Monday, August 1, 2011

No, Pagliaccio non son – Pagliacci



Canio
No! I am not Pagliaccio;
If my face is pale,
It’s from shame, and lust for revenge!
This man is taking back his rights,
This bleeding heart wants blood
To wash away the shame, o cursed woman!
No, I am not Pagliaccio!
I am the idiot
Who picked this little orphan off the street
Almost dead from hunger,
And gave you a name,
And a love that was feverish and mad!

Peasant women
Clown, you make me cry!
This scene seems so real!

Peasant men
Be quiet down there! What the hell!

Silvio
I can hardly believe it!

Canio
I had hoped, I had been blinded by this delirium,
If not love, pity... mercy!
And my heart was glad for every sacrifice required,
And confidently believed
In you, more than God Himself!
But only vice lives in your neglected soul;
you have no feeling... only feeling for yourself!
Go away, you’re not worth my grief,
Wretched harlot,
You have my contempt
Just to crush you under my feet!!

The crowd
Bravo!

Nedda
Fine then! If you judge me unworthy of you,
You're driving me away.

Canio
Ah! ah!
You can ask nothing better
Than to run quickly to your dear lover.
You’re a clever one! No! by God!
You’ll stay…
You will tell me your lover’s name!!

Nedda
Come on, this is awful
I can’t really believe you!
There’s nothing tragic here.
Come and tell them or Taddeo,
The man sitting there,
Sitting next to me just now
It was... the fearful and harmless Harlequin!

Canio
Ah! you challenge me!
You still don’t get it
That I’m not giving in to you?...
The name, or your life! His name!

Nedda
Ah! No, my God!
Maybe I’m not worthy…
Not what you want, but I’m not vile, for God’s sake!

Peasants
Are they acting?
Is this serious?
Be quiet down there!
This is serious and dark!

Silvio
I can’t resist anymore!
Oh what a strange comedy!

Peppe
We must leave, Tonio. I’m afraid!...

Tonio
Shut up, idiot!

Nedda
You anger is stronger than my love!
I won’t talk! No! Even at the risk of death!

Canio
His name! His name!

Nedda
No!

Silvio
Holy hell! He’s serious...

The crowd and Peppe
What are you doing? Stop! Help!

Canio
To you! To you!
You will say it, in the throes of death!

Nedda
Rescue me! Silvio!

Silvio
Nedda!

Canio
Ah!... is it you?
So be it!

The crowd
Stop! Jesus and Mary!

Canio
The comedy is finished!

Placido Domingo in the final scene of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. With Teresa Stratas as Nedda and Sherill Milnes as Tonio.
Metropolitan Opera, 1978. Conductor: James Levine.

1 comment:

  1. There is an error in the tranlastion:
    "Ah! ah!
    You don't bother asking the gods
    You'd better not run to your dear lover.
    You’re too clever for that!"

    When Canio says:
    "Ah! ah!
    Di meglio chiedere non dèi
    che correr tosto al caro amante.
    Se' furba!"
    The word "dèi" stands for "devi" [1]
    and means "you must" and not "Gods".

    A better translation is:
    "Ah! Ah!
    You cannot ask for any better
    than to run immediately to your dear lover.
    You're wily [or smart or clever]!"

    Note:
    The word "tosto" means "immediately" [2]
    but I suppose you could remove it
    for the sake of concision.

    References:
    [1] http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/lib/pagliacci/pagfn.htm#fn3
    [2] http://www.wordreference.com/iten/tosto

    --
    Carmelo from Palermo (Italy)

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