“Il trovatore” by Giuseppe Verdi libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four

ACT TWO

Scene One

The slopes of a mountain in Biscay. It is
dawn. A great fire is burning. Azucena is
sitting by the fire. Manrico is stretched out at
her side, wrapped up in his cloak. His helmet
lies at his feet, his sword is in his hands, and
he is staring at it motionlessly. A band of
gypsies is scattered around them.

GYPSIES
See! the heaven's great vault
removes its gloomy, night-time tatters!
It seems like a widow who takes off at last
the dark clothes that enfolded her.
To work! To work! At it! Hammer!
Who brightens the gypsy man's days?
The gypsy maid.
(to the women, pausing in their work)
Pour me a draught: strength and courage
the body and soul draw from drinking.
Oh, look, look! A ray of the sun

sparkles brighter in my/your glass!
To work! To work!
Who brightens the gypsy man's days?
The gypsy maid!
(As Azucena is singing, the gypsies gather
around her.)

AZUCENA
The flame crackles! The unrestrained mob
runs to that fire, their faces all happy!
Shouts of joy re-echo around;
Surrounded by killers, a woman comes forward!
Sinister, shining on the horrible faces,
the ghastly flame rises, rises towards heaven!
The flame crackles! The victim arrives,
dressed in black, dishevelled, barefoot!
A fierce shout of death is raised,
its echo repeated from hill to hill!
Sinister, shining, etc.

GYPSIES
Your song's a sad one!

AZUCENA
Equally sad
as the terrible story
that inspired it!
Avenge me! Avenge me!

MANRICO
(That mysterious phrase again!)

A GYPSY
Companions, day is approaching;
to forage for our daily bread,
come, come, let's go down
to the nearby villages.

GYPSIES
Let's go! Let's go!
Who brightens the gypsy man's days? etc.
(They go off, singing.)

MANRICO
We're alone now. Ah, tell me
that terrible story.

AZUCENA
You? Even you don't know it?
But, as a boy, the spur of ambition
drove your steps far from here!
This is the story
of your grandmother's bitter end.
A haughty
Count accused her
of witchcraft, and said that a child, his son,
had been bewitched; she was burned
where that fire gleams!

MANRICO
Ah, the wretch!

AZUCENA
She was led in irons
to her terrible fate;

with my baby in my arms
I followed her, weeping;
I tried to make my way
to her, but in vain;
and in vain the poor woman
tried to stop and bless me!
Then, amid obscene curses,
pricking her with their swords,
they forced her to the stake,
those horrible killers! -
Then, in a broken voice,
'Avenge me', she cried.
Those words left in my heart
an eternal echo.

MANRICO
Did you avenge her?

AZUCENA
I managed to steal the Count's son;
I dragged him here with me -
the flames were ready, burning.

MANRICO
The flames? Oh heaven! Did you...?

AZUCENA
He was racked with sobs;
I felt my heart, torn, broken!
When, lo, to my weak spirits,
as in a dream, appeared
the bestial vision of frightful forms!
The killers! and the torture!
My mother with blanched face,

dishevelled barefoot!
Her cry! Her cry!
I hear the familiar cry!
'Avenge me!'
I stretch out my shaking hand...
seize the victim,
draw him to the fire, and push!
The fatal madness ends,
the horrible scene disappears;
only the flame rages,
and destroys its prey!
And yet, I look around
and before me I see
the wicked Count's son!

MANRICO
Ah! what are you saying?

AZUCENA
I had burned my own, my own son!

MANRICO
Ah! How horrible!

AZUCENA
Ah! My son! My son!
I had burned my own son!

MANRICO
How terrible! Ah! how horrible!

AZUCENA
I can still feel the hair
stand up on my head!

MANRICO
I'm not your son!
Who am I? Who, then?

AZUCENA
You are my son!

MANRICO
Yet you said...

AZUCENA
Perhaps I did. You know how it is...
When the ghastly event
comes into my mind
my clouded spirit sets
foolish words on my lips.
Haven't I always been a mother,
a tender mother to you?

MANRICO
Can I deny it?

AZUCENA
If you're still alive,
don't you owe it to me?
At night, over the battlefields
of Pelilla, where the report went
that you were dead, didn't I come
to give you burial?
Didn't I discover your fleeting
breath of life? And didn't maternal
love hold it in your breast?
And what care I showed
to heal all those wounds!

MANRICO
That I bore on that fatal day!
But all of them, here, in my chest!
Only I, among the retreating thousand,
turned my face still towards the foe!
The evil Count of Luna fell upon me
with his escort: I fell!
But I fell like a strong man!

