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ジョルジュ・バルビエ 「雅（みやび）なる宴」 George Barbier, Petes galantes, 1928. ANDRE Your public needs you! FIRMIN We need you, too! CARLOTTA Would you not rather have your precious little ingenue? ANDRE/FIRMIN Signora, no! the world wants you! Prima donna, first lady of the stage! Your devotees are on their knees to implore you! ANDRE Can you bow out when they're shouting your name? FIRMIN Think of how they all adore you! BOTH Prima donna, enchant us ince again! ANDRE Think of your muse FIRMIN And of the queues round the theatre! BOTH Can you deny us the triumph in store? Sing, prima donna, once more! RAOUL Christine spoke of an angel CARLOTTA Prima donna, your song shall live again! ANDRE/FIRMIN Think of your public! CARLOTTA You took a snub, but there's a public who needs you! GIRY She has heard the voice of the angel of music ANDRE/FIRMIN Those who hear your voice liken you to an angel! CARLOTTA Think of their cry of undying support! RAOUL Is this her angel of music? ANDRE We get our opera FIRMIN She gets her limelight! CARLOTTA Follow where the limelight leads you! MEG Is this ghost an angel or a madman? RAOUL Angel oｒ madman? ANDRE/FIRMIN Leading ladies are a trial! CARLOTTA Prima donna, your song shall never die! MEG Voice of hell, or of heaven ...? GIRY Heaven help you, those who doubt ... CARLOTTA You'll sing again, and to unending ovation! RAOUL Orders! Warnings! Lunatic demands! GIRY This miscasting will invite damnation ... ANDRE/FIRMIN Tears ... oaths ... lunatic demands are regular occurrences! MEG Bliss or damnation? Which has claimed her? CARLOTTA Think how you'll shine in that final encore! Sing, prima donna, once more! GIRY Oh fools, to have flouted his warnings! RAOUL Surely, for her sake ... MEG Surely he'll strike back ... ANDRE/FIRMIN Surely there'll be further scenes - worse than this! GIRY Think, before these demands are rejected! RAOUL I must see these demands are rejected! MEG if his threats and demands are rejected! ANDRE/FIRMIN Who'd believe a diva happy to relieve a chorus girl, who's gone and slept with the patron? Raoul and the soubrette, entwined in love's duet! Although he may demur, he must have been with her! MEG/RAOUL Christine must be protected! CARLOTTA O, foutunata! Non ancor abbandonata! ANDRE/FIRMIN You'd never get away with all this in a play, but if it's loudly sung and in a foreign tongue, it's just the sort of story audiences adore, in fact a perfect opera! RAOUL His game is over! GIRY This is a game you cannot hope to win! RAOUL And in Box Five a new game will begin ... GIRY For, if his curse is on this opera ... MEG But if his curse is on this opera ... ANDRE/FIRMIN Prima donna, the world is at your feet! A nation waits, and how it hates to be cheated! CARLOTTA The stress that falls upon a famous prima donna! Terrible diseases, coughs and colds and sneezes! Still, the dryest throat will reach the highest note, in search of perfect opera! MEG/GIRY Then I fear the outcome RAOUL Christine plays the Pageboy, Carlotta plays the Countess ... GIRY Should you dare to ... MEG When you once again ... ALL Light up the stage with that age-old rapport! Sing, prima donna, once more! PHANTOM So, it is to be war between us! If these demands are not met, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur! ALL Once more! background : Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Spring, 1563.
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