24 Italian Songs and Arias by Women Composers

Per pianto la mia carne by Leonora Orsini

• Level: All
• Teaching tools: Middle range singing using whole notes in cut time; sostenuto; possibility for ornamentation
• Suggestions: Learn the original melody first, using vowels, and add some or all of the ornamentation once the melody and harmony are understood as they relate to the meaning of the text. For a beginner, some of the ornamentation before the cadences, at m. 6, 9, or 19, might be added.
• Translation:

In tears my flesh melts away
As snow does under the sun,
Or before the wind the cloud clears away,
I don’t know what to do.
Think how great my pain is!

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Se scior si ved’il laccio a cui dianz’io by Maddalena Casulana

• Level: All
• Teaching tools: phrasing; rhythmic variety; middle range singing
• Suggestions: Casulana uses harmonic interest for text painting in this successful and widely circulated pastoral madrigal. Enjoy the colorful harmonic shift from m. 18 into 19 on the word “fuoco” (fire) and the descending line to express “del mio dolore” (of my suffering).
• Translation:

If the noose is untied,
Which just now has strongly
Bound me seeing that pretty face,
If another desire or fire
Makes my heart burn more,
I thank you love,
If a woman ever takes pity on my suffering.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Non so se quel sorriso by Francesca Caccini

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: lyrical phrasing; higher range; ornamentation
• Suggestions: The trillo (repetition of a single note), or gruppo (modern day trill of 2 notes) enhance the stressed syllables of important nouns and verbs, using tempi that allow the melody to flow freely to complete the phrases with “grazia.” It would be appropriate to choose a verse or two for the young singer and add an introduction preceding each sung verse.
• Translation:

I do not know if that smile
Sneers at me or reassures me;
If that intent look
Is meant to entice me or warn me.
Already mocked and derided
By a beautiful, but unfaithful woman,
I no longer want this heart tormented by love.

I no longer care about the sweetness Of imagined goodness.
You feed me with bitterness.
Living in constant pain,
I no longer care to respond
To the snares and chains of a new love,
Nor to burden the kindly maiden
With a pitiful story.

If you want me to adore you, Gentile star
To sing to you about love and honor
on my sweet lyre,
toward worthier treasures
toward a rich reward,
summon the ardent hope
which scorns fear.

I no longer want to endure
the cruel wound
of a heart bounded by pride;
an unfaithful soul.
I will no longer
trust the sails of my liberty
among rocks and reefs
without certainty of compassion.

Translation by Barbara Staropoli

Chi desia di saper by Francesca Caccini

• Level: All
• Teaching tools: meter change; ascending and descending phrases in declamatory rhythm
• Suggestions: Caccini's canzonetta, in a medium range, changes meter but has an unwavering underlying pulse. The recitativa phrase in measures 7-9 suggests a freer style. Consider choosing only a few verses for a young singer with an introduction between verses.
• Translation:

To whoever wants to know what love is
I would say that it is not love unless there is passion
It is not love unless there is sadness,
It is not love unless there is fear,
It is not love unless there is fury.
I would say that it is not love unless there is passion
To whoever wants to know what love is.

To those who ask me if I feel love
I say that my fire is all burned out.
I no longer feel torment
I no longer tremble, nor am I afraid;
I always live in happiness.
I say my fire is all burned out
To those who ask me if I feel love.

Whoever will advise me that I should love
I will say that I do not want to sigh anymore,
Nor be afraid or hope
Nor burn or freeze
Nor languish or suffer.
I will say that I do not want to sigh anymore,
To those who advise me that I should love.

To those who would believe that love is all sweet joy,
I say it is sweeter to flee from it:
Neither to bend to its desire,
Nor be tempted by its disdain and anger
Nor to feel its passion.
I say it is sweeter to flee from it
To those who believe that love is all sweetness.

Translation by Barbara Staropoli

Dispiegate, guancie amate by Francesca Caccini

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: Dotted rhythms; changing rhythmic patterns within the melodic phrases; sostenuto work on long notes
• Suggestions: This piece offers good practice singing scale passages. Consider teaching the trill, gruppo, or both on the whole notes that approach the cadences.
• Translation:

Show lovely cheeks
that purple promise of ripeness,
which in loss, in sadness,
might become the roses in the meadow.