AZUCENA
That was the thanks for his life,
which in that odd duel,
the monster was given, by you!
Ah, what strange pity for him blinded you?

MANRICO
Oh mother, I can't explain it to myself!

AZUCENA
A strange pity! Strange pity!

MANRICO
Fighting off poorly my fierce attack,
he had already fallen to the ground:
the thrust that was to pierce him
already flashed in the air,
when a mysterious feeling
stopped my hand, as it descended!
Suddenly a sharp chill
ran shuddering through my being
as a cry came down from heaven,
that said to me: Don't strike!

AZUCENA
But to that ingrate's spirit
heaven said not a word!
Ah, if fate should drive you
to fight with that wretch again,
then follow, my son, like a God,
follow then what I tell you to do:
Strike, plunge up to its hilt
that blade in the wicked man's heart!
Strike, plunge up to its hilt, etc.

MANRICO
Yes, I swear it, this blade
will plunge into that wicked heart! etc.
(A horn is heard.)
Ruiz sends the usual messenger!
Perhaps...
(He replies with the horn that he carries.)

AZUCENA
'Avenge me!'
(The messenger enters.)

MANRICO
Come in. Tell me:
did more fighting follow?

MESSENGER
Let this letter I bear you give the answer.

MANRICO (He reads.)
'Castellor is in our hands;
the Prince's orders are that you
shall supervise its defence.
When you receive this, hurry here.

This evening, deceived by the cry
of your death,
in the nearby Holy Cross Convent,
Leonora will take the veil.'
Oh, merciful heaven!

AZUCENA
What is it?

MANRICO (to the messenger)
Hurry down the hill,
and prepare a horse for me.

MESSENGER
I'll run.

AZUCENA
Manrico!

MANRICO (to the messenger)
Time presses!
Fly! Wait for me at the foot of the hill.
(The messenger hurries off.)

AZUCENA
What do you want of hope to do?

MANRICO
(To lose her! Oh, woe!
To lose that angel!)

AZUCENA
(He's beside himself.)

MANRICO
(takes his helmet and cloak.)
Farewell!

AZUCENA
No, stop, hear me...

MANRICO
Let me go!

AZUCENA
Stop! I'm the one who's speaking to you!
To risk yourself, still sickly,
over a wild and steep road!
Mad boy, you mean to re-open
the wounds in your unhealed breast!
No, I cannot bear it:
your blood is my blood!
Every drop you shed of it,
you're pressing from my heart! etc.

MANRICO
A moment can steal from me
my love, my hope!
No, heaven and earth haven't
the strength to stop me.

AZUCENA
Madman!

MANRICO
Ah, mother, get out of my way!

Woe to you, should I remain here!
You would see, at your feet,
your son, dead of grief!

AZUCENA
No, I cannot bear it...

MANRICO
Woe to you, should I remain here!

AZUCENA
No, I cannot bear it,
your blood is my blood!
Every drop you shed of it
you're pressing from my heart!

MANRICO
You would see, at your feet,
your son, dead of grief!
You would see, at your feet,
your son, dead of grief!

AZUCENA
Stop! Stop!

MANRICO
Let me go! Let me go!

AZUCENA
Hear me, ah! hear me!

MANRICO
To lose that angel!
Let me go! Let me go, farewell! etc.

AZUCENA
Ah! Stop, hear me,
I'm the one who's speaking to you! etc.
(He leaves.)

Scene Two

The cloister of a convent in the
neighbourhood of Castellor. Night. The Count,
Ferrando, and a few retainers enter
cautiously, wrapped in their cloaks.

COUNT
All is deserted;
nor has the usual hymn
resounded yet on the air.
I've come in time!

FERRANDO
O master, you are undertaking a bold errand.

COUNT
Bold, yes, it's what furious love
and provoked pride demand of me.
My rival killed, every obstacle
to my wishes seemed to have fallen;
now she prepares a new
and more powerful one; the altar!
Ah no, Leonora shall not belong to others!
Leonora is mine!
The flashing of her smile
is brighter than a star's ray!

The splendour of her fair face
instils new courage in me.
Ah, let the love that inflames me
speak to her in my favour!
Let the sun of her glance
dispel the storm in my heart.
Ah, let the love that inflames me, etc.
(A bell is heard.)
That sound! Oh heaven!

FERRANDO
Its tolling announces the approaching rite.

COUNT
Ah, before she reaches the altar,
she shall be seized!

FERRANDO
Take care!

COUNT
Silence! I hear nothing!
Go,
and in the shade of those beeches,
conceal yourselves.
Ah, soon she'll become mine;
a fire rages through me!

