-moi, une fatale erreur
vous unit à ma vie ;
Pardonnez-moi, je vous ai méprisé ;
L’oubli de cette offense
est ma seule espérance.
Leone - Ah ! Méprisé ? (à part)
(Oh ! je fus abusé !)
16 Ses pleurs, sa voix jadis si chère
portent le trouble dans mes sens.
Sur ton élu, Seigneur, descends
arme son cœur par la prière.)
Sylvia - (à genoux) Entends ma voix
jadis si chère, vois quel trouble agite mes
sens
et dans la nuit où je descends
ne repousse pas ma prière.
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Sylvia - Oh! Have pity! Cease
unjustly chastising me, in your anger.
Leone! Let me explain myself,
do not add to my torment.
The King, the vile court
where my tears were covered in gold,
I have left them. Death awaits me,
and only in your heart do I still hope.
Leone - (Is she telling the truth?)
Sylvia - I have walked, praying
all the way to this monastery…
Brambles and stones
have bruised my knees.
Leone - What do you expect from me?
Sylvia - Not your love!
Wretched, humiliated me!
Did I ever accept it?
I urged you to leave…
and yet I loved you!
Believe me, it was a fatal mistake
that bonded you to me;
forgive me, I despised you,
and your forgiveness
is my only hope.
Leone - Ah! Despised me? (aside)
(Ah! I was deceived!
16 Her tears, her voice once so dear,
trouble my soul.
Descend upon your elect one, Lord!
Arm his heart with prayer.)
Sylvia - (on her knees) Hear my voice
once so dear to you, see the trouble that
torments me
and as darkness descends upon me
do not reject my prayer.
Un seul mot par pitié ! Say the word, for pity’s sake!
Leone - (avec trouble) Laisse-moi, laisse-moi… Leone - (troubled) Leave me, leave me…
Sylvia - Leone, un seul mot ! Sylvia - Leone, a single word!
Leone - Soutiens-moi Dieu du Ciel ! Leone - Help me, God of Heaven!
Sylvia - Je succombe ; quand Dieu Sylvia - I am dying; while God
met un pardon sur le bord de la tombe grants me forgiveness, on the verge of my grave,
je meurs désespérée et maudite par toi. I die in despair, cursed by you.
Leone - (exalté) J’oublie en l’écoutant Leone - (impassioned) Hearing her voice,
mes vœux et Dieu lui-même… I forget my vow and God Himself…
(avec entraînement) Sylvia ! (carried away) Sylvia!
Sylvia - Sois béni ! Sylvia - God bless you!
Leone - Sylvia… je t’aime ! Leone - Sylvia… I love you!
17 Viens ! Je cède éperdu 17 Come! Dazed, I yield
au transport qui m’enivre ! to the passion that inebriates me!
Ton amour m’est rendu... I have your love again,
pour t’aimer je veux vivre ! I will live to love you!
Viens, j’écoute en mon cœur Come! A voice in my heart
une voix qui me crie : shouts to me:
dans une autre patrie go to some foreign land
va cacher ton bonheur ! and be happy!
Sylvia - C’est mon rêve éperdu Sylvia - My lost dream glitters
qui rayonne et m’enivre ! and fills me with strength!
Son amour m’est rendu, I have his love again,
mon Dieu ! laisse-moi vivre ! oh God, let me live!
(à Leone) Abandonne ton cœur (to Leone) Let your heart heed
à la voix qui nous crie : the voice that shouts to us:
dans une autre patrie in a foreign land
vous attend le bonheur ! happiness awaits you!
Leone - Sylvia… je t’aime ! Leone - Sylvia… I love you!
Sylvia - Sois béni ! Sylvia - May God bless you!
Pour partir. Ils s’arrêtent. On entend dans la They want to leave but stop. The monks pray-
chapelle la prière des religieux. ing in the chapel can be heard.
Les Religieux - Que du Très-Haut la faveur Monks - May the Most-High accept you,
t’accompagne, vœu du fidèle, adorable tribut. faithful vow, adorable tribute.
Leone - (avec terreur) Entends-tu leur prière ? Leone - (in terror) Can you hear their prayer?
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Sylvia - (défaillant) Je sens venir la mort ! Sylvia - (feeling faint) I can feel death near me!
Viens ! Ah viens ! Come! Ah come!
Leone - (avec un trouble toujours croissant) Leone - (with mounting trouble)
Ma Sylvia ! Mes vœux ! Ah ! Sylvia! My vow! Ah!
L’amour plus fort ! Love is stronger!
Viens ! Pour te posséder, je serai sacrilège... Come! To have you, I will commit sacrilege...
Viens, Sylvia, ces moines jaloux Come, Sylvia, these jealous monks
vont saisir leur victime, would seize their victim,
ils sont là, près de nous ; they are here, close to us;
mais, quel que soit mon crime, but, whatever my sin,
j’abandonne mon cœur I heed the voice that
à la voix qui me crie : cries to my heart:
dans une autre patrie go to some foreign land
va cacher ton bonheur ! and be happy!
Sylvia - Ah ! ces moines jaloux Sylvia - Ah! These jealous monks
vont saisir leur victime… will seize their victim…
Plus d’espoir ! Devant nous No more hope! The abyss
s’est ouvert un abîme. opens up before us.
Oui, j’entends en mon cœur Yes, I hear in my heart
une voix qui me crie : a voice that cries:
il n’est plus de patrie, there is no more homeland,
il n’est plus de bonheur ! there is no more happiness!
Leone - Fuyons, fuyons ! Leone - Let us flee, let us flee!
Sylvia - (chancelant) Leone… je ne puis… Sylvia - (short of breath) Leone… I cannot…
Leone - Sylvia ! Sylvia ! Leone - Sylvia! Sylvia!
Sylvia - Je succombe ! Le bonheur m’a tuée ! Sylvia - I am dying! Happiness has killed me!
Leone - Ô mon Dieu ! Ô mon Dieu ! Leone - Oh my God! Oh my God!
Sylvia - Il n’est plus de patrie, Sylvia - There is no more homeland,
il n’est plus de bonheur ! there is no more happiness!
Dans la tombe nous serons réunis. We shall be together in death.
Adieu, adieu. Ah ! Farewell, farewell. Ah!
Elle expire. She dies.
18 Leone - (avec désespoir) Au secours, 18 Leone - (in despair) Help,
au secours… help me…
(se penchant sur le corps de Sylvia) (over the dead body of Sylvia)
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C’est ma voix qui t’appelle ! Hear my voice that calls you!
Rouvre les yeux… c’est moi, Sylvia ! Open your eyes… It is I, Sylvia!
Il veut l’emporter. He would carry her away.
Ah ! Vains efforts… Ah! All in vain!
Au secours, au secours ! Help! Help!

