Great Voices: Plácido Domingo Episode 31

Montserrat Caballé & Plácido Domingo: Verdi - Don Carlo, 'Duet & Finale'


Lyrics & English Translation

DON CARLOS
[appearing]
She is there!

ELISABETH
A word ... just one, the word which commends
to God him who departs;
Then ... I demand that
you forget, and live!

DON CARLOS
Yes, I want to be strong;
but when love is crushed it kills before dying.

ELISABETH
No! think of Rodrigo.
Has he sacrificed himself
for an idle fancy?

DON CARLOS
In his dear Flanders,
first I want to erect a monument to him
finer than any king ever had.

ELISABETH
The flowers of paradise will rejoice his shade!

DON CARLOS
I had a beautiful dream!
It has vanished! And the cold light of day
shows me fire lighting up the air,
a river tinged with blood, deserted villages,
a people in agony, calling to me
as if to a redeeming God in the day of its distress.
I hasten to them! Happy if, whichever my fate may be,
you sing of my triumph
or weep over my heart!
speaking
When it is all over, when my hand drops
from your hands ... will you weep?

ELISABETH
Yes! But in admiration!
They will be tears from the soul, the noble sobbing
which women always bestow on heroes!
Farewell till we meet in a world where life is better,
where the first hour of eternity strikes,
and there we shall find in the peace of the Lord
the eternally sought thing called happiness!

DON CARLOS
Farewell till we meet in a world where life is better,
where the first hour of eternity strikes ...
and there we shall find ...

ELISABETH
In that solemn moment
may there be no base weakness,
may we forget all the names of profane tenderness;
may we give those names to chaster loves.

DON CARLOS
Farewell, mother!

ELISABETH
Farewell, my son!

DON CARLOS
And for ever!

ELISABETH and DON CARLOS
Farewell, my son/mother, farewell for ever.

PHILIP
Yes, for ever!
There must be a double sacrifice!
I shall do my duty.
And you?

INQUISITOR
The Inquisition
will also do its duty!
[to the members of the Inquisition, indicating Don Carlos]
Guards!

DON CARLOS
Ah! Heaven will avenge me,
this tribunal of blood will be crushed by his hand!

[Don Carlos, defending himself, backs towards the tomb of Charles V. The grille opens, the Monk appears and draws Don Carlos into his embrace, covering him with his cloak.]

CHARLES V (MONK)
My son, the sorrows of the earth
follow us even in this place.
The peace for which your heart hopes
is found only in Heaven!

INQUISITOR
The voice of the Emperor!

CHORUS
It is Charles V!

PHILIP
My father!

ELISABETH
Great Heaven!

[The Monk drags the fainting Don Carlos into tire cloister.]

CHORUS OF MONKS
in the chapel
Charles V, the august Emperor,
is no longer more than dust and ashes.