by
Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749 - 1838)
E Susanna non vien! Son ansiosa
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Available translation(s): ENG
E Susanna non vien! Son ansiosa
di saper come il Conte
accolse la proposta. Alquanto ardito
il progetto mi par; e ad uno sposo
sì vivace e geloso...
Ma che mal c'è?
Cangiando i miei vestiti
con quelli di Susanna, e i suoi co' miei...
Al favor della notte... O cielo! A quale
umil stato fatale io son ridotta
da un consorte crudel; che, dopo avermi,
con un misto inaudito
d'infedeltà, di gelosie, di sdegni,
prima amata, indi offesa, e alfin tradita,
fammi or cercar da una mia serva aita!
Dove sono i bei momenti
di dolcezza e di piacer,
dove andaro i giuramenti
di quel labbro menzogner?
Perché mai, se in pianti e in pene
per me tutto si cangiò,
la memoria di quel bene
dal mio sen non trapassò?
Ah! Se almen la mia costanza
nel languire amando ognor
mi portasse una speranza
di cangiar l'ingrato cor.
About the headline (FAQ)
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 (Andrew Schneider) , "Where are those moments", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2018-06-17
Line count: 27
Word count: 149
Where are those moments
Language: English  after the Italian (Italiano)
Susanna has not come! I am anxious to find out
how the Count took her proposal.
This enterprise seems to me quite bold;
and to such a hotheaded and jealous spouse...
Oh, what's the harm in it?
I'm only exchanging my dress with Susanna's,
hers with mine, under cover of night...
Heavens! My cruel husband has humiliated me to this base extent:
after he has first loved me,
then insulted me, and finally betrayed me,
by an unprecedented combination of unfaithfulness,
jealousy, hostility,
he compels me to seek help from a servant!
Where are those moments
of sublimest sweetness and pleasure,
where have the oaths of
that lying mouth fled?
If in suffering and weeping,
everything for me has changed,
why have those sweet thoughts
not fallen away from my breast?
If only my fidelity and constant love,
in the midst of my languishing,
could possibly bring me hope
of changing the heart of that ingrate.
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2018 by Andrew Schneider, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2018-06-17
Line count: 25
Word count: 156