Friday July 18 2014 LIBRETTO Based on L’Allegro and Il Penseroso by John Milton (1608-1674) arranged and adapted by James Harris (1709-1780) Il Moderato by Charles Jennens (1700-1773) Final Duet adapted from The Tempest by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) PARTE PRIMA
Annotations of Milton texts by Michael J. Cummings
Accompagnato Tenor
L’Allegro
Hence loathed Melancholy Of Cerberus, and blackest midnight born, In Stygian cave forlorn ‘Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy, Find out some uncouth cell, Where brooding darkness spreads his jealous wings, And the night-raven sings; There under ebon shades, and low-brow’d rocks, As ragged as thy locks, In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
Cerberus: In Greek mythology, a three-headed dog keeping watch at the gates of Hades (the Underworld). Stygian: Having to do with the River Styx, which in Greek mythology encircles Hades (the Underworld). ebon: (1) Like ebony, a dark hardwood; black; dark. (2) Ebony itself. Cimmerian: Dark, gloomy .
Accompagnato Soprano
Il Penseroso
Hence vain deluding joys, Dwell in some idle brain, And fancies fond with gaudy shapes possess, As thick and numberless As the gay motes that people the sunbeams, Or likest hovering dreams The fickle pensioners of Morpheus’ train.
motes: Specks of dust. pensioners: men-at-arms; attendants. Morpheus: In Greek mythology, the god of dreams.
Air Soprano
L’Allegro
Come, thou goddess fair and free, In Heav’n yclep’d Euphrosyne; And by men heart-easing Mirth, Whom lovely Venus, at a birth, With two sister-graces more, To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore.
yclep’d: Named, called. Euphrosyne: See Graces. Venus: Roman name for Aphrodite, the goddess of love in Greek mythology . Graces: In Greek mythology, three sister deities: Aglaia, goddess of splendor and brightness; Euphrosyne, goddess of joy; and Thalia, goddess of festivity and good cheer. Ivy-crownèd: Wearing an ivy wreath as a crown. Bacchus: Roman name for Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry in Greek mythology.
Air Soprano
Il Penseroso
Come rather, goddess sage and holy; Hail, divinest Melancholy, Whose saintly visage is too bright To hit the sense of human sight; Thee bright-hair’d Vesta long of yore, To solitary Saturn bore.
Vesta: Roman name for Hestia, the goddess of the hearth in Greek mythology. Saturn: Roman name for Cronus, the first king of the gods in Greek mythology. He was overthrown
Air Tenor
L’Allegro
Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee Jest and youthful jollity, Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles, Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles Such as hang on Hebe’s cheek, And love to live in dimple sleek, Sport, that wrinkled care derides, And laughter, holding both his sides.
cranks: Clever or fanciful speech; whims; caprices. Hebe: In Greek mythology, the goddess of youth.
Chorus
L’Allegro
Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee Jest, and youthful jollity; Sport, that wrinkled care derides, And laughter, holding both his sides.
Air Tenor
L’Allegro
Come, and trip it as you go, On the light fantastic toe.
Chorus
L’Allegro
Come, and trip it as you go, On the light fantastic toe.
46
trip: Dance.