Armida: Italian–English Side-by-Side Libretto

I’ve just completed a full Italian–English libretto of Armida by Gioachino Rossini, now available in side-by-side format on DM’s Opera Website:

👉 https://www.murashev.com/opera/Armida_libretto_Italian_English

While working on it, I ran into an unexpected problem: there is essentially no complete English translation of Armida available online. You can find summaries, scattered excerpts, or subtitles tied to specific recordings—but not a full libretto you can actually read and follow.

And certainly nothing arranged side-by-side alongside the original Italian.

So I translated the entire text and prepared it in the same side-by-side format used across the site:

• Italian on the left, English on the right
• aligned side-by-side for listening
• faithful to the original, but readable in English

Armida is not a simple libretto. It shifts constantly—from heroic rhetoric to irony, from seduction to psychological conflict. Some passages only make sense if the tone is handled carefully, especially where the language is deliberately exaggerated or deceptive.

This is exactly the kind of opera where a side-by-side text makes a real difference.

If you’re listening to Armida—or planning to—this should help you follow it much more closely:

👉 https://www.murashev.com/opera/Armida_libretto_Italian_English

I’ll continue refining it over time, so if you notice anything questionable, feel free to reach out.

— Dmitrii Murashev