I wanted something different to listen to. I just reached into the shelf and pulled out a CD. It was Verdi's choruses. I have head several of them multiple times and I thought it might be good to listen to this version one I rarely play. Some of his strike me as my experience with Wagner has: loud, booming and incoherent. But what is sometimes called the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" is lovely. It is sometimes referred to as "Va, Pensiero".
Long ago, I thought I might try someday to master Italian, Finnish and Japanese since the spotty knowledge I have of those countries, those people and their history intrigues me. I did study Latin for two years in high school. I thought "Va, Pensiero" might mean "Go, Thinker" but Google Translate said it means "go, thought". That didn't tell me much so I searched for a translation of the piece. The first translation said the words are part of a phrase that means "Fly, thoughts on golden wings". While searching, I found this page at the New York Metropolitan Opera
https://www.metopera.org/discover/video/?videoName=nabucco-va-pensiero&videoId=808137918001
The video shows an impressive set on the Met stage. Hebrew slaves, held captive in Babylon, sing their longing for their homeland, in the Verdi opera "Nabucco", whom we sometimes call Nebuchadnezzar, (605 BC to 562 BC).
I was struck by the emotional difference between "go, thoughts" and "fly, thoughts, on golden wings". Sometimes, it is not the thought that counts but the words chosen.
