I am beginning to become repetitious. I had never heard of this tenor. This was a great voice, a true lyric tenor. The vocal production is wonderful. He sings off the throat and into the resonating cavities of the head. The first post is from the end of Andrea Chénier with Lina Bruna Rasa as Maddalena. This was truly a wonderful find, and it is a great performance. I hope that you enjoy it.
If you are interested, the entire opera can be found here:
Giordano, Andrea Chénier, Close of Act IV
Chénier
Vicino a te s’acqueta
l’irrequieta anima mia;
tu sei la meta
d’ogni desio,
d’ogni sogno,
d’ogni poesia!
(la guarda amorosamente)
Entro al tuo sguardo
l’iridescenza scerno
de li spazi infiniti.
Ti guardo:
in questo fiotto verde
di tua larga pupilla erro coll’anima!
Maddalena
Per non lasciarti
son qui; non è un addio!
Vengo a morire con te!
(esaltandosi)
Finì il soffrire!
La morte nell’amarti!
Ah! Chi la parola estrema
dalle labbra raccoglie,
è lui… l’Amor!
Chénier
(con slancio)
Tu sei la meta dell’esistenza mia!
Il nostro è amore d’anime!
Maddalena
Il nostro è amore d’anime!
(stringendosi a lui, narra l’idea balenatale durante
la seduta del Tribunale per morire con lui se
condannato)
Salvo una madre! Maddalena all’alba
ha nome per la morte Idia Legray!
(guardando nel cortile)
Vedi? La luce incerta del crepuscolo
giù pe’ squallidi androni già lumeggia.
Abbracciami! Baciami! Amante!
(e colle braccia avviluppando stretto a sé Chénier gli
si abbandona tutta sul petto)
Chénier
(scosso dall’entusiasmo che anima Maddalena, la
stringe a sé baciandola nei capelli, su gli occhi, sulla
bocca, esclamando inebriato)
Orgoglio di bellezza!
Trionfo tu de’ l’anima!
Il tuo amor, sublime amante, è mare,
è ciel, luce di sole e d’astri… È il mondo!
Maddalena
Amante!
(Già è il dì, rulla il tamburo, la luce si espande, i
soldati si radunano, prendono le armi e si schierano.
Schmidt va ad aprire le celle. A gruppi, impauriti, i
prigionieri riempiono, nell’aspettativa della carretta,
lo stanzone. Ma pei due felici tutto è felicità, tutto è
poesia; abbracciati, dimentichi, essi inneggiano
all’ora che apre a loro l’infinito e sarà eterna)
Chénier
La nostra morte è il trionfo dell’amore.
Maddalena
La nostra morte è il trionfo dell’amore.
Chénier
Ah, benedico la sorte!
Maddalena
Nell’ora che si muor eterni diveniamo!
Chénier
Morte! Amore!
Maddalena
Infinito! Amore!
(un raggio di sole penetra nel secondo cortile scoperto
così che la carretta, che entra con gran fracasso dal
portone dischiuso della prigione, scortata dai
gendarmi a cavallo, rimane avvolta da quella luce
calda di primo mattino)
Chénier
(additandola a Maddalena)
È la morte!
Maddalena
È la morte!
Chénier
Ella vien col sole!
Maddalena
Ella vien col mattino!
Chénier
Ah! Viene come l’aurora!
Maddalena
Col sole che la indora!
Chénier
Ne viene a noi dal cielo,
entro ad un vel di rose e viole!
Maddalena e Chénier
Amor! Infinito! Amor!
(salgono intanto i condannati ad uno ad uno, tutti
rassegnati, impassibili, calmi, quasi desiosi. Solo la
Legray accasciata, le mani agli orecchi nel terrore di
udire il suo nome, si impicciolisce e raggomitolata
dietro la gradinata, vi si nasconde)
Schmidt
Andrea Chénier!
Chénier
Son io!
Schmidt
Idia Legray!
Maddalena
(si fa arditamente innanzi)
Son io!
(e passa altera, trionfante; la vera Legray guarda
incosciente la donna che va a morire per lei.
È proprio allora che entra Gérard. Ogni speranza lo
ha abbandonato. Maddalena lo scorge e lo addita a
Chénier che lo saluta. Gérard vorrebbe stringergli la
mano, scambiare un’ultima parola, ma le forze lo
abbandonano e appoggiandosi ad una parete, si
copre il volto colle mani e singhiozza)
Maddalena e Chénier
Viva la morte insiem!
(la carretta s’avvia. I gendarmi a cavallo le fanno
largo. E il portone le si richiude dietro.
Nella prigione di San Lazzaro, sbigottiti, in
silenzio, stanno i prigionieri, e in mezzo a loro
quell’uomo della Rivoluzione che piange, tendendo
gualcita febbrilmente nella mano una lettera; è la
lettera laconica or ora scrittagli, per non riceverlo, da
Robespierre, che alle preghiere per la vita di un poeta
ha risposto: “Anche Platone bandiva i poeti
dalla sua Repubblica”.)
Giordano, Andrea Chénier, Close of Act IV
Chénier
Near you, my restless soul finds peace;
you are the goal
of every desire,
every dream,
every poem!
(He looks at her lovingly.)
In your gaze,
I see the iridescence
of infinite spaces.
I look at you:
in this green flood
of your large pupil, my soul wanders!
Maddalena
So as not to leave you,
I am here; this is not a farewell!
I come to die with you!
(becoming excited)
The suffering is over!
Death in loving you!
Ah! Whoever utters the final word
from my lips,
it is he… Love!
Chénier
(enthusiastically)
You are the goal of my existence!
