Donizetti- "Quanto è bella", from L'elisir d'amore

Hi, friends! It's been some time since I have updated this blog, and probably some time since you have looked at it yourself; the beginning of any academic year is always extremely busy. However, I've found some free time (at last), and have decided to finally post an aria to analyze!

Of course, arias present similar and different challenges than art songs. Too often singers fall into the trap of believing the aria just serves a dramatic purpose, and the music is completely subservient to the drama unfolding during the given opera. However, while the opera in and of itself is served by the aria, the musical wealth found within the arias can hold clues to delivering a more effective dramatic performance as well. Some good examples are, of course, lietmotifs perfected and mainstreamed by Wagner, as well as repeating various phrases that have just been sung by another character on stage, something found in the final duet between Alfredo and Violetta in Verdi's epic opera, La traviata. While these musical characteristics are fantastic, digging even deeper can reveal even more clues about text stress, harmonic & melodic purpose, and phrase structure, which are some of the topics that will be discussed in this update!

Here is the text and translation for this aria,

Quanto è bella, quanto è cara!   How beautiful she is, how dear she is
Più la vedo, e più mi piace...   the more I see her, the more I like her
ma in quel cor non son capace   but in that heart I'm not capable
lieve affetto ad inspirar.   little dearness to inspire
Essa legge, studia, impara...   That one reads, studies, learns
non vi ha cosa ad essa ignota...  I don't see that she ignores anything
Io son sempre un idiota,   I'm always an idiot
io non so che sospirar.   I don't know but to sigh


(Thanks to www.aria-database.com for this translation)

In seconds, even without an understanding of the opera as a whole, we
see that this is both a love song and a lament. The character, Nemorino,
is declaring his love for Adina. This is an advantage that analyzing an aria
has over an art song; we have tangible characters we can create a relationship
between, even if the aria is being performed as a stand-alone piece. 

As we take a look at the music, a very obvious challenge presents itself. This opera is from the early Romantic Italian opera repertoire. There were definitely more social and creative "ideals", so to speak, pertaining to music. This is an aria in the "people's key" of C major, and, to the somewhat musically-informed opera-goer, might sound like any other aria from this time period. This is where informed musical analysis can make or break a performance of opera from this repertory.

(A copy of the score can be found here .The first page of the aria is page 9)

Other than the obvious cavatina-like nature of the aria, suggesting the amorous quality that I mentioned before, there are number of important accidentals in the music. One in particular is the D# passing tone on the word "piace" in the first line, which, of course, means "like", in this case "like her". Another key area (pun intended) in the aria is the mixture from C major to C minor on the lines "Essa legge, studia, impara...non vi ha cosa ad essa ignota", which means "She reads, studies, learns...there is not a thing she ignores!". This being a small lament within the love song, the mixture is extremely appropriate.

We then encounter the mini-cadenza in the middle of the piece, which takes place after the lament-like section. It is almost like Nemorino has seen Adina, and has thrown his worries aside about her being more intelligent because he is so much in love with her. He then jumps right back into the "Quanto é bella" theme.

The piece ends with a medium-sized cadenza, popular for music of this time period. The aria also ends on the text "Ma in quel cor non son capace lieve affetto d'inspirar", meaning "But in my heart I cannot inspire this light affection (or this sweet girl)". This is important for the plot of the opera, but, as this is a comic opera, the singer could easily ham this up, dramatically, for a more effective performance, especially with the high A on the word, "Ah!".

I know my analysis on this piece isn't as concise as it has been on other pieces I've blogged about, but I'd really like your input on other ways to effectively analyze this aria. This is an aria that I sing often for auditions and performances, so on a somewhat personal level, it would be nice to discover new ways to think about it!

I hope to update the blog this upcoming Friday, and the next update will be on a song I've been dying to analyze fully; "Chanson triste" by Henri Duparc.

Have a great last week of September, and stay healthy!