NPWM: from Persée

Well, I've missed a few days, so to make up for it, today's translation is a long one: two whole scenes from Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera Persée.

I've only just got into opera, and I've found (as many do, I'm sure) that it's pretty tough going as a new initiate. Which is why I'm grateful to Lully, because his operas are totally accessible to beginners. Persée has pretty tunes, gorgeous three-part harmonies wherever possible, a real machina from which a Deus is lowered on more than one occasion, and TWO sword fights. And on top of all that, it has an excellent libretto by Philippe Quinault, the author of the words on which today's translation is based.

This translates Act II, Scenes 4 & 5 of Persée; the full libretto can be found here, and an excellent version in parts on Youtube begins here.

[II.4] Merope.
Alas! He will be killed! Do I tremble? Wherefore
Should I feel for Andromeda’s lover such fear?
Have I lost all my former spite?
What interest have I in his life?
He lives for another, he is lost to me...
No matter! When I see him in his deadly peril,
When I see him seeking a horrible slaughter,
I do not think, “He loves me not;”
I only think, “I love him.”

[II.5] Enter Andromeda.

Andromeda, apart.
Ill-starred ones, who have been transformed
Into stone by the glance of a dreadful monster,
You feel no more your unmerciful destinies,
And your hardened hearts now are forever peaceful.
Ah! Those hearts which still can feel
Are a thousand times unhappier.

Merope, apart.
Andromeda seems distracted;
She comes in a dream to this place.
Yes. In her face I recognise
The same bitter thoughts which trouble me.

Andromeda, apart.
He loves me but too much, and all he asks of me
Is to love him in my turn;
From the highest of the gods he receives this day.
Can it be love that gives him, in this mortal peril,
The means to hold up against such merit,
And against so much love?

Merope, to Andromeda.
Ah! you love Perseus, and that excites your fears.
Do not disavow your tears.
Your tender sentiments are all too well expressed:
You love him.

Andromeda.
You love him.
The hope of his hand had bewitched your very soul,
And I know the project that you formed. I can see
Your spite has not extinguished the flame you keep for him;
Perseus is in danger, and so you are afraid.
You love him.

Merope.
You love him.

Both.
How pitiful the tender heart
That is reduced to hiding!
What pain is there one does not feel
From love that one cannot reveal,
Deep in the dark abiding?
How pitiful the tender heart
That is reduced to hiding!

Merope.
My spite tries in vain to overthrow my pity.
It’s true. I can’t keep up this anger against you.
Perseus is an ingrate who cannot love me;
It doesn’t mean I can forget him.
But he loves you too much, alas!
Yes, yes, why wouldn’t you love him.

Andromeda.
The love he has for me has made
Him bravely seek his end with foolish eagerness.
Do not reproach me for this dolorous advantage;
I will pay dearly for it.

Merope.
United our regrets; the same love binds us both.
What does it matter which of us Perseus wants?
We both of us shall lose him:
Our common loss shall reconcile us.

Both.
This hero goes; oh let him not
From us be plucked away;
Oh let him live for you, so long
As he live through this day.

Andromeda.
My love I must hide and betray not... O Venus!
He comes to seek me in this place before he goes.

Merope.
I go: I'll not be a witness
To the torment of your fond goodbyes.