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Ah! perfido, spergiuro, Barbaro traditor, tu parti? E son questi gl'ultimi tuoi congedi? Ove s'intese tirannia più crudel? Va, scellerato! va, pur fuggi da me, L'ira de' numi non fuggirai. Se v'è giustizia in ciel, se v'è pietà, Congiureranno a gara tutti a punirti! Ombra seguace, presente, ovunque vai, Vedrò le mie vendette, Io già le godo immaginando. I fulmini ti veggo già balenar d'intorno. Ah no! Fermate, vindici Dei! Risparmiate quel cor, ferite il mio! S'ei non è più qual era, son io qual fui, Per lui vivea, voglio morir per lui! Per pietà, non dirmi addio! Di te priva che farò? Tu lo sai, bell'idol mio! Io d'affanno morirò. Ah crudel! Tu vuoi ch'io mora! Tu non hai pietà di me? Perchè rendi a chi t'adora Così barbara mercè? Dite voi se in tanto affanno Non son degna di pietà?
Text Authorship:
- by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio [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 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "Ah! perfido", op. 65, published 1805, first performed 1796 [soprano and orchestra], first published in 1805 without an opus number by Bureau de Musique Hoffmeister & Kühnel of Franz Anton Hoffmeister and Ambrosius Kühnel ; later assigned the opus number 46 by Hofmeister in Leipzig (1819); also in 1819, the opus number 65 was assigned by Artaria, and this has become the accepted opus number in later editions [ sung text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Ah! You treacherous", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Ah ! perfide", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Ach! Du treuloser", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Danilo Serrano) , "Ah pérfido, perjuro", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Stefan Pilczek
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 26
Word count: 142
Ah! You treacherous, faithless, barbaric traitor, you leave? And is this your last farewell? Where did one hear of a crueller tyranny? Go, despicable man! Go, flee from me! You won't flee from the wrath of the gods. If there is justice in heaven, if there is pity, all will join forces in a contest to punish you. I follow your trail! I am wherever you go, I will live to see my revenge, I already take my delight in it in my imagination. I already see you surrounded by flashes of lightning. Alas! Pause, avenging gods! Spare that heart, wound mine! If he is not what he was, I am still what I was. For him I lived, for him I want to die! Have mercy, don't bid me farewell, what shall I do without you? You know it, my beloved idol! I will die of grief. Ah, cruel man! You want me to die! Don't you have pity on me? Why do you reward the one who adores you in such a barbaric way? Tell me, if in such a grief I do not deserve pity?
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2007 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
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Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
This text was added to the website: 2007-10-27
Line count: 26
Word count: 188