This song, "Voice in the Night, " opens with mysterious strings, quickly

establishing the dark setting and mood of the highly dramatic piece. The

vocal part starts almost as a monotone, further enhancing the mood. While

written in Neapolitan dialect, this song is intensely operatic, and does not

have a refrain, though the melody repeats.

A former lover sings to a woman who is with her husband. "If this voice

awakes you in the night, while you hold your husband close to you, stay awake,

if you wish to stay awake, but make it look like you are sleeping soundly."

The voice becomes passionate at the line, "Don't go to the window to look

and see who it is, because it is no mistake: this voice is mine." The

singer urges the woman that if the remembrance of passion should overwhelm

her at listening to his voice, she should make love to her husband, and if

her husband should ask who it is, she should answer that "whoever is out

in the street singing must be mad, or dying of jealousy. Maybe he's

mourning some cruelty. He's singing alone. But what good is singing?"

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