La zingara
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Available translation(s): ENG
Fra l'erbe cosparse di rorido gelo,
coverta del solo gran manto del cielo,
mia madre esultando la vita me diè.
Fanciulla, sui greppi le capre emulai,
per ville e cittadi, cresciuta, danzai,
le dame lor palme distesero a me.
La ra la. ah! la zingara.
Io loro predissi le cose note,
ne feci dolenti, ne feci beate,
segreti conobbi di sdegno, d'amor.
La ra la, etc.
Un giorno la mano mi porse un donzello;
mai visto non fummi garzone piu bello:
oh! s'ei nella destra leggessimi il cor!
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Mario Giuseppe Genesi) , "The gypsy girl", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: John Streets
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 88
The gypsy girl
Language: English  after the Italian (Italiano)
Within grasses and iced hoarfrost,
Covered only with the huge mantle of the sky above,
my mother, exulting, brought me to life.
Still a little girl, I lived with goats and emulated their behavior;
When I grew up, I danced through towns and cities,
And many ladies reached to me their palms [asking me to read their future].
I foretold to them following the prediction,
Sometimes making them sorrowful, other times making them gay,
And I learned many secrets, some of disdain, others of love.
But one day, even a youth reached me his palm:
I never had seen a boy as handsome as he:
Oh! if only he could be the fortune-teller holding mine in his right hand,
and reading the loving secrets of my heart!
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2002 by Mario Giuseppe Genesi, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 127