[early music, geekery] "Sfere Amiche": The Scientist and Self-Care
I'm on the BEMF's email list, so I just got the notice that they've been nominated for a Grammy for the opera Niobe, Regine di Tebe. (Congrats, BEMF!) I'm not a huge Baroque fan, but I went and saw it, and I liked it.
As far as I'm concerned, far and away the best part of it was Jaroussky's solo aria "Dell'alma Stanca/Sfere Amiche". While the live audio recording, which is exquisite, has been available on the net for a while, I just discovered that BEMF has put the video of the "Sfere Amiche" half of the performance on YouTube back in May.
In Act I. Scene XIII., we learn that when King Anfione (Philippe Jaroussky) finds the burdens of his reign too heavy and needs to take a break, he does what any reasonable person does: heads for his astronomical observatory:
Dell'Alma stanca à raddolcir le tempre,
Cari Asili di Pace à voi ritorno:
Fuggite pur fuggite
Da questo seno o de Regali fasti
Cure troppo moleste, egri pensieri;
Che val più de gl'Imperi
In solitaria soglia, & humil Manto
Scioglier dal Cor non agitato il Canto.
To refresh my tired Soul
I return to you, dear sanctuaries of Peace.
Flee, flee then
From this breast, oh cares of Royal pomp,
Troubling, sick thoughts;
For it is better to release the Song
From an easy Heart, in solitary habitation
And humble Clothing, than from the Throne.
(Lyrics via SJuli @ youtube, translation by Ellen Hargis.)
There, he sings of what a balm celestial observation is: Sfere amiche hor date al Labro
L'Armonia de vostri giri.
E' posando il Fianco lasso,
Habbi moto il Tronco, il sasso
Da miei placidi respiri,
Sfere, &c.
Friendly spheres, now give my Lips
The Harmony of your rotation.
And resting my weary Limbs
May the Tree, the Stone, have motion
From my peaceful breathing.
Friendly spheres, etc.
As if this weren't all enough, the BEMF production had an inspired choreography. As Anfione sings "Dell'Alma Stanca", six of his children process in, each one bearing a different heavenly orb; then as he sings "Sfere Amiche", they begin, one at a time, to slowly, stately process around him on orbits of light among a field of stars, projected from above on the darkened stage.
The whole aria (no video) is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-upN6T605cQ
The "Sfere Amiche" half, with the children dancing as planets, is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pbb5S19V1g
Plan on turning to volume up: as befits the lyrics, it is very quiet. Also, don't plan on operating heavy machinery after.
This always reminds me of back when I worked in administration for a certain large laboratory at MIT. The president and VP of the lab were both physicists, and they kept a secret office well away from their offices in the department, so that, from time to time, for their own sanity, they could play hooky from the budgets and the proposals and the personnel issues and the IT issues and the politicians and the paperwork, and, uninterrupted, do science.
As far as I'm concerned, far and away the best part of it was Jaroussky's solo aria "Dell'alma Stanca/Sfere Amiche". While the live audio recording, which is exquisite, has been available on the net for a while, I just discovered that BEMF has put the video of the "Sfere Amiche" half of the performance on YouTube back in May.
In Act I. Scene XIII., we learn that when King Anfione (Philippe Jaroussky) finds the burdens of his reign too heavy and needs to take a break, he does what any reasonable person does: heads for his astronomical observatory:
Dell'Alma stanca à raddolcir le tempre,
Cari Asili di Pace à voi ritorno:
Fuggite pur fuggite
Da questo seno o de Regali fasti
Cure troppo moleste, egri pensieri;
Che val più de gl'Imperi
In solitaria soglia, & humil Manto
Scioglier dal Cor non agitato il Canto.
To refresh my tired Soul
I return to you, dear sanctuaries of Peace.
Flee, flee then
From this breast, oh cares of Royal pomp,
Troubling, sick thoughts;
For it is better to release the Song
From an easy Heart, in solitary habitation
And humble Clothing, than from the Throne.
(Lyrics via SJuli @ youtube, translation by Ellen Hargis.)
There, he sings of what a balm celestial observation is: Sfere amiche hor date al Labro
L'Armonia de vostri giri.
E' posando il Fianco lasso,
Habbi moto il Tronco, il sasso
Da miei placidi respiri,
Sfere, &c.
Friendly spheres, now give my Lips
The Harmony of your rotation.
And resting my weary Limbs
May the Tree, the Stone, have motion
From my peaceful breathing.
Friendly spheres, etc.
As if this weren't all enough, the BEMF production had an inspired choreography. As Anfione sings "Dell'Alma Stanca", six of his children process in, each one bearing a different heavenly orb; then as he sings "Sfere Amiche", they begin, one at a time, to slowly, stately process around him on orbits of light among a field of stars, projected from above on the darkened stage.
The whole aria (no video) is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-upN6T605cQ
The "Sfere Amiche" half, with the children dancing as planets, is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pbb5S19V1g
Plan on turning to volume up: as befits the lyrics, it is very quiet. Also, don't plan on operating heavy machinery after.
This always reminds me of back when I worked in administration for a certain large laboratory at MIT. The president and VP of the lab were both physicists, and they kept a secret office well away from their offices in the department, so that, from time to time, for their own sanity, they could play hooky from the budgets and the proposals and the personnel issues and the IT issues and the politicians and the paperwork, and, uninterrupted, do science.