Ópera Romeo et Juliette - Premier Acte

(The Capulets' Ball
A splendid gallery illuminated,
at the Capulets'. Lords and
ladies in dominoes and masks)

CHOIR
Time flies away
Joyful and crazy,
We must seize the moment,
Let's pick the roses
That bloom for us
In joy and pleasure.

(The men)
Whimsical choir
Of loves
Under the mask
Of velvet,
Your empire
Attracts us
With a smile,
With a glance!
And accomplice
The heart slips
To the whim
Of chance!

(The women)
Night of intoxication!
Crazy night!
We are pressed,
We are followed!
The least tender
Will surrender
And be caught
In our nets!
Of the beauty
That calls him,
All reveals
The charms!

(All)
Time flies away, etc.

(Tybalt and Paris enter the scene,
their masks in hand.)

TYBALT
Well? dear Paris! What do you think
Of the Capulets' party?

PARIS
Wealth and beauty together
Are the hosts of this palace!

TYBALT
You do not see the wonder,
The unique and priceless treasure,
Destined for the fortunate Paris.

PARIS
Yes, my heart still slumbers,
The moment is near when love
Will awaken it in turn.

TYBALT
(smiling)
It will awaken, I hope!
Look! look! here she is led by her father.

(Capulet enters leading
Juliet by the hand. At her sight
everyone unmasks.)

CAPULET
Welcome, friends, to my house!
To this family celebration,
Joy is in season!
On a day like this my daughter was born!
My heart still beats with joy at the thought!
But excuse my indiscreet tenderness
(presenting Juliet)
Here is my Juliet!
Welcome her with a kind look.

THE MEN
(with admiration)
Ah! how beautiful she is!
She looks like a new flower
Blooming in the morning.

THE WOMEN
Ah! how beautiful she is!
She seems to carry within her
All the favors of destiny.

ALL
Ah! how beautiful she is!

(We hear the prelude of a dance tune.)

JULIET
Listen! listen!
It's the sound of joyful instruments
Calling and inviting us!
Ah! An enchanted world seems to be born
before my eyes!
Everything celebrates and intoxicates me!
And my delighted soul
Soars into life
Like a bird flying to the skies!

CAPULET
Come on! young people!
Come on! beautiful ladies!
To the most diligent
These eyes full of flames!
Mock! mock the critics,
Who constantly scold!
Celebrate youth,
And make way for the dancers!
Who stays in their place
And does not dance,
Confesses quietly
To some disgrace!
Oh, extreme regret!
When I was younger,
I myself guided
Your joyful frolics!
Sweet words
Cost me nothing!
How many frivolous confessions
I remember!
Oh, crazy years
That time carries away!
Oh, spring flowers
Faded long ago!
Come on! young people, etc.
Mock! mock the critics, etc.

CHOIR
Mock! mock the critics,
Who constantly scold!
Let's celebrate youth,
And make way for the dancers!

(Everyone moves away
and circulates in the nearby galleries.
Juliet comes out with Paris,
Capulet and Tybalt following them chatting.
Romeo and Mercutio appear with their friends.)

MERCUTIO
Finally, the place is free, friends!
For a moment, let's take off our masks.

ROMEO
No, no, you promised!
Let's be cautious! Here no one should know us!
Let's leave this house without defying the master.

MERCUTIO
Bah! if the Capulets are ones to get angry,
It's cowardly to hide from us,
(hitting his sword)
For we all have what it takes to stand up to them!

MERCUTIO AND CHOIR
For we all have what it takes to stand up to them!

ROMEO
It would have been better not to join the party!

MERCUTIO
Why?

ROMEO
(mysteriously)
I had a dream!

MERCUTIO
(with comical fright)
Ominous omen!
Queen Mab visited you!

ROMEO
Surprised
How?

