Biondina | Fair Biondina, if you were mine

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by Giuseppe Zaffira (flourished 1868-1886)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Biondina

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

Biondina bella, se tu fossi mia,
Ti vestirei di bianco tutta quanta,
Sì che paressi la Vergine Maria,
O qualche santa.

Ti condurrei così nella chiesetta,
Là dove m'han portato a battezzare,
E là ti vorrei fatta una nicchietta
Sopra l'altare.

E bramerei che l'organo suonato 
Da qualche Serafin del Paradiso
Mi facesse morire inebriato
Sul tuo bel viso.

Text Authorship:

by Giuseppe Zaffira (flourished 1868-1886) [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 Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Biondina", CG 340 (1872) [ voice and piano ], from Biondina, poème musical, no. 2, also set in French (Français) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by (Paul) Jules Barbier (1825 - 1901) ; composed by Charles Gounod.

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Biondina", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2004-08-03
Line count: 12
Word count: 59

Biondina

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

Fair Biondina, if you were mine,
I would dress you all in white,
So you’d look like the Virgin Mary,
Or some saintly woman.

I would take you to the little church,
Where I was brought to be baptized,
And have built for you a little niche
Above the altar.

And I’d have the organ played 
By some seraphim from paradise
So that I might die inebriated
By your beautiful face.

Translator's note on the name Biondina: “Blondie” or blonde girl.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2016 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 Giuseppe Zaffira (flourished 1868-1886)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-02-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 71