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The words “come se fosse l’ultima ora del nostro amor,” constitute one phrase. It would be extremely difficult, impossible even, for many, to sing the passage in one breath. But the first musical phrase ends after the word “ultima;” to separate it from the next word, “ora” (second and third bars), thus: “last—hour,” is impracticable. It would be out of the question to destroy the musical phrase by breathing after the word “ora,” in the third bar. If the text is phrased when spoken as it is when sung, the incongruity is at once apparent. The published score gives a pause after the word “ora:” “ultima ora del nostro amor.” This phrasing is good and effective, especially if the artist changes at once to the sombre quality after the pause, and finishes the phrase piano and rallentando. One very often hears it, however, given with a pause for breathing after the high a; the unfortunate singer having prolonged the tone until, in order to continue, he is compelled to take in more air. The result is the absurd phrasing given below:

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In the final cadenza, the composer has cut out the word “ora” altogether. The whole air is of interest to the musical student, as it shows clearly the little value attached by Verdi, at that period of his career, to the exigencies of the verbal or poetic phrase. This neglect of the verbal punctuation is in marked contrast to the care he bestowed on it in his later works, witness Aida, Otello, and particularly Falstaff.

Here I may say that it is sometimes necessary to alter the words on account of the impossibility of performing certain passages as written. In the earlier published scores of Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns), the following passage in Act II, “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix,” as the composer wrote it, occurs as one phrase:

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This being impracticable of execution in one phrase, and there being no opportunity of retaking breath until the close of the passage, it was altered in the later editions, and now stands thus:

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This device of repetition, applied either to a word or to part of a phrase, is perfectly justifiable in cases where the artist, for physical reasons, is unable to sing the phrase in one breath. I give an excerpt from Weber’s Der Freischütz (Grand Air, Act II):

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This may be sung:

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The concluding bars of the waltz-song in Act I of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, are often phrased as indicated in the brackets, in order to give the singer a chance to take breath, which is done after the c natural:

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As discrepancies between the musical and verbal phrases, such as those I have instanced, abound in certain of the old operas which still keep the stage and form a part of the permanent répertoire of every lyric theatre, the artists singing them are compelled to choose between sacrificing the words or the music. The former alternative is generally preferable, the musical phrase in many such cases being of the greater relative importance. Another way is, to meet the difficulty boldly by supplying another text which mates itself more happily with the musical phrase. Personally, I adopt the latter alternative without hesitation, when preparing artists to sing these works.