Then depart and reveal
bright stars of your beams
which in revealing
and departing
will make the sun appear much less bright.

Reveal the desire
which is hidden
in your sweet mouth
that by revealing it
and displaying it
pearls and stars will lose their brilliance.

Then remove that net
which binds golden hair, golden treasure;
that by touching it
and freeing it
golden hue will return to the air.

Reveal, o lips of fire
a smile under the veil
which in the revealing
and in the exposing
will cause heaven and earth to laugh.

Translation by Barbara Staropoli

Aria: La Pastorella mia by Francesca Caccini

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: trills, dotted rhythms, and passaggi (scale passages) create a serpentine dramatic effect
• Suggestions: Caccini's aria is most suitable for soprano or tenor in this key. Verses 1 and 3 are possible for most college aged singers; those with good rhythm and flexibility can enjoy the ornamentation in all the verses.

Word corrections: verse 2: rubin instead of rabin; verse 3, m. 2: al granato instead of grato

Further study: Please consider assigning any of the 3 arias in La Liberazione di Ruggiero: 1. Sirena’s aria (Chi nel fior di giovinezza), 2. The aria of the shepherd for tenor (Per la più vaga e bella), and 3. Alcina’s plaintive aria for mezzo-soprano (Ferma, ferma crudele).

• Translation:

My shepherdess among the flowers is the lily
Indeed the rose with the most lovely smell.

Among the gems, the vague and vermilion ruby (It. rubin),
I see the beautiful color of the lips.

And among the apples she resembles the Garnet,
For whoever has the crown is lord to others.

She is also queen among the maidens
Indeed the Goddess of love among the other stars.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Due luci ridenti by Settimia Caccini

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: higher tessitura; ornamentation; rhythmic variation within 3/2
• Suggestions: Singers are challenged to shape the melody freely with "grazia" using quarter and eighth note ornamentation. Singing a verse or two only is suggested for a younger singer.
• Translation:

Two laughing eyes with a serene look
Of sweet torments fill my breast.
But flashes of love steal from my heart,
With gentle theft, its freedom.
Yet happily lives this soul, singing,
If it adores, while suffering, the celestial beauty.

Two lips of roses, with sweet blushes,
Promise amorous peace to hearts.
But in that beautiful serenity lurks a poison
Which kills the freedom of the soul.
Yet happily……

Two gentle arms, my sweet chains,
Can make my bitter pains less heavy
From this I want my heart to be your servant,
Lose yourself, lose your freedom.
Yet happily……

Two laughs, two glances, two dear words,
let them be flames, let them be arrows,
dying doesn’t pain me.
I will die blessed, I will die fortunate,
and I will happily lose my freedom.
Yet happily……

Translation by Candace Smith

Occhi io vissi di voi by Claudia Sessa

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: Sostenuto; breath control; coloratura; text painting
• Suggestions: Intended for lower voice. To sustain the line, breathing within the long phrases is acceptable. Consider the practice of crescendo & decrescendo (crescere e scemare) on long notes with descriptive words. Notice the winding passaggi for “gioire” (joy as in missing joy) and the descending pattern using accenti, trillo and gruppo to express “martire” (martyrdom).
• Translation:

I lived through your eyes
While you were alive,
But now extinguished
I live in your death,
Unhappy sustenance
That nourishes me to the point of torment
and yet not rejoicing,
in order to bring lively death to my martyrdom.

