Malvina
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Dal di che un’altra ti fu più bella,
La vita io sento da me fuggir.
Or che Malvina non è più quella,
Malvina brama solo morir.
Pur la sua voce anco t’implora,
Non per cercarti l’antico amor,
Ma per vederti, vederti ancora,
Pria che la copra l’eterno orror [orrore].
T’affretta adunque, la morte appressa:
Vieni a vedere chi muor per te
Chi per te muore, traffitta e oppressa
Di duol, di pianto, d’amor, di fé.
Ma non l’ambascia dell’agonia,
Non della morte l’atro pallor,
A te diranno, ch’ella moria
D’amor, di pianto, e di dolore.
Sol quando fioca, smarrita, errante,
Più l’orme tue non conterà;
Sol quando al raggio del tuo sembiante
Ogni sua fibra più fremerà,
Quand’il mio labbro non più nomarti,
Né potrà il ciglio seguirti ancora,
Quando il mio cuore potrà piu amarti,
Avrò la vita compita allora.
Malvina sol vuol vederti ancora.
Note (courtesy Laura Prichard): This song was composed in 1844 in Pairs and dedicated to Giovannina de Sterlich and published by Edition Schoenberger, Paris. It was later rededicated to French contralto Ida Bertrand, and published by Giraud in Naples with Italian and French texts.
Text 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 (Laura Prichard) , "Malvina - dramatic scene", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2016-04-14
Line count: 25
Word count: 146
Malvina ‑ dramatic scene
Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)
Since the day that another seemed more beautiful to you,
I have felt life flee from me.
Now that [I], Malvina, am no longer "the one,"
Malvina desires only to die.
Yet her voice again implores you,
Not to seek from you the old love,
But to see you, see you again,
Until then she is consumed in eternal horror.
Hurry then, death draws near:
Come to see one who dies for you
Who for you dies, wounded and overwhelmed
By sorrow, by weeping, by love, by fidelity.
But neither the agony of her anguish,
Nor the cruel pallor of her death,
Will they describe to you, [but] that she died
Of love, of weeping, and of sorrow.
Only when faint, perplexed, errant,
She won’t expect your footsteps;
Only upon [seeing] the ray of your countenance
Will her [being’s] every fiber thrill,
When [my] lip may no longer speak your name,
Nor [my] eye be able to follow you,
When [my] heart may [even then] love you more,
My life will be complete.
Malvina only wants to see you again.
Translator's note for line 5-1: "errant" - mentally unstable, wandering
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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-14
Line count: 25
Word count: 180