MERCUTIO
Mab, the queen of lies,
Presides over dreams.
Lighter than the wind,
Deceiving,
Through space,
Through the night,
She passes,
She flees!
Her chariot, swiftly driven
Into the clear ether,
Was made from an empty hazelnut
By a worm, the charioteer!
The harness, delicate lace,
Was cut from the wing
Of some green grasshopper
By her coachman, the mosquito!
A cricket bone serves as a handle
For her whip, whose white lash
Is taken from the beam that emanates
From Phoebe gathering her court.
Every night, in this carriage,
Mab visits, on her way,
The husband who dreams of widowhood
And the lover who dreams of love!
At her approach, the flirt
Dreams of adornments and attire,
The courtier bows,
The poet rhymes his verses!
To the miser in his dark abode,
She opens countless treasures,
And freedom laughs in the shadow
At the prisoner burdened with chains.
The soldier dreams of ambushes,
Of battles and thrusts,
She pours him the drinks
With which his laurels are watered.
And you, frightened by a sigh,
When you rest on your bed,
Oh virgin! she brushes your lips
And makes you dream of kisses!
Mab, the queen of lies, etc.

ROMEO
Well!... whether the warning
Comes from Mab or another,
Under this roof that is not ours
I feel a dark foreboding!

MERCUTIO
(jokingly)
I can guess your sadness,
Is not finding your Rosaline here;
A hundred others at the ball will make you forget
Your foolish schoolboy love!
Come!

ROMEO
(looking outside)
Ah! look!

MERCUTIO
What is it?

ROMEO
That heavenly beauty
That seems like a ray in the night!

MERCUTIO
The respectful escort following her
Is of a more modest beauty!

ROMEO
(with passion)
O treasure worthy of the heavens!
What sudden brightness has opened my eyes!
I did not know true beauty!
Have I loved until now? Have I loved?

MERCUTIO
(laughing, to Benvolio and the other young men)
Good! Rosaline is out of the picture!
And we foresaw this!

ROMEO'S FRIENDS
We foresaw this!

MERCUTIO
She is dismissed
Without further concern,
And the comedy
Ends like this!

(Mercutio takes Romeo away,
just as Juliet appears followed by Gertrude.)

JULIET
Come on, nurse, they are waiting for me, speak quickly!

GERTRUDE
Take a moment to breathe!

(with mischief)

Am I the one being avoided,
Or is it Count Paris you are looking for?

JULIET
Paris?

GERTRUDE
They say you will have there the pearl of husbands.

JULIET
(laughing)
Ah! ah!
I really think about marriage!

GERTRUDE
By my virtue! I was married at your age!

JULIET
No! no! I don't want to listen to you any longer!
Leave my soul to its springtime!
Ah!
I want to live
In this dream that intoxicates me;
This day still,
Sweet flame,
I keep you in my soul
Like a treasure!
This intoxication
Of youth
Lasts, alas! only a day!
Then comes the hour
When we cry,
The heart yields to love,
And happiness flees without return.
I want to live, etc.
Far from the gloomy winter
Let me slumber
And breathe the rose
Before plucking it.
Ah!
Sweet flame,
Stay in my soul
Like a sweet treasure
For a long time!

(Gregory appears in the background and
meets Romeo.)

ROMEO
(to Gregory, pointing to Juliet)
The name of this beautiful child?

GREGORY
You don't know her?
It's Gertrude.

GERTRUDE
(turning around)
What?

GREGORY
(to Gertrude)
Very gracious lady!
For the supper arrangements
I believe you are needed.

GERTRUDE
(impatiently)
Very well! I'm coming!

JULIET
Go!

(Gertrude leaves with Gregory. Romeo stops
Juliet as she is about to leave.)

ROMEO
Please, stay!
Adorable angel,
My guilty hand
Profanes, by daring to touch it,
The divine hand
That I imagine
No one has the right to approach!
This, I think,
Is the penance
I must impose on myself,
That I erase
The unworthy trace
Of my hand with a kiss!