Ours is a love of souls!
Maddalena
Ours is a love of souls!
(clinging to him, she recounts the idea that flashed through her mind
during the court session to die with him ifhe is condemned)
Except for a mother! Maddalena at dawn
has a name for death: Idia Legray!
(looking into the courtyard)
See? The uncertain light of twilight
is already shining down on the squalid hallways.
Embrace me! Kiss me! Lover!
(and wrapping her arms tightly around Chénier, she
surrenders herself completely to his chest)
Chénier
(moved by Maddalena’s enthusiasm, he
holds her close, kissing her hair, her eyes, her
mouth, exclaiming ecstatically)
Pride of beauty!
Triumph of the soul!
Your love, sublime lover, is the sea,
the sky, the light of the sun and the stars… It is the world!
Maddalena
Lover!
(It is already day, the drum rolls, the light spreads, the
soldiers gather, take up their weapons and line up.
Schmidt goes to open the cells. In groups, frightened, the
prisoners fill the large room, waiting for the cart.
But for the two happy lovers, everything is happiness, everything is
poetry; embracing, oblivious, they praise
the hour that opens up infinity to them and will be eternal).
Chénier
Our death is the triumph of love.
Maddalena
Our death is the triumph of love.
Chénier
Ah, I bless fate!
Maddalena
In the hour we die, we become eternal!
Chénier
Death! Love!
Maddalena
Infinity! Love!
(A ray of sunlight penetrates the second open courtyard,
so that the cart, which enters with a great clatter through the
open prison gate, escorted by
mounted gendarmes, is enveloped in that warm
early morning light.)
Chénier
(pointing it out to Maddalena)
It is death!
Maddalena
It is death!
Chénier
It comes with the sun!
Maddalena
It comes with the morning!
Chénier
Ah! It comes like the dawn!
Maddalena
With the sun gilding her!
Chénier
It comes to us from heaven,
within a veil of roses and violets!
Maddalena and Chénier
Love! Infinite! Love!
(Meanwhile, the condemned men ascend one by one, all
resigned, impassive, calm, almost eager. Only
Legray, slumped, her hands over her ears in terror of
hearing her name, shrinks and curls up
behind the steps, hiding there)
Schmidt
Andrea Chénier!
Chénier
It is I!
Schmidt
Idia Legray!
Maddalena
(steps forward boldly)
It’s me!
(and passes haughtily, triumphantly; the real Legray looks
unconsciously at the woman who is going to die for her.
It is then that Gérard enters. All hope has
abandoned him. Maddalena sees him and points him out to
Chénier, who greets him. Gérard would like to shake his
hand, exchange a last word, but his strength
abandons him and, leaning against a wall, he
covers his face with his hands and sobs)
Maddalena and Chénier
Long live death together!
(The cart sets off. The mounted gendarmes make way for it.
And the gate closes behind them.
In the prison of Saint-Lazare, the prisoners stand
silent and stunned, and among them
is the man of the Revolution, weeping, clutching
a crumpled letter feverishly in his hand; it is the
laconic letter just written to him, refusing to receive him, by
Robespierre, who responded to the pleas for the life of a poet
by saying: “Even Plato banished poets
from his Republic.”)
Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor, “Tu che a Dio spiegasti”
EDGARDO
Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali,
o bell’alma innamorata,
ti rivolgi a me placata,
teco ascenda il tuo fedel.
Ah, se l’ira dei mortali
fece a noi sì cruda guerra,
se divisi fummo in terra,
ne congiunga il Nume in ciel,
o bell’alma innamorata,
ne congiunga il Nume,
ecc.
Donizetti, Lucia of Lammermoor, “You who spread your wings to Heaven”
EDGARDO
You who spread your wings to Heaven,
o sweet loving heart,
look down on me serenely,
and let your true love soar up to join you.
Ah, though mortal’s fury
so cruelly assailed us,
though we were parted on earth,
may God unite us in Heaven,
O sweet, loving heart,
may God unite us,
etc.
This excerpt was taken entirely from Wikipedia.
Luigi Marini
1885–1942
Marini was born in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, in 1885. He made his operatic debut in Ravenna as Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata. After his great success, he appeared at Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo as Enzo Grimaldo in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda. In 1910 he made his appearance in Bucharest (Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Rodolfo in La bohème). Then, in 1912, he appeared at the Municipal Teatro of Rio de Janeiro, where he sang the roles of B. F. Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Hagenbach in Catalani’s La Wally and Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca. In the same year he visited Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, where he had enormous successes in the roles of Hagenbach and Rodolfo.
In 1915 he debuted at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, in the role of Enzo Grimaldo, where he had a great success. In 1921 he returned to La Scala and sang the title roles in Puccini’s Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi, and Catalani’s La Wally. In 1924 he was invited to Covent Garden in London, where he first sang the role of Andrea Chénier of the opera of the same name by Umberto Giordano. After that Andrea Chénier became Marini’s signature role. In 1929 he sang this role in the first complete recording of Andrea Chénier made together with Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala di Milano under the baton of maestro Lorenzo Molajoli.
Marini was also successful in Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, where he sang the roles of Luigi (Puccini’s Il tabarro), Rinuccio (Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi), Rodolfo (La bohème), Faust (Boito’s Mefistofele), Enzo Grimaldo (Ponchielli’s La Gioconda) and Walter (Catalani’s Loreley).
Marini also made his appearances outside Italy: he sang at Oper Zürich, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon, where he debuted in the roles of Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème and Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana. Marini ended his operatic career in 1931 after he had sung the role of Andrea Chénier. He died in Ascoli Piceno in 1942.