Opera title: | Tosca |
Composer: | Giacomo Antonio Puccini |
Language: | Italian |
Synopsis: | Tosca Synopsis |
Libretto: | Tosca Libretto |
Translation(s): | English Deutsch |
Type: | aria |
Role(s): | Baron Scarpia |
Voice(s): | Baritone |
Act: | 1.20 |
Previous scene: | Va Tosca! Nel tuo cor s'annida Scarpia |
Next scene: | Tosca e buon falco |
JUSTINO DIAZ IS SCARPIA; PUCCINI'S TOSCA ACT 2, PT 3 (1999)
JUSTINO DIAZ IS THE PERFECT SCARPIA, NOT ONLY VOCALLY AND IN HIS ACTING, BUT HIS ARTISTIC ACHIEVMENT IS SO OUTSTANDING, THAT YOU END UP BELIEVING HE "IS" SCARPIA! I UPLOADED THE "TE DEUM" FROM ACT 1 AND THE COMPLETE ACT 2 OF THIS PERFORMANCE IN 5CLIPS. I ALSO UPLOADED THE SAME SCENES FROM A 1983 PERFORMANCE SO YOU CAN COMPARE!
JUSTINO DIAZ came to international prominence at the age of 23 when he made his debut at Carnegie Hall opposite Dame Joan Sutherland in a concert performance of I Puritani. A few months later he made his Metropolitan Opera debut and became the youngest bass ever to sing there. That same year he also made impressive debuts with the London Symphony Orchestra, chosen by Lorin Maazel, Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. Three years later, at the age of 26, he inaugurated the new Met in Lincoln Center opposite Leontyne Price in the world premiere of Samuel Barber's opera Antony and Cleopatra. By the time he was 35 he had sung in all the world's great musical centers.
Although he has sung all over the world perhaps his natural operatic home has been the Metropolitan Opera where he has sung 398 performances of 39 roles in 23 seasons including eight new productions and six opening nights. Some of the many other roles he has sung there include Don Giovanni, Figaro, Macbeth, Iago, Scarpia, Mephistopheles, Escamillo, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino, Alvise in La Gioconda, Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Maometto II in The Siege of Corinth, Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Count Rodolfo in La Sonnambula, as well as Raimondo, Ramphis, Colline, Sparafucile and the Grand Inquisitor. With the New York City Opera, he performed the title roles of Mephistopheles, Attila, Julius Caesar, Don Giovanni (and Leporello). He created the role of Francesco Cenci in the world premiere of Beatrix Cenei by Alberto Ginastera, the first opera presented at the new Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Ginastera also wrote for Justino Díaz a piece for Baritone, Percussion and Cello with a text by Pablo Neruda, which was premiered by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
He has sung such diverse operatic roles as Don Giovanni, Figaro, Iago, Scarpia, Macbeth, Rigoletto, Count di Luna, Germont, Gerard, Michele, Jack Rance, Boccanegra, Escamillo, Mephistopheles, Alvise, Phillip II, Attila, four villains in the Tales of Hoffmann and Cristoforo Colombo, under conductors that include Levine, Kleiber, von Karajan, Bernstein, Karl Böhm, and the legendary Pablo Casals. The list of stage directors he has worked with is no less impressive as it includes such names as Franco Zeffirelli, Gunther Renert, Goetz Friederich, Gian Carlo Menotti, Sarah Caldwell, Ponnelle, Mansouri, Eduardo de Filippo, Tito Capobianco, Ian Judge, Piero Faggione, Nuria Espert, Jonathan Miller, and Pilar Miró.
His many recordings of Operas and Oratorios include Messiah, Otello, Semele, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Wally, L'Assedio di Corinto, La Pietra del Paragone, The Tales of Hoffmann, Rossini's Stabat Mater for the labels Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Sony, EMI, London, Vanguard and ASV. Among his numerous videos is the famous Zeffirelli movie of Otello which features him as Iago opposite Placido Domingo's Moor as well as various telecasts from different opera houses including the Metropolitan, San Francisco and most recently he sang the title role in El Gato Montes for Los Angeles which was seen nationwide on PBS.
Justino Díaz was born in Puerto Rico where he sings regulary. He studied at the University of Puerto Rico with further studies in opera, music and voice at the New England Conservatory in Boston from which he received and Honorary Doctorate Degree in Music. He is the recipient of the Handel Medallion, New York City's highest cultural award, as well as several Honorary Doctorate degrees -- including the New England Conservatory and the Universities of Puerto Rico and El Turabo. At the Conservatory of music he is visiting professor of voice to advanced students.
SCARPIA
dopo aver accompagnato Tosca, ritorna presso la colonna e fa un cenno: subito si presenta Spoletta
Tre sbirri... Una carrozza...
Presto!... seguila
dovunque vada!... non visto!... provvedi!
SPOLETTA
Sta bene! Il convegno?
SCARPIA
Palazzo Farnese!
Spoletta parte rapidamente con tre sbirri
con un sorriso sardonico
Va, Tosca! Nel tuo cuor s'annida Scarpia!...
È Scarpia che scioglie a volo
il falco della tua gelosia.
Quanta promessa nel tuo pronto sospetto!
Esce il corteggio che accompagna il Cardinale all'altare maggiore: i soldati svizzeri fanno far largo alla folla, che si dispone su due ali.
.Scarpia s'inchina e prega al passaggio del Cardinale.
Il Cardinale benedice la folla che reverente s'inchina.
CAPITOLO
Adjutorum nostrum in nomine Domini
FOLLA
Qui fecit coelum et terram
CAPITOLO
Sit nomen Domini benedictum
FOLLA
Et hoc nunc et usquem in saeculum.
SCARPIA
con ferocia
A doppia mira
tendo il voler, né il capo del ribelle
è la più preziosa. Ah di quegli occhi
vittoriosi veder la fiamma
con passione erotica
illanguidir con spasimo d'amor,
fra le mie braccia...
ferocemente
L'uno al capestro,
l'altra fra le mie braccia...
resta immobile guardando nel vuoto.
Tutta la folla è rivolta verso l'altare maggiore; alcuni s'inginocchiano.
FOLLA
Te Deum laudamus:
Te Dominum confitemur!
SCARPIA
riavendosi come da un sogno
Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!
s'inginocchia e prega con entusiasmo religioso
TUTTI
Te aeternum Patrem
omnis terra veneratur!
SCARPIA
to Spoletta, who emerges from behind the column
Three men and a carriage … Quick, follow
Wherever she goes! And take care!
SPOLETTA
Yes Sir. And where do we meet?
SCARPIA
Farnese Palace!
Spoletta hurries out with three policemen
Go,Tosca!
Now Scarpia digs a nest within your heart!
Go, Tosca. Scarpia now sets loose
The roaring falcon of your jealousy!
How great a promise in your quick suspicions!
Now Scarpia digs a nest within your heart!
Go, Tosca!
Scarpia kneels and prays as the Cardinal passes
CHORUS
Adjutorum nostrum in nomine Domini
Qui fecit coelum et terram
Sit nomen Domini benedictum
Et hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.
SCARPIA
My will takes aim now at a double target,
Nor is the rebel's head the bigger prize …
Ah, to see the flame of those imperious eyes
Grow faint and languid with passion …
For him, the rope,
And for her, my arms …
CHORUS
Te Deum laudamus,
Te Deum confitemur!
SCARPIA
The sacred chant from the back of the church startles him, as though awakening him from a dream. He collects himself, makes the Sign of the Cross
Tosca you make me forget God!
he kneels and prays devoutly
CHORUS, CHORUS
Te aeternum
Patrem omnis terra veneratur!
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