Little white hand | Little white hand

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by Francesco Rocchi

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Piccola mano bianca

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

Piccola mano bianca,
Che tanto destino racchiudi,
Porgi l'esili dita
Sul mio tumido cuore.
Senti? Il palpito preme frequente
Con rapidi balzi. Porgi l'orecchio:
Suona d'amore il canto.
Suona le brevi gioie che limpide teco
Suggeva ne la purezza d'oro
Del meriggio d'estate,
Suona la lunga pena de l'animo laborioso,
Che ti brama, ti adora e ti venera e teme.
Oh ne le chiome lunghe,
Fluenti su l'alabastro
De le nitide spalle,
Premere il bacio mio!
Oh a la piccola mano,
Che tanto destino racchiude,
Dare l'ultima gioia
De l'esistenza vana!

Text Authorship:

by Francesco Rocchi [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 Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936), "Piccola mano bianca", P. 97 no. 5 (1912), published 1912 [medium voice and piano], from Sei Liriche, seconda serie, no. 5, Éd. Ricordi [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , title 1: "Little white hand", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 91

Little white hand

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

Little white hand,
Which holds so much destiny,
Place your slender finger
Over my swelling heart.
Hear it? The heartbeat pounds frequently
With rapid pulses. Incline an ear:
It sounds the song of love..
It sounds your brief joys which clearly 
Suckle the golden purity
Of the summer afternoon,
It sounds the long sentence of the laboring soul,
Which longs for you, adores you and worships you and fears [you].
Oh, on [your] long tresses,
Flowing over the alabaster
of [your] fine back,
I’ll press my kiss!
Little white hand,
Which so much destiny holds,
Give the ultimate joy
Of this vain existence!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2015 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:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Francesco Rocchi
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 20
Word count: 103