Georgian Tenor Tenghiz Zaalishvili sing Lensky's "Oh where have you gone my youth"
Translation:
Where, where, where have you gone,
O golden days of my spring?
What will the approaching day
have in store for me?
It escapes my eyes,
It is hidden from me!
Will I fall to the deadly arrow,
Or will it pass by me?
What is to happen will happen ...
There is a fated time
For life and for sleep.
Blessed is the simple working day
And blessed is the day of dread.
Will the sun shine on me at daybreak
And will its brightness stay with me?
Or will I, well, will I, perhaps, descend
Into the darkness and mystery of my tomb of death?
... And will all memory of this weird poet
fade into the abyss?
The world will forget me, but will you?,
You!... Olga...?
Tell me ...,
Will you, my maiden of beauty,
Come to shed a tear over my untimely grave ...
And, maybe, think "he did love me!" ...
"He was devoted to me".
O dark morn of a wretched life!
Ah! Olga, I did love you,
To you alone I was devoted.
O dark dawn of a wretched life!
Yes Olga, I did love you!
My dear friend, my dearest friend,
Come, O come to me ... I can be your man!
Where, where, where have you gone,
O golden days of my spring?
Studied in Tbilisi concervatory under maestro Sandro Inashvili became a pupular tenor when was chosen by Georgian government to impersonate famous Georgian tenor Vano Saradjishvili(1879-1924) who was then called Nightingale of Georgia.
Became Tbilisi Opera House principal tenor and performed internationaly within the Soviet Block countries.
Partnered Jerome Hines(Faust),Kim Borg(bass), Dorothy Kirsten(Alfredo in "La Traviata") Lia Hubik, Nicolae Herlea and many other internationaly acclaimed singers.
Was among other prominent Georgians invited to USA by Jimmy Carter and recieved honorary Georgian Citizenship(USA).
Named as a People's Artist of Georgia still ocasionally performs at the age of 78.
Honorary member of Georgian Academy of Science and Culture, lives in Tbilisi Georgia.
Contact Tbilisi Opera for more information.
www.opera.ge/ (more) (less)
Eugene Onegine
Act 1
Scene 1: The garden of the Larin country estate
Madame Larina (mezzo-soprano) and the nurse (mezzo-soprano) are sitting outside: her two daughters, Tatyana (soprano) and younger sister Olga (contralto), can be heard from inside the house. A group of peasants sing a comic song about the serenading of a miller's daughter. Tatyana is reading a romantic novel but her mother tells her that real life is different. Visitors arrive: Olga's fiancé Lensky (tenor), a young poet, and his friend Eugene Onegin (baritone), a world-weary St Petersburg 'drawing-room automaton' (Nabokov). Lensky introduces Onegin to the Larin family. Onegin is initially surprised that Lensky has chosen the extrovert Olga rather than her romantic elder sister. Tatyana for her part is immediately and strongly attracted to Onegin.
Scene 2: Tatyana's room
Tatyana confesses to her nurse that she is in love. Left alone she writes a letter to Onegin driven by the realization that she is fatally and irreversibly drawn to him (the celebrated 'Letter Scene'). When the old woman returns Tatyana asks her to arrange for the letter to be sent to Onegin.
Scene 3: Another part of the estate
Onegin arrives to see Tatyana and give her his answer to her letter. He explains, not unkindly, that he is not a man who loves easily and is unsuited to marriage. Tatyana is crushed and unable to reply.
Act 2
Scene 1: The ballroom of the Larin house
Tatyana's name-day party. Onegin is irritated with the country people who gossip about him and Tatyana, and with Lensky for persuading him to come. He decides to revenge himself by dancing and flirting with Olga. Lensky becomes extremely jealous. Olga is insensitive to her fiancé and apparently attracted to Onegin. There is a diversion, while a French neighbour called Monsieur Triquet (tenor) sings some couplets in honour of Tatyana, after which the quarrel becomes more intense. Lensky renounces his friendship with Onegin in front of all the guests, and challenges Onegin to a duel, which the latter is forced, with many misgivings, to accept.
Scene 2: On the banks of a wooded stream, early morning
Lensky is waiting for Onegin, and sings of his uncertain fate and his love for Olga. Onegin arrives. They are both reluctant to go ahead with the duel but lack the power to stop it. Onegin shoots Lensky dead.
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