"M'APPARI TUTT' AMOR..."
Here in the church
of my father's carpentry
the incense is
of pine
sunlight genuflects
through the window
wood curls
in religious ecstasy
a blue bottle
preaches an iridescent sermon
a choir of dust motes
make this a heaven
as my father hums
"M'appari tutt' amor.."
this my epiphany
of the ordinary
this the everyday
prayer
I bow my head to
the saw as it sings
"....bella si che il mio cor ..."
Aug 10, 2019
Aug 10, 2019 at 5:42 AM UTC
"M'APPARI TUTT' AMOR..."
Here in the church
of my father's carpentry
the incense is
of pine
sunlight genuflects
through the window
wood curls
in religious ecstasy
a blue bottle
preaches an iridescent sermon
a choir of dust motes
make this a heaven
as my father hums
"M'appari tutt' amor.."
this my epiphany
of the ordinary
this the everyday
prayer
I bow my head to
the saw as it sings
"....bella si che il mio cor ..."
"M'APPARI TUTT' AMOR..."Lionel's aria from from Flotow's Martha
M'appari tutt' amor; She appeared to me, full of love,
il mio sguardo l'incontró my eyes caught sight of her;
bella si che il mio cor so beautiful that my heart
ansioso a lei voló; flew to her with longing;
mi feri, mi rapi was wounded and inflamed
quell'angelica belta by her angelic beauty
sculta in cor dall'amor, which love has engraved in my heart,
cancellarsi non potra, and which cannot be erased,
il pesier di poter and the mere thought
palpitar con lei d'amor; of her responding to my passion
puó soprir ji martir is able to appease the suffering
che m'affanna e strazia il cor! which distresses me and breaks my heart!
Marta. Marta, tu sparisti Martha, Martha, you have vanished,
e ji mio cor con tuo ne andó! and my heart went with you!
Tu la pace mi rapisti, You have stolen my peace of mind,
di dolor jo moriró ah! I shall die of grief,
di dolor morró, al, morró! ah! I shall die, shall die of grief!
You can see this sung as a charmin serenade in the film BREAKING AWAY ! and in the soapuds episode from ***** WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and used here and there in Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW.There are also two swing versions.
My Da didn't know any of this and it was just a passing air on the radio that got stuck in his head and he would hum or la la la it every now and then as he hammered or sawed without knowing anything about it! It was only years later when he was 90 that I was able to tell him what it was and get him a recording of Domingo singing it.
Of course it features highly in a certain Mr. Joyce book as well. Caruso had made it popular and Joyce always a big Caruso fan( he had hoped to do an interview with the great man when he came to Dublin but that came to nothing.)
‘Singing. Waiting she sang. I turned her music. Full voice of perfume of what perfume does your lilactrees. ***** I saw, both full, throat warbling. First I saw. She thanked me. Why did she me? Fate. Spanishy eyes. Under a peartree alone patio this hour in old Madrid one side in shadow Delores shedolores. At me. Luring. Ah, alluring.
—Martha! Ah, Martha!
Quitting all languor Lionel cried in grief, in cry of passion dominant to love to return with deepening yet with rising chords of harmony. In cry of lionel loneliness that she should know, must martha feel. For only her he waited. Where? Here there try there here all try where. Somewhere.
—Co-ome, thous lost one!
Co-ome, thou dear one!
Alone. One love. One hope. One comfort me. Martha, chestnote, return!
—Come …!
It soared, a bird, it held its flight, a swift pure cry, soar silver orb it leaped serene, speeding, sustained, to come, don’t spin it out too long long breath he breath long life, soaring high, high resplendent, aflame, crowned high in the effulgence symbolistic, high, of the etherial ***** high, of the high vast irradiation everywhere all soaring all around about the all, the endlessnessnessness …….
—To me!
Siopold!
Consumed.’
