Muy Importante

Well, all right everybody I'm going out on a little ledge of faith here a little bit. This is the nearest and dearest piece of vocal music to my heart ever written and most likely ever to be written. There are others which come close, but nothing has ever quite reached it for me. Perhaps it's because this is the song which sprouted my deep and most profound love for the opera, perhaps it's because it is the first real difficult foreign language aria I ever worked on, (and hard and long I did work on it) or perhaps it's just because I've never been able to sit and listen to it understanding the context and the lyrics without getting at least a tad misty. :) But, whatever the reason here it is. I was hesitant to share this with the electronic world because it's so dear to my heart, but I figured the few which I believe do read my blog know all ready anyway and the rest of you I'm trusting not to make fun of it. Call it pride but there are some things I can't be mocked about and my adoration for this song is one, so just know you probably take a little piece of my heart with you when you listen to it. :)

Oh, to help you out a little bit, Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) is the opera which this piece is from. It's about a household of royalty who through miscommunication and zany scheming get all mixed up in who's in love with and having love with whom. It's a comedy and this is really the only truly tragic part of the opera, but that gives it an extra sweetness for me because of the dicotomy of her tragedy from the humor of the rest. The countess has just discovered that her husband is cheating, even though he really isn't, but that crazy plotting, and she is heart broken. The lyrics:

Porgi Amor

Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro, O Love, give me some remedy Al mio duolo, a'miei sospir! For my sorrow, for my sighs! O mi rendi il mio tesoro, Either give me back my darling O mi lascia almen morir. Or at least let me die.

I actually prefer the tempo to be a bit quicker than she chooses in this rendition, but she is just so fantastic.