Gounod: Faust "Salut! Demeure chaste et pure" - Di Stefano

Here is a legendery performance if there ever was one! Giuseppe Di Stefano sings this Faust aria of exquisite beauty with an unprecedented diminuendo on that famous ten-second-long highC.. No matter how many times I listen to this recording I still can't help but get excited and speechless...

Those who speak French, please feel free to correct any misspellings or bad translation. I would be glad to fix it as soon as I can...


from Charles Gounod's Faust, Act III

"Salut! Demeure chaste et pure"

Faust:
Quel trouble inconnu me pénètre?
Je sens l'amour s'emparer de mon être!
O Marguerite, à tes pieds me voici!

Salut! demeure chaste et pure!
Salut! demeure chaste et pure,
Où se devine la présence
D'une âme innocente et divine...
Que de richesse en cette pauvreté!
En ce réduit, que de félicité!
...
O Nature,
C'est là que tu la fis si belle!
C'est là que cette enfant a dormi sous ton aile,
A grandi sous tes yeux.
Là que ton haleine
Enveloppant som âme,?
Tu fis avec amour
Epanouir la femme
En cet ange des cieux!
C'est là, oui, c'est là!

Salut! demeure chaste et pure!
Salut! demeure chaste et pure,
Où se devine la présence
D'une âme innocente et divine!

Translation:

Faust:
What unknown emotion now fills me?
I feel that my whole being is in the grip of love.
O Marguerite, here I am your feet!
Hail, chaste and pure dwelling where
One can feel the presence of an innocent and holy soul.
What wealth in this very poverty!
What bliss in this humble cottage!
O Nature, this is where you created her beauty!
This is where the maid grew up beneath your wing,
Grew up under your gaze!
Here, too, breathing into her soul,
You lovingly turned this angel of heaven
Into a blooming woman.
This is the place ... yes ... here it is!
Hail, chaste and pure dwelling, etc.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Charles
• Gounod
• Faust
• Giuseppe
• Di
• Stefano
• Salut
• Demeure
• Chaste
• Et
• Pure
• High
• C
• Tenor

[tomfroekjaer]

Sorry I initially responded with Una furtiva lagrima, but I can't figure out how to remove it...

[civileso]

I removed it for you, although it is not a big deal. Thanks :)

[DimenticoCallas]

Bravo! quel Do in diminuendo è bellisimo ..Che bella voce nell anni d'oro di Di Stefano è un vero tenor lirico, il meglio..¿Chi è Pavarotti? Nessuno! 

=)

Bravo Pippo!

[civileso]

Amazing isn't it? Pavarotti is alright I guess but you know.. in a "fortissimo" sort of way:))

[palymusic]

Magnifico! Splendido il timbro... il fraseggio la facilità degli acuti... e il temperamento...

Questa è storia del melodramma!

[PEAinSwe]

Jussi Björling always admired that diminuendo on the high C. I agree with Jussi, Pippo was a SUPERB tenor!

[ininacsot]

@jerrya1979 tout est superbe ,la diction, la voix,le Français bien sûr,mais aussi l'interprétation

[clementeamiodar]

straordinaria interpretazione di Pippo ,credo unica nel suo genere,il diminuendo sul Do finale e' da fantatenore

Peccato che sia durato poco a questi livelli

[fashionablesixties]

Giuseppe's version is the best. How he could hold that high C with such breath control. Amazing. Love it. P.S. His French diction is the best (no matter what others had said about the Italians).

[jerrya1979]

besides everything else, the french is impeccable

[royjohnk]

This is really beautiful. The musicianship, the interpretation, everything. At the risk of heresy, though, I have to say that one can hear here the openness in the upper register that was his later his undoing. Esp. in the upper middle. What a wonderful singer in his prime, however. Pity it wasn't longer, though.

[gesimonot]

Le rêve devenu réalité....Quel beau phrasé.... Sans parler du timbre, de la couleur de la voix... une diction superbe... une technique sans écueil.... le tout avec une "immense" simplicité... Superbe et inégalé dans ce répertoire.

[marguerite263]

There are 5 spelling mistakes to correct: Ô Marguerite, Ô nature, son âme, Épanouir.

In the score, on the last high C we can see "un point d'orgue" it means that the singer must hold the note as long he wishes. DS has chosen to make a diminuendo on it, which is "un tour de force" ... Glorious !

[lty2k84]

PERFECT!!!!



[AssaultKitten]

Amazing singer!

[TheMmesser]

Truly glorious, especually the astnishing High C at the end, with an almost impossible ethereal diminuendo. If not the best, then close, I have ever heard. I have a marvelous live recording of Di Dtefano and Callas, in Lucia, Teatro al Fenice, 1955. Di Stefano always can rise to the occasion when singing live. Bjorling was awesome also, his Salut recorded about 1938 glorious, but he often was a bit rough live as he suffered severe stage fright much of the time. Thanks for the posting!