by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
Translation © by Andrew Schneider

La Patria è un tutto
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  ENG
La Patria è un tutto
di cui siam parti,
al cittadino è fallo
considerar se stesso
separato da lei:
l'utile o il danno
ch'ei conoscer dee solo
è ciò che giova
o nuoce alla sua patria
a cui di tutto è debitor.
Quando i sudori e il sangue
sparge per lei
nulla del proprio ei dona,
rende sol ciò che n'ebbe.
Essa il produsse,
l'educò, lo nudrí:
con le sue leggi
dagl'insulti domestici
il difende,
dagli esterni con l'armi.
Ella gli presta nome,
grado ed onor,
ne premia il merto,
ne vendica le offese,
e madre amante,
a fabbricar s'affanna
la sua felicità,
per quanto lice
al destin dei mortali
esser felice.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   G. Hasse •   N. Vaccaj 

About the headline (FAQ)

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):

  • by Giovanni Adolfo Hasse (1699 - 1783), "La patria è un tutto", 1750, first performed 1750. [alto and continuo] [ sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Nicola Vaccaj (1790 - 1848), "Il recitativo", from Metodo pratico di Canto Italiano, no. 21, note: Nel Recitativo è necessaria una sillabazione distinta e decisa, e senza una perfetta accentazione non se ne potrà ottenere un buon effetto. Allorché s'incontrano due note simili nel mezzo, quella ove cade l'accento della parola dev'essere intieramente convertita in appoggiatura della seguente: il che per piú chiarezza viene indicato con una A sopra la nota dell'accento [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Andrew Schneider) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Alberto Pedrotti , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 112

Our country is a whole
Language: English  after the Italian (Italiano) 
Our country is a whole,
of which we all are but parts.
It is a failing in a citizen
to consider himself
as separate from it.
The only usefulness or liability
that he should know of in himself
is that which benefits 
or harms the country 
to which he owes everything.
When he sweats and bleeds 
for his country,
he merely renders back unto her
that which he received from her 
in the first place.
This country produced,
educated, and nourished him.
With her laws, 
she defends him 
from domestic threats,
with her arms, from external enemies.
She bestows upon him
name, rank, and honor,
rewards his valor,
avenges the wrongs he has suffered,
and, as a loving mother,
she frets over how to ensure his happiness,
in howsoever much 
the fate of mortals
permits him 
such contentment.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of title(s):
"Il recitativo" = "Recitative"
"La patria è un tutto" = "Our country is a whole"


Text 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.
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Based on:

 

This text was added to the website: 2018-08-19
Line count: 31
Word count: 138