LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,119)
  • Text Authors (19,527)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
Translation by Louis Pomey (1835 - 1901)

C'era una volta
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
C'era una volta che con voi parlava1,
Ora non son più degna di vendervi;
Allor se per la via, v'incontrava1,
Bassava1 gl'occhi, e il cor si rallegrava.
Adesso che son priva dell' amore,
Abbasso gli occhi, e convien ch'io mora,
Adesso che son priva dal mio bene,
Abbasso gl'occhi, e morir mi conviene!

Prendi colle tue mani un coltel d'oro,
Ferisci l'alma mia con tuo diletto!
Così vedrai se t'amo e se t'adoro,
Così vedrai s'è ver quel che ti ho detto,
S'egli è la verità, caro amor mio,
Per un' che s'apre il petto e dice addio,
S'egli è la verità, caro mio amore,
Per lei che spira e che ti dona il core.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 modern Italian usage would require the following changes: parlavo / io v'incontravo / Bassavo. Another version published by Jean Lahor in Chants populaires de l'Italie has "Allor se per la via vi rincontrava" (line 3)

Text Authorship:

  • from Volkslieder (Folksongs)  [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 Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "C'era una volta", published 1879 [ voice and piano ], from Fünf toscanische Gedichte für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 2, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, also set in German (Deutsch), also set in French (Français) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Louis Pomey (1835 - 1901) ; composed by Pauline Viardot-García.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Paul Heyse (1830 - 1914) , no title, appears in Italienisches Liederbuch, in Rispetti, in Toscanisch, no. 99, first published 1860 [an adaptation] ; composed by Joseph Marx.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Pauline Viardot-García.
      • Go to the text.

Research team for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2013-08-15
Line count: 16
Word count: 120

Reproches
Language: French (Français)  after the Italian (Italiano) 
Vous me parliez jadis, j'étais heureuse,
Mais maintenant vous évitez ma vue ;
Alors vous rencontrais-je dans la rue ?
Mon cœur battait, et j'étais radieuse !
Mais, seule maintenant, je souffre et pleure.
Pourquoi vivrais-je ? il vaut mieux que je meure !
Car, seule maintenant, je souffre et pleure !
Pourquoi vivrais-je ? il vaut mieux que je meure !

Prends ce poignard et frappe ton amante ;
Tu la verras mourir avec ivresse,
Pourvu qu'en sa poitrine frémissante
Ton regard plonge, et lise ma tendresse !
Trop doux sera pour moi l'instant suprême,
S'il fait connaître à quel excès je t'aime !
Trop doux sera pour moi l'instant suprême,
S'il fait connaître à quel excès je t'aime !

Text Authorship:

  • by Louis Pomey (1835 - 1901) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Italian (Italiano) from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
    • Go to the text page.

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

  • by Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "Reproches", published 1881 [ voice and piano ], from Poésies toscanes, no. 2, E. Gérard, Paris, also set in Italian (Italiano), also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2020-05-29
Line count: 16
Word count: 109

Gentle Reminder

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

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris