Maria Callas : Habanera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BysvxpzzxtM&mode=related&search=

L’amour est un oiseau rebelle

que nul ne peut apprivoiser,

et c’est bien en vain qu’on l’appelle,

s’il lui convient de refuser.

Rien n’y fait, menace ou prière,

l’un parle bien, l’autre se tait:

Et c’est l’autre que je préfère,

Il n’a rien dit mais il me plaît.

L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! L’amour!

L’amour est enfant de Bohême,

il n’a jamais, jamais connu de loi;

si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime:

si je t’aime, prends garde à toi! etc.

L’oiseau que tu croyais surprendre

battit de l’aile et s’envola …

l’amour est loin, tu peux l’attendre;

tu ne l’attends plus, il est là!

Tout autour de toi, vite, vite,

il vient, s’en va, puis il revient …

tu crois le tenir, il t’évite,

tu crois l’éviter, il te tient.

L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! L’amour!

Love is a rebellious bird

that nobody can tame,

and you call him quite in vain

if it suits him not to come.

Nothing helps, neither threat nor prayer.

One man talks well, the other’s mum;

it’s the other one that I prefer.

He’s silent but I like his looks.

Love! Love! Love! Love!

Love is a gypsy child,

it has never, never, known a law;

love me not, then I love you;

if I love you, you’d best beware! etc.

The bird you thought you had caught

beat its wings and flew away …

love stays away, you wait and wait;

when least expected, love appears!

All around you, swift, so swift,

it comes, it goes, and then returns …

you think you hold it fast, it flees

you think you’re free, it holds you fast.

Love! Love! Love! Love!

If ‘love is a rebellious bird that no one can tame’ then the role of Carmen remains one of the most thrilling and frightening for any ‘diva’. Both Callas’s performance and that of Maria Ewing remain my favourite interpretations of the role: both are fiery, sensuous and above all, dangerous!

Oh, the viscissitudes of love in a hot climate!

A must for anyone who likes Rioja, heavy perfume and fast cars!

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