When you press my hand | When you press my hand

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Translation © by Will Crutchfield

Quando la man mi premi

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

Quando la man mi premi
Solo talor con me,
Sento che tu non tremi;
Gaio qual prima tu sei.

Se tu sai sol sorridere,
Non puoi toccarmi il cor.
Se non impari a piangere,
Non mi parlar d’amor. 

Oggi son ita in chiesa
Avvolta in fitto vel.
Quale gentil sorpresa
Mi riserbava il ciel!

Colà vidi io le lagrime
Sul ciglio tuo spuntar.
Or che imparasti a piangere,
Mi puoi d’amor parlar.

Text Authorship:

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "Quando la man mi premi", published 1933 [ voice and piano ], in Bella Italia, zwanzig italienische Volkslieder für Gesang und Klavier, Wien, Universal Edition [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Will Crutchfield) , "When you press my hand", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Will Crutchfield

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-02
Line count: 16
Word count: 73

When you press my hand

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

When you press my hand,
sometimes when we are alone,
I don’t feel you tremble;
you are as carefree as before.

If you know only how to smile,
you cannot touch my heart.
If you don’t learn to weep,
don’t speak to me of love.

Today I went to church,
covered by my dense veil.
What a welcome surprise
Heaven had planned for me!

There I saw the tears
blossoming in your eyes.
Now that you know how to weep,
you may speak to me of love!

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: 2025-05-02
Line count: 16
Word count: 87