ARTS
Emma Chang, Jing Jing Wang, Jean-Clara Cartwright
Emma Chang, Jing Jing Wang, Jean-Clara Cartwright
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Illustrations by Emma Chang
Emma Chang is a visual artist, actor, theatrical technician and musician. She is a first year student at Willamette University planning on pursuing a degree in Theatre.
Emma Chang is a visual artist, actor, theatrical technician and musician. She is a first year student at Willamette University planning on pursuing a degree in Theatre.
Piangerò la sorte mia
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Piangerò la sorte mia is an aria from the third act of Handel’s opera seria Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt, HWV 17, and commonly known as Giulio Cesare), composed for the Royal Academy of Music in 1724. The plot of the opera is loosely based on the historical events during the Roman Civil War of 49-45 BC.
The setting of Piangerò is in the woods near Alexandria, Egypt. Where Cleopatra’s brother Tolomeo has ordered for her to be imprisoned for scheming with the believed-to-be-drowned Caesar, upset over these turn of events, Cleopatra reflects what has resulted in her fate, and that when she has died, she could come back to haunt her brother as a ghost.
Cleopatra’s character is a multifaceted one: first seducing Cesare with her womanly wiles to gain the throne of Egypt, then becomes engaged in the love affair with Cesare. Her arias (such as Piangerò) create such a tremendous dramatic intensity in her character development as you can sense her character turning and evolving into a tremendously powerful force.
What’s significant about the aria Piangerò and how it relates to the theme is that this is Cleopatra at her lowest point in the opera. She has lost both lost the battle with Tolomeo and Cesare (however, what she doesn’t know is that Cesare is not dead). The character of Cleopatra at this point feels so empty and alone, lamenting her fate by the hands of Tolomeo. There is a journey of how her emotions develop throughout this aria, turning this hollow feeling of sadness into burning anger, plotting her new-found revenge.
Recitative
E pur così in un giorno (And even so in a day)
perdo fasti e grandezze? Ahi fato rio! (do I lose splendour and greatness? Ah wicked fate!)
Cesare, il mio bel nume, è forse estinto. (Cesare, my beautiful sovereign, is probably dead.)
Cornelia e Sesto inermi son, (Cornelia and Sesto are defenseless,)
nè sanno darmi soccorso. (nor can they give me help.)
O dio, non resta alcuna speme al viver mio. (Oh God, there remains no hope for my life. )
Aria
Piangerò la sorte mia, (I shall lament my fate,)
sì crudele e tanto ria, (so cruel and so wicked,)
finché vita in petto avrò. (as long as I have life in [my] breast. )
Ma poi morta d’ogn’intorno, il tiranno e notte e giorno, fatta spettro agiterò. (But when I am dead, from all around, the tyrant, both night and day, having become a ghost, I will haunt. )
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Piangerò la sorte mia is an aria from the third act of Handel’s opera seria Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt, HWV 17, and commonly known as Giulio Cesare), composed for the Royal Academy of Music in 1724. The plot of the opera is loosely based on the historical events during the Roman Civil War of 49-45 BC.
The setting of Piangerò is in the woods near Alexandria, Egypt. Where Cleopatra’s brother Tolomeo has ordered for her to be imprisoned for scheming with the believed-to-be-drowned Caesar, upset over these turn of events, Cleopatra reflects what has resulted in her fate, and that when she has died, she could come back to haunt her brother as a ghost.
Cleopatra’s character is a multifaceted one: first seducing Cesare with her womanly wiles to gain the throne of Egypt, then becomes engaged in the love affair with Cesare. Her arias (such as Piangerò) create such a tremendous dramatic intensity in her character development as you can sense her character turning and evolving into a tremendously powerful force.
What’s significant about the aria Piangerò and how it relates to the theme is that this is Cleopatra at her lowest point in the opera. She has lost both lost the battle with Tolomeo and Cesare (however, what she doesn’t know is that Cesare is not dead). The character of Cleopatra at this point feels so empty and alone, lamenting her fate by the hands of Tolomeo. There is a journey of how her emotions develop throughout this aria, turning this hollow feeling of sadness into burning anger, plotting her new-found revenge.
Recitative
E pur così in un giorno (And even so in a day)
perdo fasti e grandezze? Ahi fato rio! (do I lose splendour and greatness? Ah wicked fate!)
Cesare, il mio bel nume, è forse estinto. (Cesare, my beautiful sovereign, is probably dead.)
Cornelia e Sesto inermi son, (Cornelia and Sesto are defenseless,)
nè sanno darmi soccorso. (nor can they give me help.)
O dio, non resta alcuna speme al viver mio. (Oh God, there remains no hope for my life. )
Aria
Piangerò la sorte mia, (I shall lament my fate,)
sì crudele e tanto ria, (so cruel and so wicked,)
finché vita in petto avrò. (as long as I have life in [my] breast. )
Ma poi morta d’ogn’intorno, il tiranno e notte e giorno, fatta spettro agiterò. (But when I am dead, from all around, the tyrant, both night and day, having become a ghost, I will haunt. )
Hollow
Illustration by Jing Jing Wang
featured on this issue's cover
Illustration by Jing Jing Wang
featured on this issue's cover