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The situation is where Armide perceives the knight Renaud in the gardens of her enchanted palace, whither he has come to destroy the sorceress on account of her magic arts. Although the enchantress knows that the mission of the knight is to deprive her of liberty, she herself succumbs to the fatal passion of love. I have briefly described the scene in order that my meaning may be clear. In the second half of the first bar, the acciaccatura was never intended by the composer to be actually sung as printed. It was his only way of indicating the sob or sigh whereby Armide finishes her exclamation, “Ah!” The effect is called “the Dramatic sob,” and is known to every opera-singer. Here is the composer’s meaning, as far as it is possible to convey it in writing:
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(A portamento must be made from the first note to the next, when the breath must be taken quickly to give the idea of a sob or sigh.)
Again, in a recent edition of the same air by the distinguished composer Vincent d’Indy (Nouvelle Édition Française de Musique Classique), occurs the following:
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