CONCERT SONGS II
Lyrics, translations and/or notes for...
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Be my love
Music: Nicholas Brodszky, Text: ©.Sammy Cahn
This song (nominated for an Academy Award in 1950) was written for the
film The Toast of New Orleans, starring Mario Lanza and became one of his
signature songs.
Be my love, for no one else can end this yearning,
this need that you and you alone create.
Just fill my arms the way you've filled my dreams,
The dreams that you inspire with ev'ry sweet desire.
Be my love, and with your kisses set me burning,
One kiss is all I need to seal my fate.
And hand in hand we'll find the promised land.
There'll be no one but you for me, eternally,
if you will be my love.
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Because of you
Music: Francesco PaoloTosti
I love the dawn in beauty beaming,
The silver land, the radiant seas,
Because it wakes your soul from dreaming,
And gives you back to life and me.
I love the birds that carol o'er us,
The flowers that wake in wood and lea,
They tell me life is sweet before us,
And I for you and you for me!
I love the storm that beats the ocean,
The valleys deep, the crags above,
For soft across the wild commotion
I hear the still sweet voice of love!
I love the calm that falls at even,
The hush that sleeps along the blue,
For earth seems nearer unto Heaven,
And makes me dream of rest and you!
I love the night so deep and tender,
The burning stars, the tranced blue,
Because I come in sweet surrender,
Because I give myself to you;
Because I feel your arms around me,
Because I see your dear eyes shine,
Because I know that Love has crowned me,
And I am yours and you are mine.
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With a Song in my Heart
Music: Richard Rodgers, Text: Lorenz Hart
Notes (© Jean Peccei)
This song is from the 1929 Rogers and Hart musical, Spring Is Here. The
musical, which had only a modest box office success by Rogers and Hart
standards, told a forgettable story about a boy in love with a girl in
love with somebody else until (of course) the final act. With a Song in
My Heart is perhaps its most famous melody.
Lyrics
Though I know that we meet ev'ry night
and we couldn't have change since the last time,
to my joy and delight,
it's a new kind of love at first sight.
Though it's you and it's I all the time
ev'ry meeting's marvelous pastime.
You're increasingly sweet,
so whenever we happened to met
I greet you ...
With a song in my heart
I behold your adorable face.
Just a song at the start
but it soon is a hymn to your grace.
When the music swells
I'm touching you hand
It tells that your're standing near, and ..
At the sound of your voice
heaven opens his portals to me.
Can I help but rejoice
that a song such as ours came to be?
But I always knew
I would live life through
with a song in my heart for you.
Oh, the moon's not a moon for a night
and these stars will not twinkle and fade out,
and the words in my ears
will resound for the rest of my years.
In the morning I find with delight
not a note of our music is played out.
It will be just as sweet,
and an air that I'll live to repeat:
I greet you ...
With a song in my heart
I behold your adorable face.
Just a song at the start
but it soon is a hymn to your grace.
When the music swells
I'm touching you hand
It tells that your're standing near, and ..
At the sound of your voice
heaven opens his portals to me.
Can I help but rejoice
that a song such as ours came to be?
But I always knew
I would live life through
with a song in my heart for you.
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Caro mio ben (My dear beloved)
Music: Giuseppe Giordani (or possibly Giordanello) circa 1800, Text: Anonymous
English line-by-line translation © John Glenn Paton
Caro mio ben,
My dear beloved,
credimi almen,
believe me at least,
senza di te languisce il cor.
without you my heart languishes.
Il tuo fedel
Your faithful one
sospira ognor.
always sighs;
Cessa, crudel,
cease, cruel one,
tanto rigor!
so much punishment!
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Andaluza
Music: Enrique Granados, Text: Luis Munoz Lorente
Notes (© Jean Peccei)
A Catalan by birth, and a romantic by temperament, the pianist and
composer, Enrique Granados' music is filled with a love for Spain and
its landscapes. The first major critic to appreciate him was Ernest
Newman, who wrote, "The texture of Granados' music... is of the kind
that makes you want to run your fingers over it, as over some exquisite
velvet; the flavour of it is something for the tongue almost, as well as
the ear... to play through some of these pages is like a joyous wading
knee-deep through beds of gorgeous flowers - always with a sure way
through and the clearest of light and air around us."
Enrique Granados died at sea on 24 March 1916. He and his wife were
returning from the United States when their ship was torpedoed by a
German submarine in the English channel. In a lifeboat, frantically
searching for his wife, Granados saw her in the water. He jumped into
the sea to rescue her, but they died in each other's arms.
