The Comical History of Don Quixote, Z578

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Part 1. Song: Let the dreadful engines of eternal will

Alan Opie (baritone), Roger Vignoles (piano)

Track 6 on CDH55244 [8'36]

Let the dreadful engines of eternal will,
The thunder roar and crooked lightning kill,
My rage is hot as theirs, as fatal too,
And dares as horrid execution do.
Or let the frozen North its rancour show,
Within my breast far greater tempests grow;
Despair’s more cold than all the winds can blow.

Can nothing warm me?
Yes, yes, Lucinda’s eyes.
There Etna, there,
There, there Vesuvio lies,
To furnish Hell with flames
That mounting reach the skies.

Ye powers, I did but use her name,
And see how all the meteors flame;
Blue lightning flashes round the court of Sol,
And now the globe more fiercely burns
Than once at Phaeton’s fall.

Ah, where are now those flow’ry groves
Where Zephyr’s fragrant winds did play?
Where guarded by a troop of Loves,
The fair Lucinda sleeping lay:
There sung the nightingale and lark,
Around us all was sweet and gay;
We ne’er grew sad till it grew dark,
Nor nothing feared but short’ning day.
I glow, I glow but ’tis with hate:
Why must I burn for this ingrate?
Cool, cool it then and rail,
Since nothing, nothing will prevail.

When a woman love pretends,
’Tis but till she gains her ends,
And for better and for worse
Is for marrow of the purse.
Where she jilts you o’er and o’er,
Proves a slattern or a whore,
This hour will tease and vex,
And will cuckold ye the next.
They were all contrived in spite,
To torment us, not delight;
But to scold and scratch and bite,
And not one of them proves right,
But all, all are witches by this light.
And so I fairly bid ’em, and the world, Good Night.

Thomas D'Urfey (1653-1723)

Purcell wrote Let the dreadful engines for Part 1 of Thomas d’Urfey’s Comical History of Don Quixote, produced at Dorset Garden in London in 1694. D’Urfey’s rather loose adaptation of Cervantes’ original includes various absurd scenes, including an incident in the mountains of the Sierra Morena, in which Don Quixote and Sancho Panza come across a character called Cardenio, who seems to have been crossed in love. Dressed in ragged clothes and striking a ‘Wild Posture’, he sighs for his beloved Lucinda while delivering a savage diatribe against women in general, concluding that:

They were all contrived in spite,
To torment us, not delight;
But to scold and scratch and bite,
And not one of them proves right,
But all, all are witches by this light.
And so I fairly bid ’em, and the world, Good Night.

The song was published with other songs from the play in the same year, and was subsequently included in Book 1 of Orpheus Britannicus: a collection of the Choicest Songs … by Mr Henry Purcell, published in 1698 at the instigation of the composer’s widow Frances.

Purcell écrivit Let the dreadful engines pour la première partie de la Comical History of Don Quixote de Thomas d’Urfey, représenté au Dorset Garden à Londres en 1694. L’adaptation de d’Urfey, assez éloignée de l’original de Cervantes, comprend plusieurs scènes absurdes, entre autres un incident dans la Sierra Morena, où Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança rencontrent un personnage nommé Cardenio, qui a eu semble-t-il une déception amoureuse. Vêtu de haillons et prenant une «pose extravagante», il soupire après sa bien-aimée Lucinda tout en se lançant dans une furieuse diatribe contre les femmes en général, qu’il conclut en déclarant qu’«elles ont toutes été conçues par méchanceté—pour nous tourmenter et non nous charmer …».

La mélodie fut publiée cette année-là avec d’autres mélodies de la pièce, avant d’être incluse dans le Livre I d’Orpheus Britannicus: a collection of the choicest songs … by Mr Henry Purcell, publié en 1698 à l’instigation de la veuve du compositeur, Frances.

extrait des notes rédigées par Michael Short © 1992
Français: Elisabeth Rhodes

Purcell schrieb Let the dreadful engines für den ersten Teil von Thomas d’Urfeys Comical History of Don Quixote, ein Bühnenwerk, das 1694 im Londoner Dorset Garden aufgeführt wurde. D’Urfeys eher freie Bearbeitung von Cervantes’ Original enthält diverse absurde Szenen, darunter einen Vorfall in den Bergen der Sierra Morena, wo Don Quixote und Sancho Panza einem Mann namens Cardenio begegnen, der offensichtlich Pech in der Liebe hat. In Lumpen gekleidet, stellt er sich in Positur und seufzt nach seiner geliebten Lucinda, nur um gleichzeitig eine wilde Schimpfkanonade gegen die Frauen im allgemeinen loszulassen.

Das Lied wurde zusammen mit anderen aus dem Bühnenwerk noch im selben Jahr veröffentlicht und später in den ersten Band von Orpheus Britannicus: a collection of the Choicest Songs by Mr Henry Purcell aufgenommen, der 1698 auf Betreiben von Frances erschien, der Witwe des Komponisten.

Simon Keenlyside (baritone), Graham Johnson (piano)

Track 13 on CDD22058 CD2 [7'57] 2CDs Dyad (2 for the price of 1)

Can nothing warm me?
Yes, yes, Lucinda’s eyes.
There Etna, there,
There, there Vesuvio lies,
To furnish Hell with flames
That mounting reach the skies.

Ye powers, I did but use her name,
And see how all the meteors flame;
Blue lightning flashes round the court of Sol,
And now the globe more fiercely burns
Than once at Phaeton’s fall.

Thomas D'Urfey (1653-1723)

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