Mir ist die Ehre widerfahren - Sarah Connolly & Sarah Tynan (Der Rosenkavalier)

The presentation of the rose (sung in English). English National Opera, June 2008.

Octavian: Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)
Sophie: Sarah Tynan (soprano)
Conductor: Edward Gardner

Orchestra and Chorus of English National Opera

The pictures are from the David McVicar production.
Source: http://www.sarah-connolly.com/



OCTAVIAN
On me the honour has befallen that I to you, his noble, high-born youthful bride, to come here as messenger at my cousin Lerchenau's bidding as token of his love offer you this rose.

SOPHIE
I am to Your Honour much indebted. I am to Your Honour, for all eternity indebted. There is a scent in its petals of roses, like the living ones.

OCTAVIAN
Yes, there's a drop of oil of Persian rose in its leafy part.

SOPHIE
A rose that is not earthly, like roses from gardens of Paradise. Is it not so? It's like a gift from Heaven! Oh, so sweet and red that no one dare breathe it again. Drawing me nigh, as though it were pulling at my heart. Where have I been before and felt such rapture?

OCTAVIAN
Where have I been before and felt such rapture?


[Many thanks to mariandelochs and melodiaavis for coordinating the efforts to get the lyrics on here!]

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sarah
• connolly
• opera
• rosenkavalier
• english
• national
• eno
• tynan
• soprano
• mezzo
• mezzosoprano
• duet
• sophie
• octavian
• mir
• ist
• die
• ehre
• widerfahren
• richard
• strauss

[Drelnis]

What wonderful translation! Unlike English translations of other arias they don't oppose the melody line, and that's a great job of the translator.

Unfortunately I have no idea what they're saying, anyone with good ears could transcribe the translation please? ^^

[antmusique]

I can't understand a word either. If someone has this translation or can transcribe it I would be very grateful as well.

[mariandelochs]

@antmusique :

I'll give it a try ;) - may take some time, tho' !

[antmusique]

You are a brave, brave person. Even a part of it would be nice. I'd edit the video information sidebar to include the transcript and credit you of course.

[antmusique]

The translation is up on the sidebar to the video now, thanks to mariandelochs and melodiaavis.

[meyerhoff31]

I agree ,with all these photos there is a video about somewhere ,hunt it out and let us see Connolly at her best !!!!

[antmusique]

I'm not sure if the amount of pictures is a good indicator of whether there is a video or not, but I agree that there might be one somewhere. Why not? Maybe it will surface at some point.

[mariandelochs]

Excellent ! And the English translation isn't bad at all - the wonderful singers imbue the text with the requisite meaning and warmth and loveliness. Beautiful blending of voices in this duet. Vielen Dank !  Thanks much !

(Would that there were live videos of this production - or at least a DVD in the offing?)

[melodiaavis]

In an interview Sarah Connolly said she vowed: 'The first time I ever sang the role of Octavian, it would be in German. Those words, and sounds, in Hofmannsthal's language, are so wonderful to sing. Having done that I worked really hard on adapting the Kalisch translation to sing Octavian in English When Octavian (as Mariandel) goes into Viennese German dialect few members of the audience really get it, whereas in the English I was able to do a northern dialect and audiences really loved it.'

[LaMagnifica13]

Maybe when it's resurrected in 2012..

[tamerlano]

Tynan is VERY impressive here...the high lying phrases are lovely, and she's not afraid to take her time and really let them soar.

[Chayastri]

Isn't "Jungfer" virgin rather than youthful? Still, the word "Lechernau" comes at the right point in the music and the vowels of "token" are close to the actual "Rose".

[melodiaavis]

For those interested in hearing Sarah Connolly singing another Strauss role (in German) I have uploaded a couple of clips on YouTube of her as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. I posted one as a Video response to this Rosenkavalier page (in it she is singing with Kathleen Kim as Zerbinetta). In the second clip she sings the Composer's Aria. Both can be found on my channel.

[Drelnis]

Thanks a lot! This is very helpful :D