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Le Nozze di Figaro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
�I was telling you, sir,� he said, leaning confidentially over toward Jack, �I was telling you some ten or twenty courses back, that I had heard a wonderful Figaro at the Opera. You must run up if you possibly can, there is a new woman, La Colonna, who sings Susanna with a grace and a purity I have never heard in my life � a revelation. She drops true on the middle of her note, and it swells, swells . . . Ottoboni is the Contessa, and their duet would bring tears to your eyes. I forgot the words, but you know it, of course.� He hummed, his bass making the glasses tremble.

Jack beat the time wit his spoon and struck in with �Sotto I pinni . . .�

They sang it through, then through again; the others gazed at them with mild, bemused, contemplative satisfaction; at this stage it seemed natural that their captain should personate a Spanish lady�s maid.

Post Captain - Patrick O'Brien
The Words (omitting much repetition):

in italiano

Ei gi� il resto capir�, certo, certo il capir�. Canzonetta sull�aria... Che soave zeffiretto... questa sera spirer�... sotto i pini del boschetto... Ei gi� il resto capir�... Certo, certo il capir�, il capir�.

in English

He will understand the rest. Certainly he will understand it. A little song on the breeze... How gentle is the zephir... that this evening moves the air... under the pine trees in the woods... And he will understand the rest... Oh, yes, he will certainly understand the rest.
Quote List From Patrick O'Brian Books
``Deh vieni, non tardar" Master and Comander-pg 76 /HMS Surprise -pg 54

'Jack beat the time with his spoon and struck in with 'Sotto i pini. . . ' Post Captain-pg 270

``Possibile &eacute; la cosa e naturale. E se Susanna vuol possibilissima") Master and Comander147

Le Nozze di Figaro  ``...it would have prevented me from inviting you to hear a very charming Figaro with me tonight." [LOM:235]

Act IV, ``Ah tutti contenti saremo cos&iacute;" Letter of Marque pg 240, 284

``Contessa perdono, perdono, perdono" Letter of Marque pg 240, 266

``Do you recognize that?' `Of course,' said Jack. `It comes at the end of Figaro, the lovliest thing." Letter of Marque pg 253
A site that mentions both La Colonna and Ottoboni - in Italian
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

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