Interesting movie. Corny stuff: Clarice in a black gown? I think that what his name could have gotten away with doing Hannibal in with a less elaborate plan? The music was very moving - gaining sympathy for Hannibal; but the candlelight down the aisle thing was too much - casting doubt on the score? The original was the best, most honest. I felt badly about the last scene in the movie - I felt that Hannibal over-reached in offering a small kid his meal. I wonder if the director was thinking of Uni - a sea urchin, popular in Japan. Basically, I believe there is a fascination with trying to decipher the mind of a person so possessed. In reality, I do not belive that the criminal mind possesses such distinctive tastes.
> Waoh - I have been watching Hannibal on cable and love the film (apart
> from a few corny bits). I share all your entusiasm for Vide Cor Meum. I
> copied the song and listened to it constantly on my trip last week to
> Florence which is a beautiful city steeped in Dantean and Renaissance
> culture. On watching the film again last night, I promised myself that I
> would find the lyrics of this libretto today, and my search has borne its
> fruit. Please find below what you have been looking for. I found it on the
> following website:
> http://www.pentaone.com/hannibal/videcormeum.shtml also see these
> websites for furter Dante resources.
> http://www.greatdante.net/texts.htm let it be known that this man's work
> is not only the realm of serial killers, but of those who seek beauty in
> words.
> ciao,enjoy,
> Tony
> Ps if anyone else has interesting comments on Dante or beautiful classical
> or opera music, please let me know,
> ta ta,
> T
> Vide Cor Meum
> He saw Beatrice Portinari across a chapel and he loved her at that instant
> and for the rest of his life. But then had a disturbing dream - Joyous
> Love seemed to me, the while he held my heart in his hands, and in his
> arms, My lady lay asleep wrapped in a veil - He woke her then, and
> trembling and obedient, she ate that burning heart out of his hand.
> Weeping, I saw him then depart from me. He saw her eat his heart!
> Do you believe a man could become so obsessed with a woman from a single
> encounter? Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for her? Find nourishment
> in the very sight of her? I think so. But would she see through the bars
> of his plight, and ache for him?
> Vide Cor Meum
> Italian/Latin
> Chorus: E pensando di lei
> Mi sopragiunse uno soave sonno
> Ego dominus tuus
> Vide cor tuum
> E d'sto core ardendo
> Cor tuum
> (Chorus: Lei paventosa)
> Umilmente pascea
> Appreso gir lo ne vedea piangendo
> La letizia si convertia
> In amarissimo pianto
> Io sono in pace
> Cor meum
> Io sono in pace
> Vide cor meum
> English
> Chorus: And thinking of her
> Sweet sleep overcame me
> I am your master
> Behold your heart
> And of this burning heart
> Your heart
> (Chorus: She trembling)
> Obediently eats
> Weeping, I saw him then depart from me
> Joy is converted
> To bitterest tears
> I am in peace
> My heart
> I am in peace
> Here's my Heart
> The opera is based on Dante Alighieri's La Vita Nuova (The New Life).
> Specifically it is based on the sonnet "A ciascun'alma presa",
> in chapter 3 of the Vita Nuova. Vide Cor Meum is by Patrick Cassidy,
> produced by Patrick Cassidy and Hans Zimmer; in the movie Hannibal the
> singers are Danielle de Niese and Bruno Lazzaretti who play respectively
> Dante and Beatrice.
> As Dante tells it, he met and fell in love with a woman he called Beatrice
> at the age of nine. Beatrice at the time was eight. He frequented places
> where he could catch a glimpse of her, but she never spoke to him until
> nine years later. In the sonnet Vita Nuova that Vide Cor Meum refers to,
> nine years have past since his first encounter with Beatrice. She appears
> to him, dressed in white and accompanied by two older women, Beatrice
> turned to Dante and greeted him. Her greeting filled him with such bliss
> that he retreats to his room to think about her. The English translation
> is below:
> "When exactly nine years had passed since this gracious being
> appeared to me, as I have described, it happened that on the last day of
> this intervening period this marvel appeared before me again, dressed in
> purest white, walking between two other women of distinguished bearing,
> both older than herself. As they walked down the street she turned her
> eyes toward me where I stood in fear and trembling, and with her ineffable
> courtesy, which is now rewarded in eternal life, she greeted me; and such
> was the virtue of her greeting that I seemed to experience the height of
> bliss. It was exactly the ninth hour of day when she gave me her sweet
> greeting. As this was the first time she had ever spoken to me, I was
> filled with such joy that, my senses reeling, I had to withdraw from the
> sight of others. So I returned to the loneliness of my room and began to
> think about this gracious person." (La Vita Nuova III)
> —Translated by Barbara Reynolds © 1969 All Rights Reserved.
> And thinking of her he fell asleap and had a marvellous dream. Dante sees
> a mighty figure which says "Ego dominus tuus" (I'm your Lord).
> In the figure's arms was Beatrice, covered only in a crimson cloth and
> sleeping. The figure held something on fire and says "Vide cor
> tuum" (Here's your heart). The figure awoke Beatrice and made her eat
> Dante's burning heart. The English translation is below:
> "And thinking of her a sweet sleep overcame me, in which a marvellous
> vision appeared to me: so that it seemed I saw in my room a flame-coloured
> nebula, in the midst of which I discerned the shape of a lord of fearful
> aspect to those who gazed on him: and he appeared to me with such joy, so
> much joy within himself, that it was a miraculous thing: and in his speech
> he said many things, of which I understood only a few: among them I
> understood this: ‘Ego dominus tuus: I am your lord.’
> It seemed to me he held a figure sleeping in his arms, naked except that
> it seemed to me to be covered lightly with a crimson cloth: gazing at it
> very intently I realised it was the lady of the greeting, she who had
> deigned to greet me before that day. And in one of his hands it seemed to
> me that he held something completely on fire, and he seemed to say to me
> these words: ‘Vide cor tuum: Look upon your heart. And when he had stood
> for a while, he seemed to wake her who slept: and by his art was so
> forceful that he made her eat the thing that burned in her hand, which she
> ate hesitantly."
> —Translation by A.S.Kline © 2001 All Rights Reserved.
> Both Dante and Beatrice married other people and Beatrice died at the age
> of 24. Dante wrote La Vita Nuova about 2 years later.
