Songtexte The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "The Prosperity of the Etruscans" - Heather Harper feat. Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra, Sir Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk, Jenny Hill, Elizabeth Bainbridge & Bryan Drake

The prosperity of the Etruscans was due to the richness of their

Native soil, the virility of their men

And the fertility of their women

When the Etruscan princes conquered Rome, they

Founded the imperial city, building it in stone

And the Etruscan builders watched the proud

Romans swept as they toiled in mountain quarry

Then the victors embellished their palaces with delicate

Silver and tapestries, which they taught the Roman

Nobility to weave in the shadows of an Etruscan cellar

Through all their art there runs this paradox

Passion for creation and lust to kill

Behind the swan's neck they paint a fox

And on their tombs a wooden phalanx stood

Then Tarquinius Superbus ruled in Rome, relentless as a

Torrid sun, and the whole city- Now the masters become the

Etruscans' servants, and all our cities are bizarre to them

Long live the Etruscans!

Then Rome has sons and Jews are brothers

With our Inquisition and Christian King

Long to the Romans!

Before it's never been safe to speak one's mind in

Rome, but now every whore has the emperor's ear

Long to the Etruscans!

Ah!

One day Rome will have us praying to our officials

Or worse, without us they'll still be in command

Long to the Etruscans!

Ah!

While the she-wolf sleeps at night, but each Roman man is mad

And when the she-wolf bays at night, they fear from Jove almighty

Long to the Etruscans!

Ah!

Then Tarquinius Superbus ruled in Rome, relentless as a torrid sun

And the whole city sulked in discontent, hating the foreign

Aristocrats with their orgies and auguries and effete philosophies

There was whispering behind shuttering, and every

Stone that was thrown spoke for the whole of Rome

Oh, tyrants fall, though tyranny persists

Though crowds disperse, the mob is never less

For violence is the fear within us all

And tragedy the measurement of man, and hope is brief view of God

Oh, Christ, heal our blindness which we mistake for

Sight, and show us your day, for ours is endless night

While we as towards the steppe, between its deserts, oryens

And the sea, we'll view this human passion and these ills

Through eyes which once have wept with Christ's tears

Autor(en): Benjamin Britten, Andre Obey, Ronald Duncan

Album Britten Conducts Britten: Opera Vol. 2

Veröffentlichungsdatum

07-10-2004

1 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: Introduction: The Wood
2 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation XV - Scene 8: Miles
3 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation II - Scene 3: The Letter
4 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "My Gentle Robin, See'st Thou This Sweet Sight?"
5 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation XII - Scene 5: Quint
6 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Be Kind and Courteous to This Gentleman"
7 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Come, Now a Roundel and a Fairy Song"
8 The Turn of the Screw, Op.54: Interlude: Variation X - Scene 3: Miss Jessel
9 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "Epilogue: Is It All?"
10 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "She Sleeps As a Rose"
11 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Are We All Met?"
12 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation VII - Scene 8: At Night
13 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "This Lanthorn Doth the Horned Moon Present"
14 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "The Prosperity of the Etruscans"
15 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "Interlude: Here in This Scene"
16 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "It Is an Axiom Among Kings"
17 Death in Venice, Op. 88: Overture: Venice
18 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Now the Hungry Lion Roars"
19 Death in Venice, Op. 88: "Hey There, Hey There, You!"
20 Death in Venice, Op. 88: Children's Games: "Adziu, Adziu"
21 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "O Wall, Fur Often Hast Thou Heard My Moans"
22 Death in Venice, Op. 88: "Mysterious Gondola"
23 Death in Venice, Op. 88: "My Mind Beats On"
24 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "Who Reaches Heaven First"
25 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Puppet? Why So?"
26 Death in Venice, Op. 88: "There Is Indeed in Every Artist's Nature"
27 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation XIII - Scene 6: The Piano
28 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation VIII - Scene 1: Colloquy and So- Lioquy
29 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "Collatinus Is Politically Astute"
30 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation VI - Scene 7: The Lake
31 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "Within This Frail Crucible of Light"
32 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Prologue
33 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Theme - Scene 1: The Journey
34 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation III - Scene 4: The Tower
35 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "Maria Was Unmasked At a Masked Ball"
36 Death in Venice, Op. 88: "We Are Delighted to Greet the Signore"
37 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "My Horse! My Horse! Tarquinius Does Not Wait"
38 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "You Ladies, You Whose Gentle Hearts Do Fear"
39 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation I - Scene 2: The Welcome
40 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation IV - Scene 5: The Window
41 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation IX - Scene 2: The Bells
42 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Gentles, Perchange You Wonder At This Show"
43 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "I See Their Knavery"
44 Death in Venice, Op. 88: "Naturally, Signore, I Understand"
45 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "You Were Right"
46 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "Oh! What a Lovely Day!"
47 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Have You Sent to Bottom's House?"
48 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: "This Dead Hand Lets Fall"
49 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation V - Scene 6: The Lesson
50 Death in Venice, Op. 88: "Ah, Serenissima!"
51 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation XI - Scene 4: The Bedroom
52 Death in Venice, Op. 88: "Aou'! Stagando, Aou'"
53 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "How Now, Mad Spirit?"
54 The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54: Interlude: Variation XIV - Scene 7: Flora
55 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: 'There Goes a Happy Man!'
56 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Helena! Hermi! Demetrius! Lysander!"
57 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "What Thou Seest When Thou Dost Wake"
58 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Up and Down, Up and Down"
59 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Hail, Mortal, Hail!"
60 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Sweet Moon, I Thank Thee for Thy Sunny Beams"
61 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Flower of This Purple Dye"
62 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "In This Same Interlude It Doth Befall"
63 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "I Have a Reas'nable Good Ear in Music"
64 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "O Grim-look'd Night, O Night With Hue So Black"
65 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Come, Your Bergomask"
66 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Now, Fair Hippolyta"
67 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "This Is Thy Negligence"
68 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Asleep, My Love?"
69 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: Tarquinius does not dare
70 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: Here the thirsty evening
71 The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: Rome is now ruled by the Etruscan upstart
72 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Oberon Is Passing Fell and Wrath"
73 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Well, Go Thy Way"
74 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "How Now My Love?"
75 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Be It On Lion, Bear, or Wolf, or Bull"
76 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Welcome Wanderer!"
77 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Is All Our Company Her?"
78 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Fair Love, You Faint With Wand'ring in the Wood"
79 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Through the Forest Have I Gone"
80 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64: "Stay, Though Thou Kill Me, Sweet Demetrius"

Attention! Feel free to leave feedback.