from Act I, Scene 2 of the Italian opera
I Due Foscari by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto: Francesco Maria Piave
Role: Lucrezia Contarini, Jacopo's wife
Voice Part: soprano Fach: spinto
Setting: A hall in the Foscari palace, Venice, 1457
Synopsis: After asking Pisana, her friend, if Jacopo has been sentenced to death, Lucrezia is told that her husband has instead been returned to his exile through the mercy of the Venetian Council of Ten. Angry at this sort of mercy that seems very unmerciful to her, Lucrezia's cabaletta is focused on her thoughts on the Council's sort of "mercy".