Quando la man mi premi (traditional Lombard song)
Allison Gish and Will Crutchfield
This “canzonetta” is a bit of a mystery. In its only traced publication, it is described as a folk song, but it is certainly not a well-known one, and we have been unable to find any version of its words or tune before the appearance of the anthology “Bella Italia,” a collection of “zwanzig italienische Volkslieder für Gesang und Klavier” published in 1933 by Universal Edition in Vienna. The book’s editor/arranger was Franz Burkhart, a composer who lived from 1902 to 1978 and is best known (if known at all) for some guitar pieces written for the virtuoso Karl Scheit.
We can’t even be completely certain that Burkhart made the beautiful arrangement heard here, because the book acknowledges permission from the Italian publisher Ricordi for this particular song. But in what Ricordi collection it may have appeared, or in what form, or who first transcribed it from “folk” preservation, we are at present unable to say. Any information from readers would be most welcome!
Quando la man mi premi
Solo talor con me,
Sento che tu non tremi;
Gaio qual prima tu sei.
Se tu sai sol sorridere,
Non puoi toccarmi il cor.
Se non impari a piangere,
Non mi parlar d’amor.
Oggi son ita in chiesa
Avvolta in fitto vel.
Quale gentil sorpresa
Mi riserbava il ciel!
Colà vidi io le lagrime
Sul ciglio tuo spuntar.
Or che imparasti a piangere,
Mi puoi d’amor parlar.
When you press my hand,
sometimes when we are alone,
I don’t feel you tremble;
you are as carefree as before.
If you know only how to smile,
you cannot touch my heart.
If you don’t learn to weep,
don’t speak to me of love.
Today I went to church,
covered by my dense veil.
What a welcome surprise
Heaven had planned for me!
There I saw the tears
blossoming in your eyes.
Now that you know how to weep,
you may speak to me of love!