Ecco respiro appena

Maria Callas singing "Ecco:respiro appena. Io son l'umile ancella" (Cilea - Adriana Lecourvreur )
"See: I am barley breathing.
I am the humble servant
of the creative Genius:
he gives me the word,
I pass it on to people's hearts.
I am only the accent of his verse,
the echo of the human drama,
the fragile instrument
he plays on with his hand.
Mild, joyous, atrocious,
I am called Faithfulness:
my voice is a breath
which will die on the morrow.