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Perduta ho la pace

Carami Hilaire


This is “Meine Ruh ist hin, mein Herz ist schwer,” Gretchen’s famous song at the spinning-wheel from Goethe’s Faust, set to music by countless composers including Wagner, Glinka, Berlioz, Spohr, and Loewe. The most celebrated version is Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” with its whirling piano accompaniment representing the turning wheel. Verdi, choosing the same key of D minor, illustrates instead the girl’s inescapable depression, with a doleful throbbing heartbeat and a vocal line that alternates between the lyrical effusion of her memories and the numbed hopelessness of her present. The Italian translation is by Luigi Balestra, and the song was published in 1838 in Verdi’s very first collection of romances.

 

Perduta ho la pace, 
ho in cor mille guai;
Ah, no, più non spero 
trovarla più mai.

M'è buio di tomba 
ov'egli non è;
Senz'esso un deserto 
è il mondo per me.

Mio povero capo 
confuso travolto;
Oh misera, il senno, 
il senno m'è tolto!

Perduta ho la pace, 
ho in cor mille guai;
Ah, no, più non spero 
trovarla più mai.

S'io sto al finestrello, 
ho gl'occhi a lui solo;
S'io sfuggo di casa, 
sol dietro a lui volo.

Oh, il bel portamento; 
oh, il vago suo viso!
Qual forza è nei sguardi, 
che dolce sorriso!

E son le parole 
un magico rio;
Qual stringer di mano, 
qual bacio, mio Dio!

Perduta ho la pace, 
ho in cor mille guai;
Ah, no, più non spero 
trovarla più mai.

Anela congiungersi 
al suo il mio petto;
Potessi abbracciarlo, 
tenerlo a me stretto!

Baciarlo potessi, 
far pago il desir!
Baciarlo! e potessi 
baciata morir.

I have lost all peace;
my heart is full of cares;
I can never hope
to find that peace again.

Wherever I don’t see him
is the darkness of the tomb.
Without him, the world
is a desert for me.

My poor head is 
confused and distorted
All reason has been 
torn from me!

I have lost all peace;
my heart is full of cares
I can never hope
to find that peace again.

If I go to the window,
it is only to look for him
If I leave the house,
it is only to search for him.

Oh, his noble bearing,
his fair face!
What strength in his gaze,
what sweetness in his smile!

And his words that flowed
like a magical river…
...and the grasp of his hand,
and, oh God, his kiss…

I have lost all peace;
my heart is full of cares
I can never hope
to find that peace again.

I want only to press
my breast against his,
to embrace him,
to hold him close…

If only I could kiss him
as I long to do!
To kiss him, and then 
to die on that kiss!