Brindisi (toast)
A Brindisi ([ ˈbrindizi ]; Italian for "toast", "toast") is a drinking song in which a group is invited to drink.
The word is Italian, but it comes from the German expression (I) bring you what used to be the usual introduction to a toast . The expression probably came into the Italian language because of the similar sounding name of the Italian city Brindisi , although this etymologically has nothing to do with the name used for the drinking song.
The term brindisi is often used in operas , with a protagonist typically starting a toast with a solo melody and the whole ensemble following him in the chorus .
Some well-known opera numbers known as Brindisi are:
- Libiamo ne 'lieti calici by Alfredo and Violetta in the 1st act of Verdi's La traviata
- Viva, il vino spumeggiante by Turiddu in the 2nd picture from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana
- Il segreto per esser felici by Orsini in the 2nd act of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia
- Inaffia l'ugola! by Iago in the 1st act of Verdi's Otello
- Si colmi il calice of Lady Macbeth in Act 2 of Verdi's Macbeth
- The Tea-Cup Brindisi in the finale of Act 1 of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer
- Ô vin, dissipe la tristesse by Hamlet in the 2nd act of Thomas' Hamlet
Web links
- Libiamo ne 'lieti calici onYouTube,Glyndebourne Festival Opera2014 (with English subtitles)
Individual evidence
- ^ Ottorino Pianigiani: Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana: brindisi
- ↑ Lo Zingarelli . Vocabolario della lingua italiana. Zanichelli, 1997