Ballad | I don’t know which I want

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by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 1375)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Ballata

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Available translation(s): ENG FRE

Non so qual io mi voglia,
O viver o morir, per minor doglia
Morir vorrei, che 'l viver m'é gravoso
Veggendomi da voi esser lasciato;
E morir non vorrei, che trapassato
Più non vedrei il bel viso amoroso
Per cui io piango invidioso
Di chi l'ha fatto suo e me ne spoglia!

Authorship:

by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 1375) [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), "Ballata", P 71 no. 3 (1906), from Cinque Canti All'antica, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Ballad", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Ballade", 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: 8
Word count: 52

Ballad

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

I don’t know which I want,
To live or die, to diminish [the] suffering
I would die, life weighs on me¹
Seeing myself abandoned by you;
But I would not die, [because if I] passed away
I would not see [your] beautiful, loving face
[So] I weep with envy for [he] who
Had it and strips me of it!

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ literally “is heavy to me"

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.
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Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 1375)

This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 8
Word count: 59