Translation Trashbin - 8. Ah se a morir mi chiama

Mozart is a bear to do performance translations for. He was a wild child when it came to texts, which he'd dissect and reconstitute in the most genius ways. It was all done to heighten the psychological depths of his characters, and as the old saying goes - before Freud, there was Mozart.

In this dramma per musica, the 17-year-old composer was confronted with a remarkable libretto. His music responds to it deeply, and in this second-act number, the hero has decided to turn himself over to the Roman dictator to protect his beloved. The problem is the woman's distress at his impending death. In No. 14 of the opera, Cecilio tells his beloved that even through death he will be around her, always. This borderline creepy number is both moving and hair-raising, which explains why it is usually (and sadly) cut from productions of Lucio Silla. It confronts human nature and our core willingness to believe.

Psychologically, although the man hopes to comfort his beloved, he only drives her that much closer to madness. Videos at the end of the translation.

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Performance Translation from:

Lucio Silla

by Giovanni De Gamerra,

Music by W. A. Mozart, 1772. No. 14, K.139.

(presented with repeated lines per the musical setting)

CECILIO:

Ah se a morir mi chiama
Il fato mio crudele
(Il fato mio crudele)

Seguace ombra fedele

Sempre sarò con te.

(Seguace ombra fedele)

(ombra, ombra fedele)

(Sempre sarò con te.)

(Sempre sarò con te.)

[recapitolazione –

«Ah se a morir…» ecc.]

(Sarò con te.)

Vorrei (vorrei) mostrar costanza
Cara, nel dirti addio
Ma nel lasciarti, oh Dio!

(Ma nel lasciarti, oh Dio)
Sento tremarmi il piè.

[recapitolazione –

«Ah se a morir…» ecc.]

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CECILIO:

If to my grave death calls me –

To my too-tragic fate –

(To meet an all too tragic fate)

Like a phantom faithfully around you

I will be with you still.

(Like a phantom faithfully around you)

(phantom, phantom eternally)

(dissolved in the air.)

(I will be eternally here with you still.)

[recapitulation –

"If to my grave…" etc.]

(Here with you still.)

I wish. (I wish) I could prove my faith

Dearest, in this sad good-bye

But now that I leave you, oh God –

(But now that I leave you, oh God)

My legs falter in their step.

[recapitulation –

"If to my grave…" etc.]

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Anna Bonitatibus in a stage production. (Aria begins min 1:44)

Michael Maniaci's studio recording. It's nice to get the dramatic subtly and nuance from a male performer, as that is how Mozart envisioned the work to be executed.