Nothing, in our opinion, demonstrates the strength of Italian opera as much as an episode in the Los Angeles subway. A homeless woman, aged 52, suddenly began to sing the famous aria composed by Puccini for his Gianni Schicchi, a character who appears in Canto XXX of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. Gianni Schicchi is a short comic opera. The libretto was written by Gioacchino Forzano and the music by Puccini. The world premiere took place on 14 December 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
This song, sung by a homeless woman in 2019 in an almost excellent way (it was one of Maria Callas’s favourite pieces), received millions of views in just a few days.
Here it is:
O mio babbino caro,
Mi piace è bello, bello;
Vo’ andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l’anello!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
E se l’amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno!
Mi struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!…
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
O my dear daddy,
I like it, it is nice, nice;
I want to go to the Red Gate
to buy the ring!
Yes, yes, I want to go!
And if I were to love him in vain,
I would go to the Old Bridge,
but to throw myself into the Arno!
I pine and torment myself!
O God, I wish I could die!
Daddy, have pity, pity!
Daddy, have pity, pity!
It is hard to look at her without feeling moved and enchanted.
The LAPD managed to track down the singer. Her name is Emily Zamourka, and she said she arrived in the United States from Russia at the age of 24. She was a classical violinist, pianist, and music teacher before she began to suffer from serious health problems, which forced her to take several jobs to make ends meet and pay for health care. She also played the violin on the street before her instrument was stolen. Since then, she was unable to pay her rent and bills and was evicted from her home. Since her subway singing, Zamourka has performed at several events before live audiences who praised her with uproarious applause, and a new violin was given to her through free GoFoundMe offerings.
This video shows the salvific and universal power of Italian opera.
