Filippo Filippi: Deh, non giurare (Stornello), Op. 41
Nicholas Simpson and Will Crutchfield
Filippo Filippi (1830-1887), a native of Vicenza who gravitated in youth to the lively musical community of Milan, was best known as a journalist. From 1860 to 1862 he was the editor of Ricordi’s influential Gazzetta musicale di Milano, and from 1859 to his death he was the critic of the daily newspaper La perseveranza.
Filippi belonged to the group of musicians and intellectuals known to history as the scapigliatura. This is an untranslatable term; literally it means going around without a hat, or with one’s hair in disorder. In effect it refers to an impatience with tradition, disdain for the rules of polite society, devotion to the avant-garde in art and to liberalism in politics. Others in the group were Arrigo Boito (the composer of Mefistofele and the librettist of Otello and Falstaff) and the conductor-composer Franco Faccio (who together with Boito produced Amleto), and Filippi was their most active literary advocate.
Filippo Filippi, undated photograph
His own music, however, was in a fairly traditional style, expressed mostly in songs and piano miniatures. Our example is derived from a poem from Heinrich Heine’s Buch der Lieder, which served hundreds of composers for inspiration. Bernardino Zendrini translated it into Italian, exchanging Heine’s eight-syllable lines for the eleven-syllable verse typical of Italian folk poetry, and accordingly added the subtitle “Stornello.” As far as we know, this is its first-ever recording.
The subtitles in our video reflect both the Italian words Zendrini wrote and the German ones he was reading. Here are both texts with stricter English translations of each version:
Zendrini’s Italian:
Deh, non giurare, e bacia solamente;
Giuri di donna io non ci credo niente!
Dolce è il tuo dire, ma più dolce è molto
Il bacio, il fior che sul tuo labbro ho colto.
Io credo al bacio, al bacio che possiedo;
Vano soffio è il tuo dire; io non ci credo.
Deh, giura, cara, giura quanto vuoi;
Credo senz’altro ai giuramenti tuoi.
Cader mi lascio ancora sul tuo seno,
E credo che felice io sono appieno.
Credo, adorata mia, che m’amerai
Eternamente, e ancor più oltre assai.
Please, don’t swear, only kiss;
I don’t believe in women’s oaths at all!
Your words are sweet, buy much sweeter
Is the kiss, the flower I’ve gathered on your lips.
I believe in the kiss, the kiss I’ve got;
What you say idle breath; I don’t believe it.
Please, swear, sweetheart, swear all you like!
I believe your promises unconditionally!
I sink once more onto your breast,
And believe that I am completely happy.
I believe, my darling, that you will love me
Eternally, and far beyond!
Heine’s original German:
O schwöre nicht und küsse nur,
Ich glaube keinem Weiberschwur!
Dein Wort ist süß, doch süßer ist
Der Kuß, den ich dir abgeküßt!
Den hab ich, und dran glaub ich auch,
Das Wort ist eitel Dunst und Hauch.
O schwöre, Liebchen, immerfort,
Ich glaube dir aufs bloße Wort!
An deinen Busen sink ich hin,
Und glaube, daß ich selig bin;
Ich glaube, Liebchen, ewiglich,
Und noch viel länger, liebst du mich.
Oh, do not swear, and only kiss,
I don’t believe any woman’s oaths!
Your word is sweet, but sweeter
Is the kiss I’ve kissed from you!
That I have, and so I believe in it;
The word is idle vapor and breath.
Oh, dearest, go ahead and swear!
I believe you word for word.
I sink down on your breast,
And believe that I am happy.
I believe, darling, that you’ll love me
Eternally, and far longer still!