12 Ariette

Translations © by Laura Prichard

by Vincenzo Righini (1756 - 1812)

View original-language texts alone: Dodici Ariette

1. Placido zefiretto
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Placido zeffiretto,
  Se trovi il caro oggetto
  Digli che sei sospiro;
  Ma non gli dir di chi.
Limpido ruscelletto,
  Se trovi il caro oggetto 
Digli che pianto sei
  Ma non gli dir qual ciglio
  Crescer ti fè cosi.

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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
1. Placid little breeze
Language: English 
Placid little breeze,
if you find the beloved one
tell him that you sigh
but do not say whose [sigh].

Clear little brook,
if you find the beloved one
tell him that you cry
but do not say whose eyes
caused you to swell so much.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2015 by Laura Prichard, (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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This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 9
Word count: 46

Translation © by Laura Prichard
2. Pur nel sonno almen talora  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Pur nel sonno almen talora
vien colei, che m'innamora,
le mie pene a consolar.
Rendi Amor, se giusto sei,
più veraci i sogni miei,
o non farmi risvegliar.

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Note: at the end of Glinka's setting, "a consolar" is repeated twice.


by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
2.
Language: English 
Only in my sleep (at least sometimes)
comes the beloved1
to console my pain.
Grant, love, if you are just,
more truth to my dreams
or don’t awaken me.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2015 by Laura Prichard, (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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View original text (without footnotes)
1 literally, "the one who fills me with love"


This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 6
Word count: 30

Translation © by Laura Prichard
3. Io lo so
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Io lo so, che il bel sembiante 
Un istante, oh Dio! mirai, 
E mai più da quell'istante 
No lasciai di sospirar.

Io lo so; lo sanno queste
Valli ombrose, erme foreste
Che han da me quel nome amato 
Imparato a replicar.

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Excerpted from "Il consiglio", Cantata VI.
by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
3.
Language: English 
I’d know that beautiful face 
in an instant, oh God! I saw [it],
and ever since that instant
I haven’t stopped sighing!

I know it, they know these
shady valleys, forests of Hermes, 
who have learned to repeat
that name I loved.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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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This text was added to the website: 2016-04-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 42

Translation © by Laura Prichard
4. Or che il cielo a me ti rende
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
 ... 

Aria
 Or che il cielo a me ti rende,
 Cara parte del mio cor,
 La mia gioia, ah, non comprende
 Chi non sa che cosa è amor!
 Sono all'alma un grato oggetto
 Le mie barbare vicende,
 E nel sen dolce discende
 La memoria del dolor.

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by Giovanni de Gamerra (1743 - 1803)
4.
[Translation not yet available]
5. Affetti, non turbate
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Affetti, non turbate
la pace all'alma mia,
Sia vostra scelta, o sia
l'oprar necessità.
Perchè rei vi credete 
se liberi non siete?
Perchè non vi cangiate 
se avete libertà?

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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
5. Affetti, don’t disturb the peace of my soul
Language: English 
Affetti1, don’t disturb the peace of my soul,
It may be your choice, or it may be the work of necessity.
Why believe you’re guilty if you’re not free?
Why not change if you have freedom?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2015 by Laura Prichard, (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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1 Human passions expressed through gesture


This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 4
Word count: 38

Translation © by Laura Prichard
6. D' un genio, m' accende
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
D'un genio che m'accende,
Tu vuoi ragion da me?
Non ha ragione amore,
O, se ragione intende,
Subito amor non è.

Un amoroso foco
Non può spiegarsi mai.
Dì che lo sente poco
Chi ne ragiona assai,
Chi ti sa dir perchè.

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The text appears in Semiramide, atto III, scena VII, Aria di Tamiri.

by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
6.
Language: English 
From a spirit that ignites me,
you expect reason from me?
Love has no reason,
or, if one listens to reason,
suddenly it’s not love.

