Libiamo nè lieti calici (Brindisi)

With Nina Garelli, soprano. Accompanied by orchestra with Carlo Sabajno, conductor. Recorded for Gramophone, Milano, 15 November 1913.

Tito Schipa's voice possessed charm, natural clarity, and rhythmic grace. "He had something far more important, twenty times more important, than high notes: a great line", Luciano Pavarotti once said.

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"Tito Schipa (1888 - 1965) is considered one of the finest tenori di grazia in operatic history.
Schipa was born in Lecce; he studied in Milan and made his operatic debut at age 21 in 1910 at Vercelli. He subsequently appeared throughout Italy and in Buenos Aires in Argentina. In 1917, he created the role of Ruggiero in Puccini's La rondine.
In 1919, Schipa travelled to the United States, joining the Chicago Opera Company. He remained with the Chicago company until 1932, whereupon he appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1932 to 1935, and again in 1941. He also sang at the San Francisco Opera, beginning in 1924.
From 1929 to 1949 he performed regularly in Italy, including at La Scala, Milan and the Rome Opera.
Schipa's stage repertoire, which in his early career had encompassed a wide range of Verdi and Puccini roles, eventually contracted to about 20 congenial Italian and French operatic roles.
Schipa retired from the operatic stage in 1958. He died from diabetes in 1965 at the age of 77 in New York City, while teaching there.
Schipa made numerous audio recordings of arias and songs during his career, beginning in Italy in 1913. His recorded output included a famous 78-rpm set of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, made in 1932. This was one of the earliest complete opera recordings and it is still in circulation on CD.
Although some contemporary critics considered Schipa's voice to be small in size, restricted in range and slightly husky in timbre, he was still capable of provoking intense public outpourings of support among his legion of fans. These fans were enthralled by Schipa's superior musicianship, as well as by his winning personality and his ability to breathe life into even the most trite song or hackneyed aria."
From:
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ALFREDO
Libiam ne' lieti calici
Che la bellezza infiora,
E la fuggevol ora
S'inebria voluttà.
Libiam ne' dolci fremiti
Che suscita l'amore,
Poiché quell'occhio al core
(indicando Violetta)
Onnipotente va.
Libiamo, amor fra i calici
Più caldi baci avrà.

TUTTI
Libiamo, amor fra i calici
Più caldi baci avrà.

VIOLETTA
(S'alza)
Tra voi saprò dividere
Il tempo mio giocondo;
Tutto è follia nel mondo
Ciò che non è piacer.
Godiam, fugace e rapido
È il gaudio dell'amore;
È un fior che nasce e muore,
Né più si può goder.
Godiam c'invita un fervido
Accento lusinghier.

TUTTI
Godiam la tazza e il cantico
La notte abbella e il riso;
In questo paradiso
Ne scopra il nuovo dì.

VIOLETTA
(ad Alfredo)
La vita è nel tripudio.

ALFREDO
(a Violetta)
Quando non s'ami ancora.

VIOLETTA
(ad Alfredo)
Nol dite a chi l'ignora.

ALFREDO
(a Violetta)
È il mio destin così

TUTTI
Godiam la tazza e il cantico
La notte abbella e il riso;
In questo paradiso
Ne scopra il nuovo dì.

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ALFREDO
Let's drink from the joyous chalice
Where beauty flowers ...
Let the fleeting hour
To pleasure's intoxication yield.
Let's drink
To love's sweet tremors -
To those eyes
That pierce the heart.
Let's drink to love - to wine
That warms our kisses.

ALL
Ah! Let's drink to love ? to wine
That warms our kisses.

VIOLETTA
rising
With you I would share
My days of happiness;
Everything is folly in this world
That does not give us pleasure.
Let us enjoy life,
For the pleasures of love are swift and fleeting
As a flower that lives and dies
And can be enjoyed no more.
Let's take our pleasure!
While its ardent,
Brilliant summons lures us on.

ALL
Let's take our pleasure
Of wine and
Singing and mirth
Till the new day
Dawns on us in paradise.

VIOLETTA
to Alfredo
Life is just pleasure.

ALFREDO
to Violetta
But if one still waits for love ...

VIOLETTA
to Alfredo
I know nothing of that ? don't tell me ...

ALFREDO
to Violetta
But there lies my fate.

ALL
Let's take our pleasure
Of wine and
Singing and mirth,
Till the new day
Dawns on this paradise of ours.

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