My iTunes library has close to 5,500 songs. I’ve carefully marked them all with from two to four stars. (No stars means I haven’t rated a song yet. I use one star to mark a song I need to come back to for some reason — usually to delete it or fix an error with its description.) I have only one song marked with five stars. This is it:
I find the range of the soprano’s voice is just overwhelming. The emotion expressed is overpowering.
I always thought this song was a woman, Lauretta, singing about her child or baby (bambino) but recently discovered it’s a woman singing to her father (babbino/babbo) about his objections to the man she loves. The words are:
| O mio babbino caro Mi piace è bello, bello Vo’ andare in Porta Rossa a comperar l’anello! Sì, sì, ci voglio andare! e se l’amassi indarno, andrei sul Ponte Vecchio, ma per buttarmi in Arno! Mi struggo e mi tormento! O Dio, vorrei morir! Babbo, pietà, pietà! Babbo, pietà, pietà! |
Oh my dear papa I like him, he is handsome, handsome I want to go to Porta Rossa to buy the ring! Yes, yes, I want to go there! And if my love were in vain, I would go to the Ponte Vecchio and throw myself in the Arno! I am aching, I am tortured! Oh God, I’d like to die! Father, have pity, have pity! Father, have pity, have pity! |
[The words are taken from this Wikipedia web page.]
Recent Comments