The legendary Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti gave a concert at New York’s Central Park on June 28, 1993, accompanied by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leone Magiera. More than 500,000 listeners gathered for Pavarotti’s free performance on that day.
Pavarotti’s Central Park Concert Program
With start times in the video above:
- 0:00:00 Overture
- 0:06:47 Giuseppe Verdi: Quando le sere al placido (from Luisa Miller)
- 0:12:55 Saverio Mercadante: Flute Concerto in E minor, 3rd Movement “Rondò russo (Allegro vivace scherzando”. Soloist: Andrea Griminalli.
Lyrics
Verdi: Quando le sere al placido, Rodolfo’s aria from Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano (1801-1852), based on the play Kabale und Liebe (Intrigue and Love) by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805).
Quando le sere al placido
chiator d’un ciel stellato
meco figgea nell’eterelo
sguardo innamorato,
e questa mano stringer
midalla sua man senita…
Ah! mi tradita!
Allor, ch’io muto, estatico
da’ labbri suoi pendea,
ed ella in suon angelico,
“amo te sol” dicea,
tal che sembrò l’empiereo
apirisi all’alma mia!
Ah! mi tradia!
English translation
When the nights are placid
cheater of a starry sky
meco figgea in the ether
the look in love,
And this holds me
from his senite man…
Ah! betray me!
Then, I am silent, ecstatic
from his lips his pendea,
and she in angelic sound,
“I love you,” he said,
so that he seemed the impiereo
open yours to mine!
Ah! it betrays me!
Sources
- Quando le sere al placido text on Operas-Arias website

