Io re sono e sono amante

Io re sono e sono amante.    
Il mio amor è un brutto affanno,
il mio regno è un bel malanno,
ma la taglia è peggio ancor.
Quando volgo il mio pensiero
alla mia crudel Lisetta,
par che irato amor mi metta
mille diavoli nel cor.
Ch'io son re poi mi rammento,
e dai stimoli di gloria
cose a far degne d'istoria
infiammar mi sento allor.
Ma la solita paura
smorza amor, la gloria oscura,
e aver parmi sulla groppa
il sicario che m'accoppa
e con qualche botta ria
mi risana in sempiterno
dall'eroïca pazzia
della gloria e dell'amor.

Translation(s): ENG

List of language codes

Submitted by Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

Authorship

• by Giovanni Battista Casti (1724 - 1803) [ author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Giovanni Paisiello (1741 - 1816), "Io re sono e sono amante", 1784, first performed 1784, from the opera Il re Teodoro in Venezia, no. 3. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Andrew Schneider) , "I am a king and a lover.", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website: 2018-06-05.
Last modified: 2018-08-16 14:50:10
Line count: 20
Word count: 98

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project, and I have been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your gift is greatly appreciated.      - Emily Ezust

Browse imslp.org (Petrucci Music Library) for Lieder or choral works