Unhappy child | Unhappy child

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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Misero pargoletto

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE GER

Misero pargoletto,
Il tuo destin non sai.
Ah! non gli dite mai
Qual era il genitor.

Come in un punto, oh Dio,
Tutto [cambiò]¹ d'aspetto!
Voi foste il mio diletto,
Voi siete il mio terror.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Schubert

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Tutte le opere di Pietro Metastasio, Firenze, Tipografia Borghi e compagni 1832, page 246.

The text appears in "Demofoonte", atto III, scena V (Timante's aria).

¹ Schubert: "cangiò"

Text Authorship:

by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio, no title, written 1733, appears in Demofoonte [author's text checked 1 time 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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Misero pargoletto", D 42 (1813?), published 1895 [sung text checked 1 time]

This text (or a part of it) is used in a work

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791), "Misero me . . . Misero pargaletto", K. 77 (1771) [ soprano and orchestra ]

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

Research team for this page: Richard Morris , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 35

Unhappy child

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

Unhappy child,
You do not know your destiny.
Ah! never tell him
Who his father was.

How in an instant, oh God,
Everything seemed changed!
You were my beloved,
You are now my greatest fear.

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 Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio, no title, written 1733, appears in Demofoonte
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-05-19
Line count: 8
Word count: 35