Translation by Candace Smith

T’amo mia vita by Vittoria Aleotti

• Level: All
• Teaching tools: Sostenuto; phrasing; breath control; ensemble
• Suggestions: Aleotti's beautiful madrigal is set as a duet for developing melodic independence while practicing ensemble singing. The vocal rests extend the mood and allow the singers to practice calm, quiet breathing. An introduction is recommended for young singers.
• Translation:

“I love you my life," my dearest life gently tells me,
And with these gentle words
my heart is joyfully transformed.
O voice of sweetness and of delight
Take it soon Love,
Stamp it on my breast,
so that my soul may breathe for her alone.
“I love you my life,” be my life.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

S’io ti guardo ti sdegni by Francesca Campana

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: changing meter between duple and triple for expressive purposes
• Suggestions: Musica recitativa is employed in the common time phrases which are meant to be descriptive and speechlike as in measures 1-3: “If I look at you, you scorn me, If I talk to you, you flee.” Longer phrases in triple meter with longer valued notes extend the textual ideas in a flowing, graceful manner.
• Translation:

If I look at you, you scorn it,
If I talk to you, you flee,
And resentful and fleeting, every hour you torment me.
If you hate me because you see the pale face
and the hair already grey,
Do not despise me, my love,
the skin wrinkled beauties that I possessed,
each one is imprinted in my heart.
Despising my heart, you despise yourself.

Translation by Thomasin LaMay

Chi brama in amore by Barbara Strozzi

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: graceful stepwise descending passages (passaggi); a wider range; tempo variations for expressive emphasis
• Suggestions: Chi brama in amore requires agility for precise articulation of the melodic movement. The importance of text dictates the tempi. The descending phrases, melodic skips, and varying tempi add challenges and variety to the expressive music for which Strozzi is so well regarded.
• Translation:

He who longs for love
To satisfy his desires,
In the center of his heart,
Must not enclose suffering.
1.With loud cries,
And with voices that shriek,
To the wicked murderer,
His pain is distinguished.
Pity is not lacking
To the amateur
There is no lack of mercy,
For the lover who speaks.

If it happens that a dart
Wounds your heart,
Do not cover the wounds
With cowardly silence.
Uncover without delay,
The fresh wounds,
Of he who longs to heal
The pains of the heart.
For a lover who is mute,
Love is deaf.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Amore è bandito by Barbara Strozzi

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: agility; higher range; quick articulation
• Suggestions: Find agility and lightness in Strozzi's descriptive verses. The wide melodic range challenges the singer to remain connected to the breath regardless of pitch. The tempo at the verses, measures 7 and 17, can be sung slightly slower in order to articulate the words clearly. At the ritornello, resume the initial tempo.
• Translation:

Love is banished,
lovers up, up.
An edict is proclaimed
that love is no longer.

Provided with love’s
deception and fraud,
Ah, most do not hear
torments and resentments:
the case is sent
Love is banished,
lovers up, up.

Delusions to the brain,
at the heart jealousy,
passions, madness,
they are trips to the brothel:
the case is sent.
Love is banished,
lovers up, up.

Hope and desire,
complaints, sighs,
sobs, martyrs
soon go to oblivion:
The case is sent.
Love is banished,
lovers up, up.

Comfort yourselves,
cheer the heart that banishes,
for what banishes love,
banishes death:
the strike is successful.
Love is banished,
lovers up, up.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Aria from Vuò cercando by Rosa Giacinta Badalla

• Level: All
• Teaching tools: shaping melodic phrases; sostenuto work
• Suggestions: Badalla's aria is part of a secular cantata for low voice with a vocal range of a ninth in 6/8. The aria without recitative could be assigned to the young singer. The recitative is a good study for singers who can manage the melodic phrasing required.
• Translation:

Recitative:
Lord, if with such a flower,
you make a lavish gift to my desires
I too, would present you
(though there is slight recompense for such honor)
A garland of roses and hyacinths
Plucked in my own cloistered grounds.

Aria You that are the most beautiful dawn,
That glows in love’s heaven,
Though the sky still flowers with roses
Do not scorn a small gift of flowers.

