# Characters saying their names in operas



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

In Deh tuoi figli from Medea she says her name in the aria and I have heard other characters in opera refer to themselves by their name in arias. In today's English referring to yourself by your name in a conversation is odd. Was this more common in former times or in different cultures? I've always wondered about this and never have seen it addressed.


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## Otis B. Driftwood (4 mo ago)

I immediately thought of Figaro's opening number in "Il barbiere...". That guy knows how to make an entrance.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I'm sure there's a line in the first act Tosca duet which goes along the lines of 'Tosca's blood is aflame with love'... I've always thought it odd.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Scarpia refers to himself in : "Va Tosca, nel tuo cuor s'annida Scarpia" etc.

Mimi, introducing herself, but it's pretty normal to say the name in such a situation...
Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì
Ma il mio nome è Lucia

Overall, I think it is probably because opera arias are rarely modelled after normal speech. Scarpia talks to himself, or rather reveals his thoughts to the audience.

Another example is Rocco in Fidelio. Either to Pizarro or (I think) to Leonore he talks about himself in the 3rd person "Zum Morden dingt sich Rocco nicht" (Rocco will not be hired for murder)


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

"Manon Lescaut mi chiamo..."
"O sventurata Iphigenia!"
"O smania! O furie! O sventurata Elettra!"
Suor Angelica.
Norma, when she's asked the name of a victim.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Batti, batti bel Masetto a tua povera Zerlina...


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Half of the characters in "The love to the three oranges".
Lel in " Snowmaiden".


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

In his Commentaries on the Gallic War Julius Caesar refers to himself by name (it’s called illeism, a word coined by S.T. Coleridge and which as a literary device originates with Elizabethan drama). The libretto of Handel’s _Cesare in Egitto_ has Caesar refer to himself repeatedly by name: For example, at the opening of the opera, upon his arrival in Egypt, Caesar announces in a witty reference to his famed triumphal placard: 'Caesar came, saw and conquered.' After inquiring 'What do you ask of Caesar, noble Cornelia?', Caesar declares his readiness to reconcile with Pompey if the latter agrees: 'Let Pompey come and embrace Caesar'. When Ptolemy offers his palace, he replies 'Caesar is pleased to accept what royal Ptolemy offers'.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

"Son La Gioconda." (Well, uh, not really her name?)


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Francasacchi said:


> "Son La Gioconda." (Well, uh, not really her name?)


Does she have a name, except a nickname?


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

As Rick Reikert has pointed out, I don't think this is a device confined to opera. In straight plays, expecially those of previous generations, a character will call themselves by name so that the audience is in no doubt who they are. Of cours there are other uses too. Sometimes it dramatically apt. Tosca refers to herself in the third person quite a at least twice in Act I, in the love duet when she says Tosca is burning with love and later when she refers to herself as "l'innamorata Tosca" during her scene with Scarpia. Most tellingly, she triumphantly does so again after she has stabbed Scarpia, "Look at me. I'm Tosca oh Scarpia." Callas is amazing here in the video from Covent Garden, and then just as amazing when she realises what she has done and recoils in horror, dropping the knife.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> As Rick Reikert has pointed out, I don't think this is a device confined to opera. In straight plays, expecially those of previous generations, a character will call themselves by name so that the audience is in no doubt who they are. Of cours there are other uses too. Sometimes it dramatically apt. Tosca refers to herself in the third person quite a at least twice in Act I, in the love duet when she says Tosca is burning with love and later when she refers to herself as "l'innamorata Tosca" during her scene with Scarpia. Most tellingly, she triumphantly does so again after she has stabbed Scarpia, "Look at me. I'm Tosca oh Scarpia." Callas is amazing here in the video from Covent Garden, and then just as amazing when she realises what she has done and recoils in horror, dropping the knife.


THAT makes sense. Thanks. I knew I couldn't have been the only person to notice this.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

RICK RIEKERT said:


> In his Commentaries on the Gallic War Julius Caesar refers to himself by name (it’s called illeism, a word coined by S.T. Coleridge and which as a literary device originates with Elizabethan drama).


If it originated with C Julius Caesar it preceded Elizabethan drama...  I am too lazy to check but I think at least one Greek historian did it before Caesar, probably Xenophon writing Anabasis from a 3rd person perspective despite being in the action himself, and it remained rather common in antiquity, I think.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

ColdGenius said:


> "Manon Lescaut mi chiamo..."
> "O sventurata Iphigenia!"
> "O smania! O furie! O sventurata Elettra!"
> Suor Angelica.
> Norma, when she's asked the name of a victim.


Technically, Norma says "It's me" ("Son io"), when asked to name the victim, or rather the perjurious priestess.
Only later, after Pollione makes a lame attempt to save her, and says it is not true, she responds "Norma non mente" (Norma doesn't lie).