JULIET
Calm your fears!
To these embraces
Of the prostrate pilgrim
Even the saints,
As long as he loves,
Have already forgiven.

(She withdraws her hand.)

But to his lips
The hand he touches
Prudently must refuse
This enchanting caress
That he implores in a kiss!

ROMEO
Yet the saints have rosy lips...

JULIET
For prayer only!

ROMEO
Do they not hear the voice that advises them
A more lenient judgment?

JULIET
To love's prayers their hearts remain insensitive,
Even when granting them!

ROMEO
Grant my wishes and keep impassive
Your blushing face!

(He kisses Juliet's hand.)

JULIET
(smiling)
Ah! I could not resist!
I took the sin upon myself!

ROMEO
To calm your agitation!
Do you please to return it to me?

JULIET
No! I took it! Leave me!

ROMEO
You took it, give it back to me!
Someone!

(He puts on his mask.)

JULIET
It's my cousin Tybalt!

ROMEO
What! you are!

JULIET
The daughter of Lord Capulet!

ROMEO
(to himself)
God!

TYBALT
(advancing)
Pardon!
Cousin! ...our friends will leave our parties
If you avoid their gaze like this!
Come on! come on!

(softly)

Who is this handsome gallant who masked himself so quickly
When he saw me coming?

JULIET
I don't know!

TYBALT
(with defiance)
It seems like he's avoiding me!

ROMEO
God save you, sir!

(He exits.)

TYBALT
Ah! I recognize him by his voice! ... by my hatred!
It's him! it's Romeo!

JULIET
(with horror)
Romeo!

TYBALT
On my honor!
I will punish the traitor and his death is certain!

(He exits.)

JULIET
(with horror)
It was Romeo!

(absorbed and with a fixed gaze)

Ah! I saw him too soon without knowing him!
Hatred is the cradle of this fatal love!
It's done! if I cannot be his,
Let the coffin be my bridal bed!

(She moves away slowly: the guests reappear.
Tybalt enters from one side with Paris. Romeo,
Mercutio, Benvolio, and their masked friends
enter from the other.)

TYBALT
(seeing Romeo)
Here he is! here he is!

PARIS
(approaching Tybalt)
What is it?

TYBALT
(showing Romeo)
Romeo!

PARIS
Romeo!

(Tybalt is about to rush towards the group;
Capulet, with an imperious gesture,
imposes silence on him.)

ROMEO
(to himself)
Even my name
Is a crime in his eyes!
Oh pain! oh pain!
Capulet is his father and I love him!

MERCUTIO
(to Romeo)
Look! look how furiously
Tybalt looks at us!
There's a storm in the air...

TYBALT
I tremble with rage!

CAPULET
(to his guests)
What! are you leaving already? stay a moment!
A joyful supper awaits you!

TYBALT
Patience! patience!
From this mortal offense
Romeo, I swear,
Will suffer the punishment!

MERCUTIO
We are being watched, silence!
We must be prudent!
Let's not foolishly wait
For a disastrous event.

CAPULET
(to his guests)
Let the party continue!
Let's drink and dance!
Once, I swear,
We danced more valiantly!
We danced, etc.

CHOIR
Let the party continue!
Let's drink and dance!
Pleasure only lasts a moment!
Let's end the night joyfully!
Pleasure, etc.

TYBALT
He's escaping! Who wants to follow him?
I challenge him with my glove to his face!

CAPULET
And I, I don't want any trouble! do you hear me?
Leave this young man in peace!
I prefer not to know his name!
I forbid you to take a step!
Come on! young people!
Come on! beautiful ladies!
To the most diligent
These eyes full of flames!
Mock! mock the critics,
Who constantly scold!
Celebrate youth,
And make way for the dancers!

CHOIR
Mock! mock the drinkers,
Who fear intoxication!
Celebrate youth,
And make way for the dancers!

(Mercutio takes Romeo away;
they are followed by Benvolio and their friends.)