Translation Robert Kendrick

Povero cor tu palpiti by Isabella Colbran

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: wider range for higher voice; dynamic changes; larger melodic skips for dramatic purposes
• Suggestions: The text for Povero cor tu palpiti is attributed to the famous poet, Metastasio (Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi). As a dramatic soprano, Colbran’s vocal writing includes dramatic effects such as singing through ties, fermati, and text repetition for emphasis. Note on the final page the use of short and long phrases in a higher register before descending to the final cadence.
• Translation:

Poor heart, you beat so,
how right you are to tremble so!
You throb so
poor heart,
For fear of loss eternal,
the image of love’s own hand
is engraved within my heart.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Già la notte s’avvicina by Isabella Colbran

• Level: All
• Teaching tools: higher tessitura with passaggio singing; phrase length variation
• Suggestions: The colla voce with fermata and dynamic changes gives dramatic effect. A stepwise ornament on zeffiretto (breezes) paints the text beautifully and understanding the meaning of barcarola can inform the singer of the tempo for this song. A short introduction can be helpful for the younger singer.
• Translation:

Even now the night approaches,
come Nice, my beloved,
to breathe the fresh breeze
on the placid sea shore.

No one can understand the delight
of resting on the sands
or feeling the soft breeze
sweetly ripple the sea.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

La speranza al cor mi dice by Isabella Colbran

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: 2 against 3 singing; dynamic changes; mezza di voce
• Suggestions: In measure 16, changing to “saro,” in brackets, can add more flexibility for better breath energy on the descending line. For more uniformity, in measure 17, consider tying the second beat to the pitch C on the 3rd beat triplet and then the “ce” of felice can elide with “ancor” on the final note of the triplet as it does in measures 32 and 34.
• Translation:

Hope tells my heart
that I will know joy again,
But love’s deceptions come,
and fear assails me,
Yet hope tells my heart
that I will be happy again.

Translation by Martha Furman Schleifer

Giusto amor by Louise Reichardt

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: higher tessitura; faster tempo; short and long phrase sections
• Suggestions: The eighth note movement toward the quarter & dotted quarter notes emphasizes the dissonant pitch and syllable on the first beat of the measure in measures 1-8 (this repeats again in m. 20-27.) Setting the first 2 lines of the 2nd stanza in the major key, Reichardt completes the mood with extended phrases that rise and crescendo. For consistency, choose your preferred text after reading Metastasio’s original poem on page 51.
• Translation:

Opportune love, you that ignite me,
Advise me and defend me
from peril and fear.
You alone are the cause
of my happiness, of my sorrow,
opportune love, defend me.
You guide me to a faithful soul,
to oppose the barbarous furor.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Vanne felice rio by Louise Reichardt

• Level: All (high & low keys)
• Teaching tools: turns; phrasing; larger intervallic skips; scale passages; trills
• Suggestions: Vanne felice rio is a short, lyrical song with graceful phrases and the challenge of practicing the turn during the long half note. This piece is offered in 2 keys.

*Note: Please correct the error in measure 19 of the lower key which should be a B natural starting on the 3rd beat.

• Translation:

Go happy river, go splendidly to the sea!
Ah, if only I could change my fate with yours!
Now you will bathe those charming rays
that encircle my life and death.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Se non piange un infelice by Louise Reichardt

• Level: College age
• Teaching tools: dotted rhythms; octave leaps (both ascending and descending); agitated tempo with repeated chords in the piano
• Notes: Se non piange un infelice is a noticeable contrast in songwriting to Vanne felice, also by Reichardt. As a teacher of young singers, she wrote this for lower voices using melodic skips to add dramatic effects with steady piano support.
• Translation:

If an unhappy woman does not weep,
When living apart from others,
Abandoned by her spouse,
Tell me, oh God, who will weep?

(Optional 2nd verse:
Who can say that I am wrong to cry,
If I at least hope for happiness
From this miserable comfort,
That is gained by the pity of others?)

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Se spiegar by Maria Szymanowska

• Level: Upper level undergraduate or graduate student
• Teaching tools: variations in phrase lengths; accented notes for dramatic purposes; skips; varying dynamics
• Suggestions: Se spiegar is a more challenging piece containing short phrases followed by longer ones and the use of accents on stressed syllables. The addition of tied notes with wide skips, a fermata, and varying dynamics add to its technical challenges. Consider relaxing the tempo from measures 47-55 before resuming the tempo primo for the dramatic crescendo to the end of the song.
• Translation:

If you could explain, oh God,
The necessity of my pain,
I would draw in your heart
Some signs of pity.

