About the Operas
The Enchantress (1911)
by Victor Herbert
MYSTERY! ROYALTY! INTRIGUE! PANIC! Just business as usual at the White House - oops, the Castle - in a mythical land called Zergovia, where the dashing Crown Prince Ivan has come of age and now must choose his Queen. Hopeful princesses from around the world, rarely good at rejection, are forced to face their fears when the enchanting Vivien Savary appears. Is she Austrian? Is she an Opera Diva?? Is she, or isn't she, Royalty??? From the bevy presented to him, where does true love come in? Add to that dilemma, all manner of devious advisors who wouldn’t mind sitting on his throne themselves.
ART IS CALLING FOR ME
PRINCESS STELLINA
Mama is a queen
And Papa is a king
So I am a princess and I know it
But court etiquette
Is a dull dreary thing
I just hate it all
And I show it
To be on the stage is the one life for me
My figure’s just like Tetrazzini
I know I’d win fame
If I sang in Boheme
That op’ra by Signor Puccini
I’ve roulades and the trills
That would send the cold chills
Down the backs of all hearers of my vocal frills.
“Quando m’en vo
Quando m’en vo soletta per la via
La gente sosta e mira
So ben le angoscie tue non le vuoi dir
Non le vuoi di so ben ma ti sen . . . . »
I want to be a prima dona dona dona
I long to shine upon the stage
I have the embonpoint
To become a queen of song
And my figure would look pretty as a page
I want to be a screechy peachy cantatrice
Like other plum girls that I see
I hate society
I hate propriety
Art is calling for me!
I’m in the elite
And men sigh at my feet
Still I do not fancy my position
I have not much use for the men that I meet
I just burn with lyric ambition
Those tenors so sweet
If they made love to me
I’d be a success that I do know
And Netrebko I’d oust
If I once sang in Faust
That op’ra so charming by Gounod
Girls would be on the bring
Of hysterics I think
Even strong men would have to go out for a drink.
“Ah! Je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir !
Ah ! Je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir !
Est-ce toi, Marguerite ?
Est-ce toi ? Réponds moi !
Réponds, réponds, réponds vite ! »
I want to be a prima dona dona dona
I long to shine upon the stage
With my avoir du pois
And my tra-la-la-la las
I would be the chief sensation of the age!
I long to hear them shouting
‘Viva for the diva!’
How very lovely that must be
That’s what I’m dying for
That’s what I’m sighing for
Art is calling for me!