Vicenzo Bellini/Bernard of Vienna
La Ricordanza (the memory) (2011)
Arrangement for voice and wind quintet
Premiere during the Festival du Château in Chambéry, July 1, 2011 by Amel Brahim Djelloul, soprano and Le Concert Impromptu
Duration : approx. 4'30
Unedited
On July 1, 2011, during the Festival du Château in Chambéry, the singer Amel Brahim Djelloul, accompanied by the wind quintet Le Concert Impromptu and the Debussy Quartet gave a concert of famous tunes, mainly opera.
The instrumentalists asked me to transcribe arias by Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Donizetti and Bellini.
I made the choice to accompany La Ricordanza only with the wind quintet, given the sensual richness of the winds.
I would advise singers (normally a man) to interpret this intimate music with restraint and without dragging (Andante). Indeed, a work for voice and piano in its original version, there is no question here of verismo and excessive affectation. On the contrary, simplicity must prevail.
As far as the transcription is concerned, I decided not to add any liaisons in addition to those indicated by Bellini. In many cases, they go without saying : for instrumentalists to deduce what to do based on meaning and character.
The Ricordanza
(memory)
Era la note, e presso di colei
Che sola al cor mi giunse e vi sta sola,
Con que pianger che rompe la Parola,
Io pregava mercede a martir miei.
When Ella, chinando gli occhi bei,
Disse (e il membrarlo sol me, da me invola) :
Ponmi al cor la tua destra, e ti consola :
Ch'io amo e te sol' amo intender dei,
Poi fatta, per amor, tremante e bianca,
In atto soavissimo mi pose
La bella faccia sulla spalla manca.
Se dopo il dolce assai più duol l'amaro ;
Se per me nullo istante at what risk,
Ah ! quant'era in quell'ora il morir caro !
(translation cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_Giuliano d'Angiolini)
It was night and near the one
Who alone reached my heart,
where she lives there alone,
With this cry that breaks the word,
I prayed for the grace of my martyrdoms
[I was praying for a moment of grace/respite from my martyrdom/suffering]
As She says, lowering her beautiful eyes,
(and this memory alone makes me soar from myself)
“Place your right hand on my heart
And may this comfort you:
I love and love you only
This you must understand”
Then, having become trembling and pale out of love,
With a suave gesture, she put her beautiful face
On my left shoulder
If after the pain the bitterness hurts even more (we are painful)
If for me no other moment followed that one (“answered” it)
Ah, how sweet it would have been
at this time (at this time) to die!
