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by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Ah! perfido
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE GER SPA
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

Ach! Du treuloser
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the Italian (Italiano) 
Ach! Du treuloser, wortbrüchiger,
barbarischer Verräter, du verlässt mich?
Und sind dies deine letzten Abschiedsgrüße?
Wo hat man je von einer grausameren Tyrannei gehört?
Hinweg, Schändlicher! Weiche von mir!
Dem Zorn der Götter wirst du nicht entfliehen.
Wenn es im Himmel Gerechtigkeit, wenn es Erbarmen gibt,
werden sich alle im Wettstreit vereinen, dich zu bestrafen.
Ich verfolge deine Fährte! Ich bin, wo immer du gehst,
ich werde meine Rache erleben,
ich genieße sie bereits in meiner Vorstellung.
Von Blitzen seh' ich dich bereits umzuckt.
Ach, nein! Haltet inne, ihr Rachegötter!
Verschont jenes Herz, verwundet das meine!
Falls er nicht mehr ist, der er war, so bin ich, die ich war.
Ihm habe ich gelebt, für ihn will ich sterben!

Hab' Erbarmen, sag' mir nicht Lebwohl!
Was tu' ich ohne dich?
Du weißt dies, mein geliebter Abgott!
Ich werde vor Kummer sterben.

Ach, du Grausamer! Du willst, dass ich sterbe!
Hast du denn kein Erbarmen mit mir?
Warum belohnst du sie, die dich anbetet,
auf solch grausame Weise?
Sagt mir, ob ich in diesem Leid
nicht Mitleid verdiene?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to German (Deutsch) 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

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in Italian (Italiano) by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2007-10-27
Line count: 26
Word count: 177

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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