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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Carlo Guaita
Translation © by Mario Giuseppe Genesi

La zingara
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  ENG
Fra l'erbe cosparse di rorido gelo,
coverta del solo gran manto del cielo,
mia madre esultando la vita me diè.

Fanciulla, sui greppi le capre emulai,
per ville e cittadi, cresciuta, danzai,
le dame lor palme distesero a me.

La ra la.   ah! la zingara.

Io loro predissi le cose note,
ne feci dolenti, ne feci beate,
segreti conobbi di sdegno, d'amor.

La ra la, etc.

Un giorno la mano mi porse un donzello;
mai visto non fummi garzone piu bello:
oh! s'ei nella destra leggessimi il cor!

Text Authorship:

  • by Carlo Guaita  [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848), "La zingara" [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Mario Giuseppe Genesi) , "The gypsy girl", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: John Streets

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 88

The gypsy girl
Language: English  after the Italian (Italiano) 
Within grasses and iced hoarfrost,
Covered only with the huge mantle of the sky above,
my mother, exulting, brought me to life.

Still a little girl, I lived with goats and emulated their behavior;
When I grew up, I danced through towns and cities,
And many ladies reached to me their palms [asking me to read their future].



I foretold to them following the prediction,
Sometimes making them sorrowful, other times making them gay,
And I learned many secrets, some of disdain, others of love.


But one day, even a youth reached me his palm:
I never had seen a boy as handsome as he:
Oh! if only he could be the fortune-teller holding mine in his right hand, 
and reading the loving secrets of my heart!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2002 by Mario Giuseppe Genesi, (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:

  • a text in Italian (Italiano) by Carlo Guaita
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 127

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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