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Lyric from the Musical Hypatia
VIOLETTA
I shall die! But, oh! My memory may he not rashly curse
Do thou my pains and sorrows to my beloved rehearse
This bitter sacrifice to make to blighted love;
but ever, whilst I live, None else shall have my heart.
(From the libretto by Francesco Maria Piave)
In Verdi's 1852 opera "La Traviata" (The Fallen One) Violetta, a beautiful but sickly Parisian courtesan, falls in love with Alfredo, a bourgeoisie gentlemen. While living happily together in their country retreat, Alfredo's father asks Violetta to leave him because her reputation might destroy his daughters marriage prospect. Violetta reluctantly agrees. Not knowing why she abandoned him, Alfredo abuses her. It is only when she is on her deathbed that the father reveals what he has done and Alfredo returns too late to declare his love.
One of the tragic heroines in my musical Hypatia, Violetta is given a chance to change her destiny when the Old Diva wanders the grand opera stage where she performed during her career. The Diva's deepest wish is that her Heroines be set free from their plots. After she trips on a trap door, she is visited in a dream by Hypatia, Crown Priestess of Destiny, who takes her heroines on journey where they each sing a lament, confront their composers and are given a role in a future where women have the power to break the repressive bonds of the past.
SCENE - A large pink camellia flower backdrop hangs Center Stage . Violetta, holds a white handkerchief as she sings and swoons onto a white sofa.
Violetta's Lament
Tragedy
the deepest tragedy
to die when love
love is finally mine
When Lord Alfredo declared his love
I searched my soul - unsure of love
Waltzing midst chandeliers and wine
we soon left paris for a year divine
In the country light shafted through the leaves
in Alfredo's arms i felt complete
the crickets sang us to sleep
His father came and told me to leave
his daughter's fiance would not wed
into a house of shame
me he blamed
I had to leave alfredo
I want to live in love's sweet bosom
turn betrayal into happiness
Damn the moral family class
that stole the sand from my hourglass
At the ball Alfredo hit me to the floor
his gambling faux monies paid for
my love and my corps
I was all alone
consumption at the door,
all alone
Alas Germont felt guilt for his son's ruin
he traveled to see me in Paris
to Alfredo he had confessed
my love's forgiveness
my last caress
I want to live in love's sweet bosom
turn betrayal into happiness
damn the moral family class
that stole the sand from my hourglass
A comedy
the greatest comedy
when my story
brings laughter divine
(spoken)
The father enters my home
he makes his request
lightening strikes his chest
No - that would stop the show
The father enters my home
and makes his request
aroused, he does my body harm
I call the gendarmes
Good
his reputation destroyed
he has no power over me
A comedy
the greatest comedy
when my story
brings laughter divine
No woman should ever die
to suit a hypocrite's lie
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