These were particularly turbulent times for the “Eternal City”, marking the beginning of fourteen years of domination by the legions of Napoleon Bonaparte. The play La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, from which the libretto is taken, dates it even more precisely, to the “afternoon, evening and early morning of 17 and 18 June 1800”. It is sung by Mario Cavaradossi (tenor), a painter who is in love with the singer and ‘leading lady’ Floria Tosca, while he awaits execution on the ramparts of the famous Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. It is a romanza, and features in Act Three of his melodramatic opera Tosca, composed in 1900 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The Puccini aria is titled “E lucevan le stelle” (“And the stars were shining”). Ricordi, the publisher of Puccini’s operas, having to pay up $25,000 in damages and all future royalties of the song. You don’t need to fly to be awesome!” The track is titled “Erik’s opera”.Īl Jonson, who also lifted the melody of this aria for his song ‘Avalon’ in 1920, was not so lucky. It is at this juncture that the sombre clarinet solo is heard, and Erik first commiserates with his father (“After all you’ve done, you really deserve better”) and then proceeds to reprimand their tormentor and the Fates in general: “Where is the honour when a solemn promise is just a pretty lie, and the mighty mock the courage of the humble?” He ends with the advice his father, who although “just an ordinary penguin” had given him: “You don’t need to be colossal to be a great heart. The context? Erik the penguin (he of the Happy Feet) and his dad Mumble are on their arduous journey back to Emperor-Land when they encounter a precarious ice bridge guarded by an elephant seal (“Brian the Beachmaster”) and his two cubs, who refuse to let the penguins pass. Its appearance, right in the middle of the film, seemed incongruous at first.īut the film is meant to be a musical, and if the soundtrack can feature the rock anthem “We are the Champions” by Queen, then why not a ‘modified’ aria from Tosca by Giacomo Puccini? Director George Miller in an interview called it “a strange confection of different genres, from opera to ballads, rap and R&B classics.” I happened to be watching a segment of Happy Feet Two with him, when I was startled to hear the familiar sound of a Puccini aria, but with the lyrics changed. "It's you just.Thanks to my 5-year old, I often end up watching snatches of children’s films on television.
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