The ideal woman | The man who covets a woman

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from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

La donna ideale

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG FRE

L'ómo chi mojer vor piar
de quatro cosse de'espiar
la primiera è com'èl [è] na
l'altra è de l'è ben accostuma
l'altra è como el è forma
la quarta è de quanto el è dota
se queste cosse ghe comprendi
a lo nome de Dio la prendi.

Text Authorship:

from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , Ligurian (Genovese) [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 Luciano Berio (1925 - 2003), "La donna ideale", 1964, from Folk Songs, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Luciano Berio (1925 - 2003), "La donna ideale", 1946-1947, from Quattro Canzoni Popolari, no. 2, note: arranged for Cathy Berberian [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The ideal woman", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La femme idéale", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Jeroen Scholten

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 47

The ideal woman

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

The man who covets a woman
these four things must spy:
the first is how she was born
another is whether she is well dressed
another is how she is shaped
the fourth is how much she comes with
if all these things you observe,
in the name of God, take her.

Translator's notes
The original text is in a language related to spoken Italian called Ligurian: its main main variant is Genoese or Zeneize. It is considered a dialect of Italian today, and is spoken in the coastal region around Genoa.

Line 3 refers to the status of her family
Line 5 refers to her figure
Line 6 refers to her dowry

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2024 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) from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , Ligurian (Genovese)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2024-04-11
Line count: 8
Word count: 53