“Tacea la notte placida… Di tale amor” from Il Trovatore (1853)

It is scarcely necessary to go into the convoluted intricacies of the plot of Il Trovatore to share the sentiments so passionately voiced by Leonora, lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Aragon, in the second scene of the fist act. She is in love with a mysterious stranger, a troubador who comes to serenade her at the castle at night. In “Tacea la notte” she confesses her love to her confidante and is twice carried away on a rising line of chromatic rapture (on “dolci s’udiro e flebili” and “Gioa provai che agli angeli”) as she thinks of him. Ending with a cadenza, “Tacea la notte placida” is followed by a brilliantly impulsive and highly ornamental cabaletta “Di tale amor,” which is one of the most exciting examples of Verdi’s writing for the soprano voice.