Un di all'azzurro spazio : 10 great recordings : new restorations : Colour photos

The aria Un di all'azzurro spazio (Gazing one day into the boundless blue) is from Umberto Giordano's opera Andrea Chenier. The text is by Luigi Illica and it is set in France just prior to the great Revolution.
The poet Andrea Chenier is a guest at a ball given by the aristocrat Countess de Coigny and her daughter asks Chenier to improvise a poem (possibly about love) but instead, he sings this beautiful aria condemning the aristocracy and crying out at the miserable life the poor are forced to live. The aristocrats present are, of course, indignant and only the Countess's daughter is touched by the poet's words. ,,
The recordings on the video are;.
0:00 Luciano Pavarotti (1935 to 2007) Rec 1984
4:54 Giovanni Martinelli (1885 to 1969) Rec 1926
9:18 Georges Thill (1897 to 1984) Rec 1928
13:00 Mario Lanza (1921 to 1959) Rec1947 (live, Hollywood Bowl)
17:52 Enrico Caruso (1873 to 1921) Rec 1907
21:32 Mario Del Monaco (1915 to 1982) Rec 1948
25:55 Beniamino Gigli (1890 to 1957) Rec 1941
30:14 Giuseppe Di Stefano (1921 to 2008) Rec 1952 (Live)
35:10 Franco Corelli (1921 to 2003) Rec 1956
39:52 Richard Tucker 1913 to 1975 Rec 1960 (Live)
The recordings are in random order.
(Incidentally, as two listeners have pointed out the photo at 2:06 doesn't look like Pavarotti and the reason for this is that it's actually a wax model of him in Madame Tussaud's, Vienna.)

A translation of the aria to English is;
You have struck me here
where I, jealous,
conceal the most pure beating of my soul
Now you will see, young lady, what a poem
is the word "Love,"
here a reason for ridicule!

One day to the blue spaces
I looked profoundly,
and to the fields filled with violets,
rained the gold of the sun,
and illuminated of gold the earth,
it seemed the Earth an immense treasure,
and to her the skies served as a coffin.

Up from the earth to my face
came a lively caress, a kiss.
I shouted, overcome by love.
I love you who kiss me
divinely beautiful,
my homeland!
And I wanted, with great love, to pray!
I passed through a door at a church;
There a priest, in the alcove of the saints
and of the Virgin, he was gathering gifts ...
and to the deaf ear,
an old man, trembling, in vain
was asking for bread,
and in vain extended his hand
I went into a workman's hut;
a man there was offending, swearing at the earth
that the treasury barely fills
and against God he was swearing,
and against men
the tears of his children.
In so much misery the patrician line,
what do they do?
Only your eye
expresses humanely here,
a look of pity,
where I looked at you,
you like an angel
And I said;
Here the beauty of life!
But, then, to your words
a new sadness
has gripped my heart
Oh beautiful young lady,
don't discredit the words of a poet
Listen!
You don't know love.
love, a divine gift, don't scoff at it,
the life and soul of the world is love!

Видео Un di all'azzurro spazio : 10 great recordings : new restorations : Colour photos канала Michael McGrail