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Rheingold: "Immer ist Undank Loges Lohn"

A couple from Siegfried:

Act 1 "Wanderer heisst mich die Welt"
Act 2 "Siegfried bin ich genannt"

"Sein Ritter ich – bin Lohengrin genannt"

"Der Fliegende Holländer nennt man mich"


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Kreisler jr said:


> If it originated with C Julius Caesar it preceded Elizabethan drama...  I am too lazy to check but I think at least one Greek historian did it before Caesar, probably Xenophon writing Anabasis from a 3rd person perspective despite being in the action himself, and it remained rather common in antiquity, I think.


You're right, of course, but I'm unsure of the reason Caesar referred to himself in the third person so I don't know if he was using it as a literary device. And yes, Xenophon also wrote from a third person perspective.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

_“Io, *Medea!*”

“Io son Calaf, figlio de Timur!” (_*Turandot*_)

*“Turandot *tramonta,” _she says regretfully to Calaf in their duet.

_“Gualtier Malde, studiente sono e povero!” _Though it’s a false name, the Duke refers to himself in his disguised personage. (*Rigoletto*).

“_My name is … Lydia,” _says the disguised Cleopatra to Caesar, then later announces herself ,”in the thickest of the fight you’ll find Cleopatra at your side” (*Julius Caesar*). This is the English translation, which was the language used first time I saw the opera.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Formerly a common literary device, as others have explained. Nowadays, and outside of literature, it's either a humorous archaism or the expression of a psychological deficiency, a need to bolster one's own ego. By naming oneself as if naming another person, one declares oneself a noteworthy object of regard, preempting the judgment of others and enhancing one's sense of self. Using one's last name rather than one's first intensifies the assertion of self-importance. A certain recent U.S. president employed this self-inflation device routinely.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Seattleoperafan said:


> In Deh tuoi figli from Medea she says her name in the aria and I have heard other characters in opera refer to themselves by their name in arias. In today's English referring to yourself by your name in a conversation is odd. Was this more common in former times or in different cultures? I've always wondered about this and never have seen it addressed.


I do love Medea's entrance.
She is singing offstage, "...Is this where love gives joy to traitors?"
Giasone and Creone call out and Medea appears...
"Io? Medea"
_Everyone else_
"Medea, Ah!" 

The saying-your-own-name-thing also happened in that Rheingold scene we talked about with Erda:
"der ew'gen Welt Urwala, Erda" "the endless world's all-wise one, Erda"

The third-person thing can be a bit odd:
Liu in signore, ascolta: "Liù non regge più!" "Liù can bear it no more!"
Otello in niun mi tema: "Otello fu." "Othello’s day is done."


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> Formerly a common literary device, as others have explained. Nowadays, and outside of literature, it's either a humorous archaism or the expression of a psychological deficiency, a need to bolster one's own ego. By naming oneself as if naming another person, one declares oneself a noteworthy object of regard, preempting the judgment of others and enhancing one's sense of self. Using one's last name rather than one's first intensifies the assertion of self-importance. A certain recent U.S. president employed this self-inflation device routinely.


William Shatner's character Denny Crane in Boston Legal was the epitome of this: there are times where I think all he says in a scene is his own name, and the delivery was very funny 

God knows, that would be peculiar and get old very quick in real life.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I am not sure, but in the case of military leaders describing their own campaigns it could be a gesture towards objectivity and modesty (but this must have been as transparent a device to the ancients as to us, they were not stupid and usually better trained in rhetoric than we are today...)
In theater and opera it is also a service to the audience. How were we supposed to know wtf Erda is when she suddenly appears....?
And it is stressed when the identity is really important: "Siegmund, den Wälsung, siehst Du, Weib,... Siegmund heiß ich, Siegmund bin ich" etc. Similarly in Lohengrin and Turandot when the names were secrets before.

And I don't know if there is a real basis to that or just prejudiced trope but in adventure novels etc. natives always speak of themselves and also others in the 3rd person: "Wild Horse, mighty chieftain of the Comanche, will now seal the peace with his white brother" etc.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)




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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Virtually every character in Porgy and Bess.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Carmen: "Carmen will never yield!
Free she was born and free she will die!"
Also Escamillio, although he refers to himself not by name, but as "torreador".


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Delilah does this several times in Samson et Dalila (Saint - Saens).


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> A certain recent U.S. president employed this self-inflation device routinely.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


>


My hope was to spare people the sight and the sound of that. I thought the reference, as offered, was unmistakable but sensitive and respectful of forum rules.

When someone tells a joke in company, do you rush to explain to others why it's funny?


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Back to opera: "Giulietta, if you are only sleeping, wake up, your Romeo is calling you !" (I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Bellini)


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## Mr Belpit (Oct 1, 2015)

"Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen... '


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## Bunky (Jan 2, 2019)

"Butterfly...rinegata....rinegata e felice"


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Mr Belpit said:


> "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen... '


Trumped by Pa-pa-pa-gena/o although it's hard to tell who is saying which name


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Kreisler jr said:


> Trumped by Pa-pa-pa-gena/o


Trumped by Trump


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Isoldes Kunst... and so on.


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