I Capuletti ed i Montecchi, Act I, Scene IV

Notice the word order in this last sentence: the adverbial phrase quale vittima has been moved ahead of the infinitive, cadere, that it modifies, and the prepositional phrase dell'ara has been moved ahead of the noun it modifies, piede. Normal spoken Italian syntax would be: Oh! almeno potessi cadere quale vittima al piede dell'ara!

Note the syntax in the first sentence of the second stanza of Giuletta's aria: the subject, il brillare del giorno, has been shifted after the verb, pare, so the predicate, il raggio del tuo sembiante, which would normally follow the verb, is shifted before it. Then, to further complicate matters, the indirect object pronoun, mi, which would normally precede the verb, pare, has been shifted after it and attached to it. Normal spoken Italian syntax would be something like: Il brillare del giorno mi pare (il) raggio del tuo sembiante.

Also note the poetic form here: ABBC ADDC. As you will see, Romani varies his forms throughout this scene.

In this last sentence, Romani really plays with the syntax, in a way that no Italian has ever spoken the language, but very much as Horace and other Latin poets played with their tongue. Romani shifts the infinitive part of the verb, arrestare, to later in the sentence, separating it from its modal, potria, itself an archaic and poetic alternative for modern Italian potrebbe, the 3rd person singular present conditional of potere, and using it instead to break up the noun phrase my fleeing soul. As for that noun phrase, Romani shifts the adjective fuggente, which would normally follow its noun, anima, to a position before it, while shifting the possessive adjective, mia, which normally precedes its noun, to a position after it. Normal spoken Italian syntax would be something like: Romeo potrebbe arrestare la mia anima fuggente.

More games here, in both syntax and vocabulary. Romani splits up the noun phrase, per quel segreto ingresso, with an adjectival phrase, noto solo a noi, whose order he inverts: a noi sol noto. He replaces the standard Italian te lo with the poetic elision tel. Normal spoken Italian would be something like: Io te lo guidai per quel segreto ingresso noto solo a noi.

If you can't figure out what the libretto means, it's not always your fault. Italian librettos, even when printed in scores published by Italian publishers, are full of typographical errors. The direct object pronoun here should be la, since Giulietta is referring to herself: you see her deprived of hope, ill, languishing.

The same problem here. True, Romeo is sung by a woman, but the character never refers to himself as a woman (Bellini's operas are not that modern:). Yet in the score the text reads consolata rather than consolato, which makes no sense, as Romeo is saying that, never consoled by a smile of yours, I (Romeo, a guy) come, having decided to die.

Note further down the inverted syntax and the poetic form of devi: dêi. Modern spoken Italian would be: Tu devi fuggire con me.

In the set numbers themselves, where Romani saw himself writing real poems and was very intent on being an Italian Horace, the syntax often becomes particularly contorted. Modern spoken Italian here would be something like:

Avremo una migliore patria di questa,
(Avremo) un cielo migliore dovunque andremo:
L'amore terrà luogo a noi
d'ogni bene che il cuore desidera.

Notice that the syntax of the second phrase has been almost perfectly inverted. Also notice the poetic form desia for desidera.

The rhyme scheme is now ABABCD.

Much the same is true in the second part of Giulietta's verse. The subject, un più forte potere d'amore, has been shifted after the verbs, annoda and serra. The syntax of the second sentence is particularly contorted: the subject and verb have been moved to the end of the sentence, the prepositional phrase, alla mia anima, has been moved foreward, and con te has been turned into the archaic teco. Modern spoken Italian would be something like:

Qui un potere più forte dell'amore
M'annoda, mi serra.
Solo, ah, solo il cielo darà
alla mia alma (di) venire con te.

Again, he repeats the rhyme scheme from Romeo's stanza, changing the first two rhymes but repeating the third and fourth to link the two stanzas together: EFEFCD.

More phrase splitting here. Romani shifts the adjective alcuno up, away from the noun it modifies, sacrifizio, to a position in front of the verb. No Italian has even spoken the language like this. Dêi is, again, an archaic form of dovere. Modern spoken Italian would be something like: Ma tu pure mi devi alcuno sacrifizio del tuo cuore.

Notice also the different poetic form here, now back to four line stanzas rather than six line stanzas: ABAC DBDC EBEC DBDC. In Giulietta's aria, you had the same sound repeated in the two middle verses, 2 and 3. Here the same sound is repeated in the 1st and 3rd verses.

Note the subjunctives used for third-person commands: Let him kill me or let him fall dead before you.

Note the poetic form here: AABC DDBC EEBC FFBC. This time the same sound occurs not in the 2nd and 3rd verses, as in the first four line stanzas, nor in the 1st and 3rd verses, as in the second four line stanzas, but in the 1st and 2nd verses. In all three sets of four line stanzas, there are three different sounds, ABC, etc., but in each case, the placement of the rhyme is different.