Elle a fui, la tourterelle!

In class I spoke about the aria "Elle a fui".  This is sung by Antonia in the third act of the opera and it has by far the best music in the entire work.  I did an analysis of the aria and found that there were two main sections an A section and a B section that repeats. This means that it takes the form of Binary.

Lets take a listen and see where the sections line up! And of course we have to listen to the magnificent Kiri te Kanawa.

This aria actually starts the beginning of act 3 with a huge full orchestration and amazing harp solo that goes right into the aria at 0:55. She starts to sing the main theme until she stops herself and begins the recitative.

Here is the translation....

Elle a fui, la tourtelle!              She has fled, the turtledove!
Ah! souvenir trop doux!                Ah, memory too sweet, 
Image trop cruelle!                    Image too cruel!
Hélas! à mes genoux,                   Alas, at my knees,
Je l'entends, je le vois!              I hear him, I see him!
Je l'entends, je le vois!              I hear him, I see him!

Elle a fui, la tourterelle,            She has flown, the turledove,
Elle a fui loin de toi;                She has flown far from you;
Mais elle est toujours fidèle          But she is always faithful 
Et te garde sa foi.                    And keeps her vow
Mon bienaimé, ma voix t'appelle,       My beloved, my voice calls you
Oui, tout mon coeur est à toi.         Yes, all my heart is yours

Chère fleur qui viens d'éclore         Dear flower, just opened, 
Par pitié réponds moi!                 Have pity, answer me.
Toi qui sais s'il m'aime encore,       You who knows if he still lives me,
S'il me garde sa foi!                  If he keeps his vow.
Mon bienaimé, ma voix t'implore,       My beloved, my voice begs you,
Ah! que ton coeur vienne à moi.        Ah, let your heart come to me.
Elle a fui, la tourterelle,            She has flown, the turtledove,
Elle a fui loin de toi.                She has flown far from you.

She doesn't begin the actual A section until 2:00 and the B section at 2:30. The beginning sequence where she hints at the melody I think is her daydreaming and the descending line shows how she is coming out of the dreamy sequence.