An amorous flame
can never be explained:
but that one feels it a bit,
[that] one argues about it a lot,
who can say why.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2015 by Laura Prichard, (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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This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 10
Word count: 50

Translation © by Laura Prichard
7. Sol che un
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Sol che un istante io miri, 
la bella mia nemica,
la dolce fiamma antica, 
sento svegliarmi in sen;

ritorno a miei sospiri, 
d'amor per lei mi moro;
il mio destino adoro 
negli occhi del mio ben.

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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
7.
Language: English 
If only for an instant, I admire 
my beautiful enemy,
I can feel a sweet, ancient flame, 
Awakening in my heart;

I return to my sighing, 
My dying of love for her;
and I embrace my destiny with my whole heart,
in the eyes of the object of my desire.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2020 by Laura Prichard, (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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This text was added to the website: 2020-03-30
Line count: 8
Word count: 50

Translation © by Laura Prichard
8. Aure amiche, ah! non spirate
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Aure amiche, ah! non spirate
Per pietà d’Irene amante;
Care piante, ah! non tornate 
Così presto a germogliar.

Ogni fior che si colori,
Ogni zeffiro che spiri,
Quanti, oh Dio! quanti sospiri
Al mio core ha da costar!

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From "Il Trionfo della Gloria", Cantata XI, "La Primavera"

by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
8. Friendly breezes, ah! don’t blow
Language: English 
Friendly breezes, ah! don’t blow
Take pity on [my] beloved Irene;
Dear plants, ah! don’t return
So quickly to germinate.

Every flower that blooms,
Every breexe that blows,
How many, oh God! how many sighs
Can my heart bear!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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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Translator's notes:
Line 2-1: "blooms" - literally, "colors"
Line 2-4: literally, "will cost my heart"


This text was added to the website: 2016-04-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 39

Translation © by Laura Prichard
9. Mi lagnerò tacendo
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Mi lagnerò tacendo 
Del mio destino avaro
Ma ch'io non t'ami, o cara, 
Non lo sperar da me.

Crudele, in che t'offendo
Se resta a questo petto
Il misero diletto
Di sospirar per te?

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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
9.
[Translation not yet available]
10. Vorrei di te fidarmi
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Vorrei di te fidarmi
ma per usanza antica
inteso ad ingannarmi
io ti conosco amor.

Se t'accarezzo amica
tu mi prepari un laccio;
se ti raccolgo in braccio,
tu mi ferisci il cor.

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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
10. I would like to trust you
Language: English 
I would like to trust you
but by past experience
you intend to deceive.
I know you, Love,

If I caress you ad a friend
you prepare me a noose;
if I pick you up in my arms,
you wound my heart.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2015 by Laura Prichard, (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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This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 8
Word count: 42

Translation © by Laura Prichard
11. T'intendo sì, mio cor
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
T'intendo, sì, mio cor,
Con tanto palpitar!
So che ti vuoi lagnar,
Che amante sei.

Ah! taci il tuo dolor,
Ah! soffri il tuo martir
Tacilo, tacilo e non tradir
L'affetti miei, l'affetti miei!

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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
11. I hear you, yes, my heart
Language: English 
I hear you, yes, my heart
Beating so hard!
I know that you want to complain
that you’re in love.

Ah! silence your pain
Ah! suffer your torment
Be still, be still, and don’t betray
My affections!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2015 by Laura Prichard, (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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This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 8
Word count: 37

Translation © by Laura Prichard
12. Se amor l’abbandona
 (Sung text)
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Se amor l’abbandona
ogn’alma si lagna,
se amor l'accompagna, 
contenta non è;

di chi vi dolete 
se viver felici 
né meco sapete, 
né senza di me?

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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
12. If love departs
Language: English 
If love departs
every soul complains,
If love stays, 
One is not happy;

what makes you sad 
if you live happily
neither knowing me, 
nor being without me?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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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This text was added to the website: 2016-04-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 28

Translation © by Laura Prichard