On the 7th of May 1916, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York
organized a benefit concert for Granados' orphaned children. His
friend, Pablo Casals remembered: "Towards the end of the concert, all
the lights were turned out. A candle was placed on the piano. Then, with
that solitary flame flickering on the stage in the great hall,
Paderewski played Chopin's Funeral March."
Andaluza was originally composed as the fifth of Grandados' Spanish songs
for piano. Its vocal version, with piano accompaniment, was set to a poem by
Luis Munoz Lorente in 1931.
In the first stanza, which is also the refrain...
Andalucia! Sultana mora,
reina del dia que re y llora;
nieva azahar en tu jardin entre rosas
tu claro cielo que es velo de tu azul.
Andalucia is likened to a Moorish queen who reigns over a garden filled
with roses and orange blossoms. Her veil is the clear blue sky.
In the second stanza, the poet sings of his love for this land which is
'soul of Spain' with its sunny skies, and likens it to a red carnation
blooming in an orchard.
In the third stanza, Andalucia, 'who for centuries has seen the glories
of Spain and been the envy of the Moors', is likened to the soul of a
woman, a soul which smiles and loves, sighs and weeps.
In the fourth stanza, Andalucia is likened to a bright and beautiful
star, una estrella clara y hermosa. The lover who wants to die from
jealousy, returns instead to ask for love.
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Vurria (I want)
Music: Furio Rendine, Text: Antonio Pugliese
Notes and Translation (© Jean Peccei)
Although composed in 1958, Vurria is very much in the tradition of
Neapolitan love songs, where Naples becomes the beloved. The passion for
the city with its sun and its sea, is like the passion for a woman, and
the lament, is what, for some, is life's greatest tragedy, being far
away from home. The following is a free translation of the Neapolitan
lyrics, stanza by stanza...
Dint'a na stanzulélla fredda e scura,
addó' na vota ce traseva 'o sole,
mo stóngo io sulo...e tengo na paura
ch'a poco a poco, mme cunzuma 'o core...
In a little room, dark and cold
where once the sun shone,
Now I am suffering alone and I am afraid
My heart is consumed, little by little ...
Paura ca mme struje 'sta malatia
senza vedé cchiù Napule,
senza vedé cchiù a te...
My fear makes my sickness worse
not seeing Naples,
not seeing you ...
Vurría turná addu te,
pe' n'ora sola,
Napule mia...
pe' te sentí 'e cantá
cu mille manduline...
Vurría turná addu te
comm'a na vota,
ammore mio...
pe' te puté vasá,
pe' mme sentí abbracciá...
'Sta freva
ca nun mme lassa maje!
'sta freva
nun mme fa cchiù campá...
I want to return to you,
For just an hour, my Naples ...
To hear the singing,
on a thousand mandolins ...
I want to return to you,
Like the old days,
My love ...
To kiss you,
To feel,
To embace ...
This fever
That never leaves me!
This fever
I can't go on...
Vurría turná addu te
pe' n'ora sola,
Napule mia...
Vurría...vurría...vurría...
ma stóngo 'ncróce!
I want to return to you,
For just an hour, my Naples
I want ... I want ... I want ...
I am crucified!
Stanotte, dint''o suonno, si' turnata...
Mm'accarezzave, chiano, 'sta ferita...
Aggio sentuto mille serenate,
aggio sentuto Napule addurmuta...
Po', 'mmiez'a tanta nebbia, só' caduto...
senza vedé cchiù Napule,
senza vedé cchiù a te!...
Tonight, in my dreams, you have come to me ...
And you caress my wound...
I hear a thousand serenades,
Asleep, I hear Naples...
Then I wake from the misty dream
Without ever seeing Naples,
Without seeing you.
Vurría turná addu te
pe' n'ora sola,
Napule mia...
Vurría...vurría...vurría...
ma stóngo 'ncróce!
I want to return to you,
For just an hour,my Naples
I want ... I want ... I want ...
I am crucified!
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Pel Teu Amor (Rosó)
Music: Josep Ribas, Text: Miguel Poal Aragall
Amb la llum del tei mirar,
has omplert la meva vida.
Si em volguessis estimar,
ma illusió fora complida,
i viura tan content,
que en mom rostre s'hi veuria
a la llum de l'agraiment.
