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Alfin sarai contenta Empia fortuna avara! Quanto mi costi cara Spiantata nobilità! Per me Imeneo già versa La sua bevanda amara: Addio per sempre addio Mia bella libertà! Orsù non ci pensiamo, Corraggio, e concludiamo: Alfin s'io prendo moglie So ben perchè lo fo. Lo fo per pagar [debiti]1, La prendo per contanti, Di dirlo, e di ripeterlo, Difficoltà non ho. [Tra]2 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 [pei]3 contanti; Lo [fan]4 tanti, e tanti; Anch' io lo farò. Nuotando, sguazzando Fra l'oro, e l'argento Felice, contento Goder me la vò.
F. Schubert sets stanzas 3-8
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Il contraccambio ovvero L'amore alla pruova. Dramma per musica da rappresentarsi nel R. Teatro del Fondo nel inverno dell' 1823. Napoli, della Tipografia Flautina 1823, pages 17-18.
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).
1 Schubert: "i debiti"2 Schubert: "Fra"
3 Schubert: "per li"
4 Schubert: "fanno"
Authorship
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- sometimes misattributed to Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)
- by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Il modo di prender moglie (Die Art ein Weib zu nehmen)", op. 83 (Drei Lieder von Metastasio) no. 3, D 902 no. 3 (1827), published 1827, stanzas 3-8 [ bass, piano ], Tobias Haslinger, VN 5063, Wien [sung text checked 1 time]
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 text: 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: 149
[ ... ] Away, without further thinking, More courage to me, I have concluded At last I shall take a wife, I know well why I do it. 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!
About the headline (FAQ)
Translation of title "Il modo di prender moglie (Die Art ein Weib zu nehmen)" = "The way of taking a wife"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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- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, as Pietro Metastasio, no title and misattributed to Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782)
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 27
Word count: 143