If you could explain, oh God,
The necessity of my pain,
I would draw in your heart
Some signs of pity,
Perhaps then made merciful,
I hope you would turn a flattering look
Of happiness toward me.

Translation by Randi Marrazzo

Il Silfo by Maria Malibran

• Level: Upper level college and beyond (high voice)
• Teaching tools: mezza di voce; expanded wide range, dramatic repetition of text
• Suggestions: Il Silfo is a challenging song and should be sung by those with more vocal experience. It contains a combination of long, held notes for mezza di voce work, fioratura, and ornamentation. The piece encompasses a wide range, not unlike the opera arias Malibran would have performed during her own singing career.
• Translation:

Oh pitiful Sylph welcomes
The beautiful lady of the castle
As the poor Sylph
On the threshold died.
Open to me, ah open to me,
Open to me, ah open to me,
Open to me, open to me.

And already at night how cold the wind will be,
If you refuse me
And already at night, the flowers are closed,
And no one welcomed me.
Open, open, ah open to me.

Maybe you are scared of me,
But I am gentle, I have golden wings.
I am a treasure of perfumes,
I am lighter than sighs.
Open to me, open to me, open to me, ah open to me
Open to me, open to me, open to me, ah open to me.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Povera me by Pauline Viardot-García

• Level: Undergraduate (high & low keys)
• Teaching tools: text painting; arpeggiated melodic phrases; varying half and whole steps
• Notes: Povera me offers a direct, deeply emotional connection to the text using accented syllables for emphasis, and melodic and dynamic contrast. The continuous rhythmic pulse in the piano is supportive to the singer and can be relaxed for melodic expression.
• Translation:

Poor me, that I didn’t think of the end
when you took me to love you.
And I didn’t see, when saying I was your poor sweet love,
That from your eyes, I let myself be bound!
And I gave up deserving this and worse again.
Poor me, that I didn’t think of the end
when you took me to love you.

I feel death, and see it coming,
I see it take my hand,
as the door of the church opens.
I hear the bells ring of death;
when facing the bitter tears.
Remember me when I loved you,
when you face me, turn your steps back,
Remember, remember me, when death was with you.

Translation by Randi Marrazzo & Morghan Pastrana

L’innamorata by Pauline Viardot-García

• Level: Undergraduate
• Teaching tools: rhythm; agile articulation of the diction; accented syllables
• Suggestions: Changing rhythmic patterns of 2 and 3 convey a flexible, dance-like quality. The first beat of the phrase is accented, followed by eighth and sixteenth notes offering a light, playful texture to the song. The range is wider, encompassing an octave and a fifth. A new rhythmic pattern of repeated notes moving to accented syllables may need to be sung a little slower before returning to the first tempo.
• Translation:

I am in love with two young men,
One of two, I don't know which one to leave,

That little boy seems to me the most beautiful,
The bigger one I can’t leave.
I gave that little one my life,
The bigger one the flowering palm.
To that little one, I gave my soul,
To that bigger one, a flowering palm.

The bigger one seems so beautiful to me,
I don't know if he is, or if love is deceiving me,
But that little one seems to me also beautiful,
Because his mother made him beautiful,
Because he is beautiful and colorful,
He looks like a rose bush when it has bloomed.

I am in love with two young men,
One of two, I don't know which one to leave,
That little boy seems to me the most beautiful
The bigger one I can’t leave.
To that little one, I gave my soul,
To that bigger one a flowering palm.

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo

Apri, apri by Pauline Viardot-García

• Level: All
• Teaching tools: word emphasis in phrasing; sostenuto; 1 pitch in the upper register
• Suggestions: Apri, apri is a very short, accessible song for a higher voice in the bright key of A major. The long note held for 8 counts offers a vocal challenge.
• Translation:

Open, open your eyes to see,
The one that for your spouse,
Benign heaven tells you,
And now it sighs for you,
And in you, I know it rests,
And languishes, and languishes
And languishes only for you!

Translation by Nicole Leone & Randi Marrazzo