by Anonymous / Unidentified Author and sometimes misattributed to Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782)
Translation © by Thomas Dawkins

Il modo di prender moglie (Die Art ein Weib zu nehmen)
 (Sung text for setting by F. Schubert)
 See original
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG FRE
 ... 

Orsù non ci pensiamo,
Corraggio, e concludiamo:
Alfin s'io prendo moglie
So ben perchè lo fo.

Lo fo per pagar i debiti,
La prendo per contanti,
Di dirlo, e di ripeterlo,
Difficoltà non ho.

Fra tanti modi, e tanti
Di prender moglie al mondo,
Un modo più giocondo
Del mio trovar non so.

Si prende per affetto,
Si prende per rispetto,
Si prende per consiglio,
Si prende per puntiglio,
Si prende per capriccio
E' vero sì, o nò?

Ed io per medicina
Di tutt'i mali miei
Un poco di sposina
Prendere non potrò?

Ho detto e'l ridico,
Lo fo per li contanti;
Lo fanno tanti, e tanti;
Anch' io lo farò.

 ...

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 3-8 of the original text.

The text appears in the play Il contraccambio ovvero L'amore alla pruova, atto I, scena VIII, as the aria of Duca Alberto di Kalitz. The author of the libretto is unknown, the play has been set by Luigi Carlini and has been staged 1823 in Naples, where the libretto has been printed (see above).

Composition:

    Set to music by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Il modo di prender moglie (Die Art ein Weib zu nehmen)", op. 83 no. 3, D 902 no. 3 (1827), published 1827, stanzas 3-8 [ bass, piano ], Tobias Haslinger, VN 5063, Wien

Text Authorship:

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Thomas Dawkins) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "Die Art ein Weib zu nehmen"


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 38
Word count: 154

Language: English  after the Italian (Italiano) 
 ... 

I do it to pay my debts!
I'll take a wife for cash,
I say it and then repeat it
I shall have no difficulty.

There are many, many ways
To take a wife,
And a more joyful way
I will not find.

One marries for love,
One marries for respect,
One marries on advice
One marries out of stubbornness,
One marries on a whim,
'Tis true, yes or no?

And I, for medicine
For all that ails me,
A little bit of wife
Shall I not take?

I have said it and I repeat it,
I am doing this for the money,
They make much of it,
And I will make it too!

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 3-8 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Thomas Dawkins, (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:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 27
Word count: 142