An excerpt from Robert Rogler's opera "The Falcon" sung by Russian/American soprano Yunona Tabala and accompanied by pianist Matt Savage playing a reduction of the full score. Based on the play by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the opera was premiered at a private concert in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 22 September 2024.
The opera is available for funding. Learn more at roglercollection.com/support-a-project
THE SETTING
In the aria, His Falcon, we find the widow, Lady Giovanna, visiting Count Federigo to ask him for his falcon, which her sick son believes will make him well from his illness. Knowing the Count is in love with her and has impoverished himself trying to win her affection, Lady Giovanna is loathe to ask for his bird since it is his last possession on earth.
LYRICS
His falcon, and I come to ask him for his falcon,
The pleasure of his eyes - boast of his hand -
Pride of his heart - the solace of his hours -
His one companion here - nay, I have heard
That, thro' his late magnificence of living
And this last costly gift to mine own self,
He hath become so beggar'd that his falcon
Even wins his dinner for him in the field.
That must be talk, not truth, but truth or talk,
How can I ask for his falcon?
O my sick boy!
My daily fading Florio, it is thou
Hath set me this hard task, for when I say,
What can I do - what can I get for thee?
He answers me, 'Get the Count to give me his falcon,
And that will make me well again.' Yet if I ask,
He loves me, and he knows I know he loves me!
Will he not pray me to return his love -
To marry him? I can never marry him.
His grandsire struck my grandsire in a brawl
At Florence, and my grandsire stabb'd him there.
The feud between our houses is the bar
I cannot cross; I dare not brave my brother.
Break with my kin. My brother hated him, scorns
The noblest-natured man alive, and I -
Who have that reverence for him that I scarce
Dare ask him to receive his diamond necklace back -
How can I, dare I, ask him for his falcon?
His falcon!
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