Tessa

Like many Vodacce operas, Tessa is driven by a curse. Tessa features a sadistic villain, scenes of torture and attempted rape, plus a stabbing and an execution. Although it has several memorable arias, many of Tessa's unforgettable melodies are woven into the orchestration rather than the vocals. The scene is laid in Vodacce, in an undetermined princedom. The villian, Prince Scarpia, is sometimes portrayed as being of a particular family to slander that family, but merely by the slightest of suggestions.

Major Characters

Synopsis

Prolog - Angelotti a merchant, once a favorite of Prince Scarpia, drukenly mistakes his Strega wife for one of his many mistresses. She curses Angelotti that any who shelter him will know nothing but tragedy. Most of his friends quickly desert him and the prince has him arrested and thrown into a dungeon.

Act 1 - Tessa, going to her husband's studio to bring him lunch, finds the door locked. She demands admission and Mario must settle his wife's jealous suspicions. He soothes her ruffled feathers until she discovers a lady's fan in his studio. Mario then reveals to his wife that he is sheltering his friend Angelotti, now disguised as a woman, who has escaped from the Prince's prison. As soon as he explains the situation, the church bells ring out sounding the alarm of the escaped prisoner. Mario and Tessa hide Angelotti in a dry well behind their home and try to cover. Both are arrested and taken before Prince Scarpia.

Act 2 - The moment Prince Scarpia lays eyes on Tessa, his heart is filled with a violent passion for her and he's determined to have her. In a macabre scene he flirts with Tessa over an elegant dinner while he has her husband tortured in the adjecent room. Her husband doesn't reveal where Angelotti is revealed, but Tessa's initial anger and outrage at Prince Scarpia's give way to grief and despair as her husband screams in pain. She breaks down and reveals where Angelotti is hiding in the well. Prince Scarpia orders him seized Angelotti is executed on the spot. Prince Scarpia orders Mario to be executed in the morning. Tessa, passionately pleads for her husband's life. Scarpia offers to save him if she will grant his evil desires, and at last the despairing Tessa consents. Scarpia declares that a mock execution will have to take place, but that blank cartridges shall be fired. He writes out an order. While he is signing it with his seal, Tessa removes a dagger from her bodice, and when he goes to embrace her, she stabs him through the heart.

Act 3 - Tessa rushes the sealed orders to the men who will carry out the execution. She reassures her husband that the bullets will be blank and that he must feign his death. As the soldiers read the orders, the audience learns that Prince Scarpia lied and the orders are for Mario's execution. Mario marches to his death calmly thinking it a fraud. The shots ring out and Mario falls to the ground motionless. The soldiers leave and Tessa hastens to her husband's side and to her horror finds that real shot was used and that he is dead. As she wails with grief, a cry of alarm goes up, the body of Prince Scarpia has been found. Soldiers rush to arrest Tessa, but before they can reach her she rushes to the parapet of the tower, and casting herself over the battlements falls dead on the pavement below.

Epilog - Prince Scarpia's strega wife bemoans her husband's fate. As she does so she sees Angelotti's corpse being taken away. In despair she realizes that in holding him prisoner, her husband provided shelter for Angelotti, and he fell victim to the very curse she laid.

Quotes from the Opera

The painter Mario contemplates the similarity between his beloved Tessa and the woman depicted on the canvass that he's presently working on.
Recondita armonia di bellezze diverse!
È bruna Floria, l’ardente amante mia,
e te, beltade ignota
cinta di chiome bionde!
Tu azzurro hai l’occhio
Tessa ha l’occhio nero!
L'arte nel suo mistero
le diverse bellezze insiem confonde:
ma nel ritrar costei
il mio solo pensiero,
ah! il mio sol pensier sei tu!
Tessa, sei tu!		 What subtle harmony of different beauties!
Floria, my passionate lover is a brunette
and you, unknown beauty,
are framed by fair hair
you have blue eyes
Tessa has dark eyes
the mysterious art
mixes the different beauties together:
but while I paint her
I only think
Ah! I only think of you
Tessa, of you!

About to be executed for treason, Mario bids farewell to life.
E lucevan le stelle
ed olezzava la terra,
stridea l'uscio dell'orto,
e un passo sfiorava la rena...
Entrava ella, fragrante,
mi cadea fra le braccia...
O dolci baci, o languide carezze,
mentr'io fremente
le belle forme disciogliea dai veli!
Svani per sempre
il sogno mio d'amore...
L'ora è fuggita...
E muoio disperato!
E muoio disperato...
E non ho amato mai tanto la vita! 		And the stars twinkled
and the earth was fragrant,
the garden gate creaked,
and a footstep brushed the sandy path...
she entered, perfumed,
and fell into my arms...
Oh sweet kisses, oh yearning embraces,
as I, trembling,
undid her veils to reveal her beauty.
Vanished forever
is my dream of love..
The hour has fled...
And I die in despair!
And I die in despair...
And life has never been so precious to me!

Source

Tessa is inspired by the events and quotes are take from Tosca. However, the plotline was substainally revised and cleaned up to be more Vodacce.

7th Sea copyright Alderac Entertainment Group. Dreamlyrics copyright ASCKEY Ltd.
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