All joking aside | I thought love was a delightful game

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Translation © by Will Crutchfield

Scherzi a parte

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

Credevo che l'amor fosse un bel gioco,
quando m'incominciai a innamorare.
Ora mi pare una fiamma di foco,
che non la spengeria l'acqua del mare.

Io son venuto bella per sapere,
se le mie pene avranno a finir mai,
in sul tuo uscio mi metto a sedere,
a sentir la risposta che mi dai.

Text Authorship:

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [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 Fabio Campana (1819 - 1882), "Scherzi a parte", published c1876 [ voice and piano ], from Fiori italiani. Sei melodie, no. 6, Paris: Léon Escudier [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Will Crutchfield) , "All joking aside", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2024-01-27
Line count: 8
Word count: 54

All joking aside

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

I thought love was a delightful game
when first I began to fall in love.
Now it seems like a fire whose flame
the whole ocean could not extinguish.

I have come, my fair one, to learn
whether my suffering will ever end.
I am sitting outside your door
to hear the answer you will give me.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2025 by Will Crutchfield, (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 Anonymous/Unidentified Artist
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-01
Line count: 8
Word count: 58