Scène 7ème Scene VII

Le Supérieur et les moines sortent de la cha- The Superior and the monks, coming out of
pelle. the chapel.

Leone - (au Supérieur) Leone - (to the Superior)

Venez, venez ! c’est elle ! Come, come! It is she!
Venez ! Sylvia... C’est elle… Come! Sylvia... It is she…
Le Supérieur - (Dieu, que vois-je ?) Superior - (Oh Lord, what do I see?)
(rabaissant le capuchon de Sylvia sur ses (lowering the hood over Sylvia’s dishevelled
cheveux déroulés) hair)
Silence ! (Elle n’est plus !) Silence! (She is no more!)
Leone - Ah ! Leone - Ah!
Le Supérieur - (aux moines) Superior - (to the monks)
Le novice est mort ! The novice has died!
Priez, priez pour lui, mes frères… Pray, pray for him, brethren…
Il fait signe à un frère d’entrer dans la chapelle, He gestures to one of them to go to the
après quelques mesures on entend la cloche. chapel, after a moment the bell tolls.
Leone - (avec une douleur déchirante) Et vous Leone - (prey to a deep grief) And you
prierez pour moi demain ! must pray for me tomorrow!
Le Supérieur / Les Moines - Dieu du pardon, Superior / Monks - God of forgiveness,
que nos prières portent cette âme jusqu’à toi ! may our prayers lead this soul to you!
Leone - Ah ma Sylvia ! Ah ma Sylvia ! Leone - Ah my Sylvia! Ah my Sylvia!
Rouvre les yeux ! C’est moi, ma Sylivia, Open your eyes! It is I, Sylvia,
C’ets moi ! Adieu ! It is I! Farewell!

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