FERRANDO and RETAINERS
Courage! let's go, and hide in the shadows,
in mystery! Courage! let's go!
Silence! His bidding be done!

COUNT
Hour, fatal for me,
speed, speed
on your moments;
the joy that awaits me is not mortal joy,
is not mortal joy, no!
In vain a rival God
opposes my love,
not even a God is able,
O woman, to steal you from me,
is able to steal you from me!

FERRANDO and RETAINERS
Courage! let's go, etc.

COUNT
Hour, fatal for me, etc.

FERRANDO and RETAINERS
Courage! let's go, etc.

COUNT
Not even a God is able,
O woman, to steal you from me, etc.
(The Count hids with the others. Voices of
nuns are heard from within.)

NUNS
Ah! daughter of Eve,
if error blinds your eyes,
as death nears you'll see
that it was a shadow, a dream:
nay, but the shadow of a dream
is our yearning here below!

COUNT
No, no, not even a God is able, etc.

FERRANDO and RETAINERS
Courage! etc.

NUNS
Come, let the veil hide you
from every human eye,
no worldly air or thought
can live in here any more!
Turn to heaven, and heaven
will be disclosed to you.

COUNT
No, no, not even a God is able, etc.

FERRANDO and RETAINERS
Courage, etc.

NUNS
Turn to heaven, and heaven
will be disclosed to you, etc.
(Leonora and Ines enter with a train of
women.)

LEONORA
Why are you weeping?

INES
Ah, then you are leaving us forever!

LEONORA
O sweet friends, earth

no longer has for me
laughter, hope, or flowers!
I must turn now to Him,
who is the only
support of the grieving,
who, after my days of penance,
can join me
to my lost love
one day, among the blessed!
Dry your eyes,
and lead me to the altar!

COUNT (bursting in)
No, never!

INES and WOMEN
The Count!

LEONORA
Merciful heaven!

COUNT
The only altar for you is the nuptial altar.

INES and WOMEN
He dared go so far!

LEONORA
Madman! You've come here?

COUNT
To make you mine!
(The Troubadour appears.)

ALL
Ah!

LEONORA
Must I, can I believe it?
I see you at my side!
This is a dream, an ecstasy,
a supernatural enchantment!
My heart surprised, transported,
cannot bear such joy!
Have you come down from heaven,
or am I in heaven with you?
Have you come down from heaven, etc.

COUNT
So the dead can leave
death's eternal realm!

MANRICO
Heaven did not hold me, nor did
the horrid path of hell.

COUNT
Hell gives up its prey
in order to do me harm.

MANRICO
Your foul killers struck
mortal blows, it's true!

COUNT
But if it never broke,
the thread of your days,
if you live and want to live,
flee from her, and from me.

MANRICO
The waves of the rivers
have an irresistible force!
But a God confounds the wicked!
And the God succoured me!

LEONORA
Or am I in heaven with you?
This is a dream, an ecstasy!
Have you come down from heaven
or am I in heaven with you? etc.

INES and NUNS
The heaven that you trusted
had mercy on you, etc.

MANRICO
But a God confounds the wicked!
And that God succoured me! etc.

COUNT
If you live and want to live,
flee from her, and from me, etc.

FERRANDO and THE COUNT'S MEN
(to the Count)
You're fighting against fate,
which is defending her, etc.
(Ruiz enters with armed men.)

RUIZ and MANRICO'S RETAINERS
Long live Urgel!

MANRICO
My brave fighters!

RUIZ
Come!

MANRICO
My lady, follow me.

COUNT
You dare hope?

LEONORA
Ah!

MANRICO
Stand back!

COUNT
To steal her from me? No!
(The Count draws his sword, but is disarmed
by Ruiz and his men.)

RUIZ and MEN
He's raving!

FERRANDO and RETAINERS
What are you attempting, Sir?

COUNT
I lost my reason!
My heart is raging! etc.

LEONORA
He terrifies me! etc.

INES and WOMEN
Ah yes, heaven had mercy on you! -

MANRICO
May your life be a torment! etc.

RUIZ and MANRICO'S RETAINERS
Come; Fate smiles on you, etc.

FERRANDO and THE COUNT'S RETAINERS
Surrender; to surrender now
is not cowardice! etc.

LEONORA
Have you come down from heaven,
or am I in heaven with you?
with you, in heaven with you?

INES and WOMEN
- had mercy upon you!

MANRICO and RETAINERS
Come! ah, come, come, come!

COUNT
My heart is raging!

THE COUNT'S RETAINERS
Surrender, ah, surrender, surrender!
(Manrico goes off with Leonora. The women
take refuge in the convent.)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four