La Lucrezia

O
Numi eterni is the first recitative in La Lucrezia, one of the most famous
cantatas, written by Handel from his days in Italy between 1706 and 1709.
Secular cantatas had a far greater following in Italy than in Handel’s native
Germany and the story of the Rape of Lucretia from Livy’s The Early History of Rome would have been widely known, Livy being
one of the most read authors of the 17th century. The Rape of Lucretia was a favourite
theme among musicians, poets and visual artists. The survival of an unusually
large number of manuscript copies of La
Lucrezia suggests that this was one of Handel’s most popular chamber music
pieces during his lifetime.

 

Livy’s account of the Rape of Lucretia
is as the catalyst for the overthrow of the early kings of Rome and the
establishment of the Republic. King Tarquin the Proud had a son, Sextus, who
raped Lucretia while her husband was away at war. When her husband returned she
summoned him and her father, confessed what happened and then committed
suicide. It is a part that allows a soprano to show off her powers, both
musical and dramatic.

 

La
Lucrezia is a miniature operatic scene for soprano solo and
is a masterpiece of characterisation. We are led by the impassioned singing of
Lucretia as she vacillates between rage and vengeance, and self-condemnation
and shame. The drama takes place just before her suicide and the final verses
describe the act itself. The opening O
Numi eterni is a prayer oh eternal
Gods! Oh stars who strike down impious tyrants, answer my prayers. The
prayer calls for divine vengeance. Lucretia’s furious words are captured by the
almost frantic nature of the melody, full of leaps and strongly accented notes.

 

The first aria is smoother and decidedly
more plaintive and sorrowful. In this aria we see the foreshadowing of the
dramatic and vocal powers required for the part as the soprano hits the
climactic high note for the word Fate.

 

Next Lucretia expresses guilt and fear
that the gods will not heed her prayers because of what has happened. This is
where we begin to see Lucretia’s feelings move from rage at Sextus to
recriminations against herself. But these are put aside for a classic vengeance
aria, one of the most impassioned verses in the piece.

 

The drama continues with Lucretia’s
intention to commit suicide the steel to
which I fearlessly grasp. The music reflects the tragedy of her situation
and her self-loathing, summed up in the single line arioso Brings to the faithless body its punishment, and the time given to
this one line encapsulates Lucretia’s state of mind. An instrumental solo
closes the verse.

 

As the end approaches she is no longer
addressing the gods, but her father and husband. She declares once more her
intention to put the family’s honour above her life and hopes that doing so
will bring forgiveness. The second arioso is when we can imagine, were we
watching an opera, the action would have taken place and Lucretia kills
herself. It is quickly followed by the finale, full of sorrow and vengeance.
The music is sorrowful, but agitated with heavily accented bowing in the
accompaniment that seem to reflect the uneven final heartbeats of Lucretia.LyricsRecitativo: O
Numi eterni!

O Numi
eterni! O stelle!

Oh
eternal Gods! Oh stars

che
fulminate empii tiranni,

who
strike down impious tyrants,

impugnate a
miei voti

answer
my prayers;

orridi
strali voi con fochi tonanti

fearful
lightning with thundering flame,

incenerite
il reo Tarquinio e Roma

incinerate
the guilty Tarquin and Rome.

dalla
superba chioma,

From
the proud head

omai
trabocchi il vacillante alloro,

let
the waving laurel now be wrest.

s’apra il
suolo in voragini, si celi,

Let
a chasm open in the earth

con
memorando esempio

as
a memorable example

nelle
viscere sue l’indegno – e l’empio

to
swallow the unworthy villain.

Recitativo: Ma
voi forse nel Cielo

Ma voi forse
nel Cielo

But
perhaps in Heaven,

per castigar
maggior del mio delitto,

to
punish my crimes more

state
oziosi, o provocati Numi:

the
Gods stand idle

se son sorde
le stelle

if
the stars are deaf,

se non mi
odon le sfere,

if
the spheres hear me not,

a voi
tremende Deità del abisso mi volgo,

I
turn to you, great God of the abyss,

a voi
s’aspetta del tradito onor mio

my
betrayed honor awaits

far la
vendetta.

upon
your vengeance.

 

Aria: Il suol
che preme

Il suol che
preme

May
the earth he treads,

l’aura che
spira

the
air he breaths

l’empio
Romano

the
villainous Roman,

s’apra,
s’infetti.

open,
poison him.

Se il passo
move,

Where
he walks,

se il guardo
gira,

where
he looks

incontri
larve,

may
demons meet him

uine
aspetti.

ruin
await him.

Recitativo: Ah! che ancor nel abisso

Ah! che
ancor nel abisso

Ah!
Still in the abyss

dormon le
furie, i sdegni e le vendetta;

the
furies, rage, and revenge sleep;

Giove dunque
per me non ha saette,

Has
Jove no thunderbolts for me?

è pietoso
l’inferno?

Is
hell merciful?

Ah! ch’io già sono in odio al Cielo, ah! dite:

Ah!
I am already despised in Heaven, ah! say:

e se la pena
non piomba sul mio capo,

if
punishment does not rain down upon my head

a’ miei
rimorsi è rimorso il poter

for
my remorses, remorse itself

di
castigarmi

will
have the power to punish me.

Questi la
disperata anima mia puniscan, sì, sì

Punish
my hopeless soul, yes, yes

Ma il ferro
che già intrepido stringo

But
the steel which I fearlessly grasp

 

Arioso: Alla salma infedel porga la pena

Alla salma
infedel porga la pena

Brings
to the faithless body its punishment.

 

Recitativo: A
voi, padre

A voi,
padre, consorte, a Roma, al mondo

To
you, Father, husband, to Rome, to the world,

presento il
mio morir;

I
offer my death;

mi si
perdoni il delitto esecrando

May
I be forgiven for my horrible crime

ond’io
macchiai involontaria il nostro onor,

with
which I unwillingly stained our honor;

un’ altra
più detestabil colpa

for
another more detestable sin,

di non
m’aver uccisa

that
of not killing myself

pria del
misfatta, mi si perdoni

before
the misdeed, may I be forgiven.

Recitativo: Sento
ch’il cor si scuote

Sento ch’il
cor si scuote

I
feel my heart shudder

più dal
dolor di questa caduta invendicata,

more
with sadness at this unavenged defeat

che dal furor della vicina morte.

than
with horror of approaching death.

Ma se qui
non m’è dato

But
if I am not granted

castigar il
tiranno, opprimer l’empio

to
punish the tyrant here and now

con più
barbaro esempio

or
defeat him with the barbarous cruelty he deserves,

per ch’ei
sen cada estinto

I
will see to it that he falls dead,

stringerò a
danni suoi mortal saetta,

I
will grasp the deadly arrow,

e furibonda
e cruda

and
furious and cruel

nell inferno farò la mia vendetta.

I
will avenge myself in Hell.