E strano! e strano!

Leyla Gencer, or Ayşe Leyla Çeyrekgil (October 10, 1928 -- May 10, 2008) was a world-renowned Turkish operatic soprano. Known as "La Diva Turca" (The Turkish Diva) and "La Regina" (The Queen) in the opera world, Gencer was a notable bel canto soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a repertoire encompassing more than seventy roles. She made very few commercial recordings; however, numerous bootleg recordings of her performances exist. In particular, Gencer was associated with the heroines of Donizetti...

Lyrics & English Translation

VIOLETTA
How strange it is ... how strange!
Those words are carved upon my heart!
Would a true love bring me misfortune?
What do you think, o my troubled spirit?
No man before kindled a flame like this.
Oh, joy ...
I never knew ...
To love and to be loved!
Can I disdain this
For a life of sterile pleasure?

Was this the man my heart,
Alone in the crowd,
Delighted many times to paint
In vague, mysterious colours?
This man, so watchful yet retiring,
Who haunted my sickbed
And turned my fever
Into the burning flame of love!
That love,
The pulse of the whole world,
Mysterious, unattainable,
The torment and delight of my heart.

It's madness! It's empty delirium!
A poor, lonely woman
Abandoned in this teeming desert
They call Paris!
What can I hope? What should I do?
Enjoy myself! Plunge into the vortex
Of pleasure and drown there!
Enjoy myself!

Free and aimless I must flutter
From pleasure to pleasure,
Skimming the surface
Of life's primrose path.
As each day dawns,
As each day dies,
Gaily I turn to the new delights
That make my spirit soar.

ALFREDO
(outside the window)
Love is the pulse

VIOLETTA
Oh!

ALFREDO
... of the whole world ...

VIOLETTA
Yes! Love!

ALFREDO
Mysterious, unattainable,
The torment and delight of my heart.

VIOLETTA
It's madness!
Pleasure!
Free and aimless, I must flutter ... etc.


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