The opera, the opera!
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Stop mooning and moaning, we’ll miss the curtain!
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Ladies
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Welcome to the opera
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Bare arms and shoulders
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Brilliant uniforms
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Pearls and silk
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Glittering before our eyes
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Feminine envy
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A whole crowd of memories
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Desires and emotions
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Natasha, smooth your gown
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Natasha, smooth your gown
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Looking in the glass
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I see I am pretty
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Not a girl anymore
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I’ve never felt like this before
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Hundreds of eyes
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Looking at my bare arms
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My bare arms and neck
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My bare arms and shoulders
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The two remarkably pretty girls
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Had not been seen in Moscow in many years
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Everybody knew vaguely of Natasha’s engagement
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One of the finest matches in all of Russia
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Look, there’s Alexey, home from the war at last
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He has changed
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Dear me, Michael Kirilovich has grown still stouter!
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There’s Boris and Julie, engaged
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And Anna Mikhaylovna, what a headdress she has on!
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And is that Natasha
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And is that Natasha
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And is that Natasha
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They are looking at me
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They are talking about me!
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They all like me so much
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The women envious
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The men calming their jealousy
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Announcing Fedya Dolokhov
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He dominates Moscow’s most brilliant young men
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He stands in full view
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Well aware he’s attracting attention
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Yet as much at ease as though he were in his own room
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Dolokhov was in the Caucasus
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And he killed the Shah’s brother!
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Now all the Moscow ladies are mad about him
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Dolokhov the assassin!
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Announcing Countess Hélène Bezukhova
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The queen of society
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Beautiful, barely clothed
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Plump bare shoulders, and much-exposed neck
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Round which she wears a double string of pearls
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Hélène and Dolokhov, arm in arm
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Pierre the cuckold sits at home
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Pierre the cuckold sits at home
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The poor man
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No, I am enjoying myself at home this evening
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Oh, that neck
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Oh, those pearls
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So beautiful
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What a charming young girl
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So enchanting
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I blush scarlet
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Countess Bezukhova, Pierre’s wife
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Have you been here long?
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And where is dear Pierre?
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He never used to forget us
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Yes Pierre, that good man
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A little sad, a little stout
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He must come visit us
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I will implore him to do so
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There’s a woman one should stay far away from
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Now Natasha
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The curtain rises
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The curtain rises
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Everyone in the boxes and the stalls became silent
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All the men, old and young, in uniform and evening dress
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All the women in the hall
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With gems on their bare flesh
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Turned their whole attention
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With curiosity to the stage
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Two singers perform a scene from an avant-garde opera
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It is grotesque and amazing
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Grotesque and amazing
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I cannot follow the opera
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Or even listen to the music
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I see painted cardboard
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Queerly dressed actors
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Moving and singing so strangely in the lights
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So false and unnatural
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I’m ashamed and amused
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And everyone else seems oblivious
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Yes everyone feigns delight
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And feeling the flood of brilliant lights
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The warm perfumed air heated by the crowd
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Natasha little by little
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Began to pass into a state of intoxication
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Oh I’d tickle you all if I could
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Oh I’d tickle you all if I could
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And then
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A rush of cold air
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An exceptionally handsome man walked in
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With a confident yet courteous air
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This was Hélène's brother
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Anatole Kuragin
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He moved with a swagger
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Which would have been ridiculous
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Had he not been so good-looking
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And though it was the middle of the act
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He walked right down the aisle
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His sword and spurs jangling
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His handsome perfumed head held high
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And he looked right at Natasha
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Mais charmante
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And he took his place in the front row next to Dolokhov
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How handsome he is
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How intoxicating
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In the second act there were tombstones
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The moon over the footlights
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Horns and contrabass
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Black cloaks and daggers in their hands
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I turn around again and our eyes meet
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He gazes straight into my eyes
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He is talking about me
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Candles burning
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A crimson throne
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The Tsar wails a mournful tune
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They all wave their arms
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And everybody cheers
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«Bravo, bravo!»
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Every time I look at him
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He’s looking at me
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Every time I look at him
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He’s looking at me
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Every time I look at him
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A terrible noise, a clatter in the crowd
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A storm of chromatic scales and diminished sevenths
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With rapturous faces everyone was shouting
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Screaming and shouting, «Bravo!»
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Bravo, bravo
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Bravo, bravo
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Bravo, bravo
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And then
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A rush of cold air
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And Anatole entered the box |