I a tothora et cantaria
una canço pels teus ulls
que jo mateix et faria;
una canço pels teus ulls
perquè enmig de tants esculls
fossin ells la meva guia.
Rosó, rosó llum de le meva vida,
Rosó, rosó, no desfacis ma illusió.
Presoner en tots monets
de la teva veu tan clara,
que allunya els mals pensaments
i la bondat sols ampara,
perquè és fresca i és suau
i és un doll de poesia
i s'assembla a n'el cel blau
que al cor ens dóna alegria.
doncs ja que'm tens presoner
un dia i un altre dia,
i jo m'hi trobo tant bé
Roser la meva Roser
vulgues fer-ma companyia.
Rosó, rosó llum de le meva vida,
Rosó, rosó, no em desfacis ma illusió.
English Translation
For Your Love (Rosó)
With the light of your glance,
you have filled my life.
If you were to love me,
my hope would be fulfilled,
and I would live so happily
that in my face they would see
the light of gratitude.
And I would always be singing to you
a song for your eyes
that I myself would compose;
a song for your eyes
so that amid many pitfalls
they would be my guide.
Rosó, Rosó, light of my life,
Rosó, Rosó, don't undo my hopes.
Forever a prisoner
of your voice so clear
which sends away evil thoughts
and only shelters goodness,
because it is fresh and mild,
a vessel of poetry;
it resembles the blue sky
which brings joy to our hearts.
So since you already hold me captive
day in and day out,
and I am so well off there,
Rose, my Rose
say yes and stay with me.
Rosó, Rosó, light of my life,
Rosó, Rosó, don't undo my hopes
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Pregaria, o lo cant de l'ànima a la Verge
Music: Fermin Maria Alvarez Text: Victor Balaguer
Notes and English Translation © Jean Peccei
The text of this song is from a poem by Victor Balaguer and is part of a longer work, Lo romiatge de mon ànima (My soul's pilgrimage). Balaguer, who was also known as 'The Troubador of Montserrat', was born in Barcelona in 1824 and died in Madrid in 1901. A poet, journalist, and politician, he was one of the chief figures in the Renaixença ('Re-birth'), a 19th century Catalan literary movement. His poetry, with its recurrent themes of sensual love, nationalism, and religious feeling was strongly influenced by the European Romantic tradition.
In the second stanza, the phrase 'la moreneta de la montanya' ('the dark one of the mountain') refers to the famous Black Madonna in the monastery on Montserrat. The English translation which follows the original text is rather 'free', as the poem contains several dialectic and archaic variations from standard Catalan.
Pregaria o lo cant de l'ànima a la Verge
Déu nos salve, Maria, Reyna y Mare
dolsura y vida y esperansa nostra,
à vos pregàm los desterrats fills d'Eva
Misericordia ! Misericordia ! Misericordia !
A vos, Senyora, la sacra Verge,
l'amoroseta, la llum dels cels,
la moreneta de la montanya,
Reina dels angels, Mare de Déu
A vos Senyora, mon cor, mos somnis,
mas esperansas, mos pensaments,
tot quant ma vida ne tè de vida,
tot quant mon ànima ne tè de fé.
Quan per mi vinga l'hora suprema,
Reina dels angels, lliri del cel,
f'eu que a las horas, Santa Madona,
ansque'ls ulls clogue per sempre mès,
f'eu que jo veje voltats de gloria y en mitj
de nuvols d'or y d'encens los tres grans
àngels que de ma vida sigueren sempre
companys fa els, los mèus tres ùnichs,
companys fa els l'Amor dolsissim,
a mare Patria la mare Patria
la Santa Fé la Santa Fé.
English Translation
Prayer, or the soul's song to the Virgin
God save us, Mary, Queen and Mother
our succour and our life and our hope.
To you we pray, the banished sons of Eve
Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!
To you Our Lady, holy Virgin,
the beloved, the light of the heavens
the dark one of the mountain,
Queen of the angels, Mother of God.
To you Our Lady, my heart, my dreams,
my hopes, my thoughts,
all that is my life which comes from your life
all that is my soul which comes from your faith.
When the final hour comes to me,
Queen of the angels, lily of heaven,
At the end of my days, Holy Madonna,
when my eyes shall close forever,
may I go surrounded in glory and amidst
clouds of gold and incense and those three
great àngels that were always my companions
in life, my only companions, the sweetest Love,
the Motherland, the Motherland
the Holy Faith, the Holy Faith.
This page was last updated on: December 9, 2003
