Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901):
Pace, pace, mio Dio
(from La Forza del destino) (1862, rev. 1869)
Text: Francesco Maria Piave, after Angel de Saavedra (Duke of Rivas)?s play
Don Alvaro, with a scene from Friedrich von Schiller?s play
Wallensteins Lager (translated from the German by Andrea Maffei)
Original Key/Recorded Key: B-flat Major
Teach-Track begins: m. 1
Accompaniment Track begins: m. 1
Pianist: Daniel Michalak
N.B. At m. 59 (?In predo a tanto, a tanto duol?), it has become standard to pull the tempo back suddenly to the andante of ?Pace,? which (given the stringendo leading up to it) will feel approximately like shifting to half-tempo.
In order to allow for a well-supported B-flat (and to avoid having to sing it on the vowel ?ne?), it has also become standard to change the last 3 measures of the voice part as follows: half-notes on ?-zio? and ?-ne?; quarter-note rest followed by three quarter-note F-naturals (beats 2, 3, and 4) on ?ma-le-di??; high B-flat on ?-zion? (leaving out the final ?e? vowel this time), held as long as possible (preferably all the way to the end).
Be sure that your catch-breaths between the first three statements of ?maledizione? are fast enough to prevent your eighth-notes (?ma-le-di??) from coming out as triplet-eighths.
Notes © 1999 by Daniel O. Michalak
Pace, mio Dio! Cruda sventura m'astringe,
Peace, my God ! Cruel misfortune me-constrains,
ahime, a languir; come il dio primo da tanti anni
alas, to languish; like the day first since so-many years
dura profondo il mio soffrir. Pace, mio Dio!
lasts profound [the] my suffering. Peace, my God!
L'amai, gli e ver! Ma di belta e valore
Him-I-loved, it is true. But with good-looks and valor
cotanto Iddio l'orno, che l'amo ancor,
to-such-an extent God him-endowed, that him-I-love still,
ne togliermi dal core l'immagin sua sapro.
nor to-tear-to-me from-the heart the-image his will-I-know-how.
Fatalita! Un delitto disgiunti n'ha quaggiu!
Fatal-destiny! A crime separated us-has here-below!
Alvaro, io t'amo e su nel ciel e scritto:
Alvaro, I you-love, and up in heaven it-is written:
non ti vedro mai piu! Oh Dio, fa ch'io muoia;
not you will-I-see never again! O God, make that-I die;
che la calma puo darmi morte sol.
that the calm can give-me death alone.
Invan la pace qui spero quest'alma
In-vain the peace here hoped this soul,
in preda a tanto duol, in mezzo a tanto duol.
as prey to so-much affliction, in the midst of so-much
grief .