Lorraine Hunt Lieberson - Princesse, c'est sur vous que mon espoir se fonde

"Princess, it is you upon which my hopes are founded." Sung by Lorraine Hunt. From Charpentier's tragédie lyrique, Médée - conducted by William Christie.

Princesse, c'est sur vous que mon espoir se fonde
Le destin de Médée est d'être vagabonde
Prêt à m'éloigner de ces lieux,
Je laisse entre vos mains ce que j'aime le mieux
Je sais qu'une pitié sincere
Pour mes enfants a touché votre coeur
Prenez-en quelque soin, et souffrez qu'une mère
Au moins dans son exil goûte cette douceur
Ce sera pour mes voeux une grande victoire
Si de mon triste sort le Ciel leur fait raison
Je ne vous dis rien pour Jason
Jason aura soin de sa gloire

My flawed, super-literal translation is as follows:

Princess, it is you upon which I found my hopes,
The destiny of Medee is to be a vagabond.
Ready to leave this place, I release into your hands that which I love the most.
I know that a sincere pity for my children has touched your heart
Take care of them, and suffer that a mother
At least in her exile will taste of this sweetness.
It shall be for my wishes a great victory,
If of my unhappy fate the Heavens shall justify them.
I will say nothing to you of Jason
Jason will take care of his own honor.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Lorraine
• hunt
• lieberson
• charpentier
• medee
• christie
• les
• arts
• florissants
• opera
• baroque

[amarantaviera]

@Cadmium77 It's on the same level. It's just different. You get the right singers singing the rep and it's simply extraordinary.

[LilyOfTheValley385]

heavenly peace in her eyes and voice....I can feel how much she loved music. a truly Gods angel she is...

[shnimmuc]

There are 47 Handel operas, and we hear only a hand full. One of the reasons is that only know do we have singers capable of singing them properly. The same goes for other baroque operas.

[pianomags]

@Cadmium77 Well said you! It's seems so much more real with depth of feeling. I suppose the media promote high notes, all the time and people who haven't heard anything else flock to it as if they were going to see circus freaks. Which reminds me, I'm off to see Cirque du Soleil on the 22nd, can't wait!

[RobertBruce3]

I feel such envy. Unforgettable, yes, i'm sure it was... Christie's recording of this opera is something absolutely unique in its complexity and power. So beautiful. One of the best if not the best.

[andreiameleiro]

I've seen her singing Medee with Mark Padmore conducted by W. Christie in Lisbon 1994. I was then 17 bought one cheap standing ticket. I live in London now and I've seen around 70 operas but this was one of my highlights. I remember it like yesterday. Unforgettable! I've been following Christie's career since.

[Cadmium77]

I simply don't regard 19th century opera as being on the same high level as baroque opera at all. There's no comparison. Yet 19th century opera is what we get. You have to work to find baroque opera, but the work is well worth the effort.

[tamerlano]

She was a genius. I miss her.

[beauveau63]

i know- we didn't even cover lully or rameau or any french composers of the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. the nineteenth centuries seems to get so much attention.

[rlee1976]

This is gorgeous! Wow! Charpentier - GOT to find this somewhere and buy it!

GOD- I wish they would go more into depth about French early Baroque operas in music history undergrad classes! SOOOoo much of Monteverdi (not French, but same period), Rameau, Charpentier, etc., gets overlooked and summarized while they focus SOooo much attention on the 19th Century music and act as if that's the foundation when this stuff is its foundation while those later composers LEARNED from those works!