Classical Music | Soprano

Recorded on 01/31/2006, uploaded on 01/08/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Published in 1838 by Casa Ricordi as part of Tre ariette inedite, Vincenzo Bellini’s “Vaga luna, che inargenti” (“Beautiful moon, dappling with silver”) is a simple but spellbinding song likely composed during 1820s while the composer was in Naples and Milan. Based on an anonymous text, it is one of his best known creations for solo voice, frequently appearing on both recitals and recordings, and was included in a collection of fifteen songs (Composizioni da Camera) published by Ricordi during the centenary of Bellini’s death in 1935.

The song’s text, invoking the air of the nocturne, is a poet’s passionate confiding in the secrecy of a moonlit night. The poet, gazing up at the moon, longs to be with his beloved and his heart burns with an ardent hope to be reunited with her soon. He confesses his feelings to the moon and implores it to carry them to her, knowing that she, too, will be looking up at the same night sky. In an aptly chosen A-flat major, the piano establishes the simple but effective accompaniment that prevails throughout the song. A gentle accompaniment of broken chords, supported by a firm bass line, creates the nocturnal mood over which the voice utters the poet’s amorous words. The vocal melody flows effortlessly, in utter simplicity and without adornment, calling on a singer’s prowess to create the necessary drama and emotional inflections to give life to both the text and music.       Joseph DuBose

Vaga luna, che inargenti (Anonymous)

Lovely moon, you who shed silver light

On these shores and on these flowers

And breathe the language

Of love to the elements,

You are now the sole witness

Of my ardent longing,

And can recount my throbs and sighs

To her who fills me with love.

Tell her too that distance

Cannot assuage my grief,

That if I cherish a hope,

It is only for the future.

Tell her that, day and night,

I count the hours of sorrow,

That a flattering hope

Comforts me in my love.

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.