Lyrics for O, My Beloved Father

[unknown-user]

I have the harp music for ‘O, My Beloved Father’ by Puccini, and I wondered if anyone might have the lyrics. I like

[Bonnie Shaljean]

It’s an aria from Gianni Schicchi, one of the one-act operas in Puccini’s Il Triticco, and here are two translations below, though neither of them really seems to fit the music too well. If you know anyone who speaks Italian, you might get them to do a literal line-by-line translation for you, and then put something together yourself that’s more poetic. What a great idea to sing while playing it! More info below (courtesy of Google):

O MIO BABBINO CARO

O mio babbino caro
mi piace �� bello, bello
vo’andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l’nello!
S��, s�� ci voglio andare!
E se l’amas si indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per butarmi in Arno!
Mi strugo e mi tormento!
O Dio vorei morir!
Babbo piet��, piet��!
Babbo piet��, piet��!

Oh my beloved Papa!
He’s pleasing, he’s beautiful.
I want to go to Porta Rossa, to buy the ring.
Yes, yes I want to go.
And if I love in vain.
I’ll go to Ponte Vecchio to throw myself in the Arno.
I struggle and I’m tormented!
Oh God I want to die!
Daddy please please!
Daddy please please!

Oh my dear daddy
I love him, he is so handsome
I want to go to Porta Rossa
to buy the ring!
Yes, yes, I mean it
And if my love were in vain
I would go to Ponte Vecchio
and throw myself in the Arno!
I fret and suffer torments!
Oh God, I would rather die!
Daddy, have pity, have pity!
Daddy, have pity, have pity!

Gianni Schicchi is the third and final installment of Il Trittico, Giacomo Puccini’s trilogy of one-act operas. Though the trilogy itself is not often performed, Schicchi has remained a perennial favorite ��� well-loved for its lyrical concision and ensemble humor ��� and is often cited as a masterpiece of Italian comedy.

The story, which comes from an apparently true-to-life passage in Dante’s Inferno, was adapted for the stage by the librettist Giovecchino Forzano. A wealthy miser has died, and the greedy members of his family are horrified to find that he has written all of them out of his will. In a scheme to steal back their inheritance, they enlist the help of the morally ambiguous title character, who then succeeds in bilking them out of the money. A side plot involves the young romance between Schicchi’s daughter, Lauretta, and a member of the “grieving” (none of them cared a whit for the old man!) family, Rinuccio.

[Another summary] The Comedy Gianni Schicchi is set in Florence in the year 1299 in the house of Buoso Donati, recently deceased. His relatives have waited patiently by his death-bed, anxiously hoping for the reading of the wealthy Donati’s will. They are outraged to discover that they have been left nothing, and that the entire estate has been donated to charity. Rincuccio, nephew to the dead Donati, is in love with Schicchi’s daughter Lauretta, but he is forbidden by the family matriarch to marry her because she has no dowry. Gianni Schicchi, has a reputation around the city for his cleverness and cunning. Hoping that the family will come to approve of Schicchi and Lauretta, Rinuccio persuades his elders to allow Schicchi to come and try his hand at helping them find a way to negate Donati’s will. Schicchi arrives, but is offended by the family’s greed and snobbery. Just as he is about to go, Lauretta hoping for approval from Rinnucio’s clan, pleads with her father in this aria to stay and lend his help. Lauretta successfully convinces her father to help the Donati family. He devises a brilliant scheme, and with the proper legal officials summoned, Schicchi, disguised as an ailing Buoso Donati, proceeds to leave the entire estate to himself, much to the outrage of the family. He chases them out of what is now his house, and Lauretta and Rinuccio rejoice because now she has the dowry needed for the marriage.

[Bonnie Shaljean]

Sorry about the question marks – they’re meant to be punctuation (thought I’d learned how to deal with the HTML but obviously not). That last Italian word is “pieta”, S?? is Si – etc etc etc. Apologies –

How does one avoid this problem?

[barbara-brundage]

>thought I’d learned how to deal with the HTML but obviously not)

It’s not your fault, Bonnie. This site enforces a very restricted encoding on web browsers–most annoying. Hugh says he’ll look into it one of these days.

S.S. You are amazingly talented if you can play this one and sing it at the same time. There’s an awful lot going on.

[unknown-user]

Bonnie, thank you so much for your very informative letter. You certainly know a lot about opera. I am wondering if you are involved in it. I am not a trained singer, but I like to sing when

[patricia-jaeger]

S.S., your

[Evangeline Williams]

This one song is very simple, but beautiful, as far as the melody goes.

[Briggsie B. Peawiggle]

I sang the role of ‘Zita’ in that opera in grad school a few years back. It was an entirely WONDERFUL role and so much fun to perform.

June

[HBrock25]

Bonjour,

Could you please udate the link to http://www.geocities.com/voyerju/libretti.html.

?

The site has moved to http://ulricvoyercompositeurdoperacanadien.qc.ca/220-e-libretti

Ulric Voyer composer’s site has also moved to

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