VERDI

KING FOR A DAY

(Un Giorno di Regno)

The madcap Cavalier Belfior, honored guest at the castle of Kelbar, for reasons not yet revealed is impersonating the king of Poland:

Fellow soldiers of the army,

You who counted me the zany,

Come, admit it’s rather brainy

Of the clown to get the crown.

As platoon buffoon you know me,

But observe my transformation

Into sovereign of a nation.

To my question now reply:

Is there wiser fool than I? . . .

When the love-stricken tenor in despair pleads with the ‘king’ to allow him to serve on the battle-field, the two have differing viewpoints:

EDWARD:

With the heart of a warrior unswerving,

I will turn all my furies to serving.

Into far lands, inspired by a hero,

All the dangers of death I’ll defy!

CAVALIER:

In the part of a warrior unswerving,

You will earn all the glories of serving,

And the garlands desired by a hero

Will adorn you, provided you die.

Giulietta, the baron’s feisty daughter, is being forced into marriage to an elderly but rich treasurer, not without protest:

Hang that old booby!

I’m not so stupid.

And I’ve another plan,

Speaking of Cupid.

There is a younger man

I much prefer.

No joy is sweeter than

Those April moments

Of budding romance,

Love’s wakening stir . . .

The servants observe the shenanigans going on in the castle with wry amusement:

We’re the vassal of the castle --

Oh, it’s lucky to be a lackey!

Never catch me changing places

With a bunch of basket cases.

We are poor, but far more joyous

Than the rascals who employ us;

All congenial, though but menial,

And our hearts are true in love

Even if our hands are rough.

The baron is out for vengeance on the treasurer, who has snubbed his daughter for an even more glorious alliance:

I will snuff you like a candle,

I will crack you like an egg.

Like a scruffy, dirty sandal

I will hang you on a peg.

I will crush you like a wafer,

I will strike you like a match.

There’ll be nothing left to stay for

When I toss you down the hatch . . .

Thanks to the supposed king’s maneuvers, the opera ends with not one wedding, but two:

To the weddings herein plighted

Sweethearts all are now invited.

Wrongs are righted, loves requited;

Kings should all have such a day!