How many times have you been in the middle of a lesson and your teacher asks you what the piece you are currently singing is about only for you to say something like 'well its sort of about' ... and then the whole lesson goes south from there as you spend the rest of it wondering what the piece is actually about and whether or not your half made up plot explanation was believable at all. I have to admit to having done this more than a couple of times, but that was before I discovered that there can be an element of fun in translating your own pieces. Don't believe me? Keep reading and I'll give you some useful tips for tackling Italian translation, even if you don't yet speak the language fluently.
Disclaimer; Please note; that I am not fluent Italian, or a specialist in translation and any information provided on this post is intended as a guide only formed from personal experiences through learning the language.
If you are a beginner, although it may be tempting to immediately get out a dictionary and start searching for every last word. Don't just yet, and look to the bigger context first. Italian songs, particularly opera arias, tend to use very poetic language and endlessly googling 'what is the meaning of [insert long poetic phrase here] will likely lead you round and round in circles until you give up. Instead if the piece is from an opera, the most useful, and free tool you have at your disposal to start with is Youtube. It is not always necessary to watch the whole of an opera to get an idea of the context of a given aria, but you can if you want to. Looking about, will likely bring you up with several versions of the same song by a range of artists some of which will likely have the option to turn on subtitles. Be aware though, these subtitles can vary substantially, or be automated, and do not always reflect the actual meaning of the words, but can still give you an rough idea of what a piece is about. Once you have done this and have an idea of why the piece is being sung and who is singing it, then it is time to start tackling the lyrics with a dictionary. Of course, there is always the option to at this point find an available translation online, but taking the time to do this step instead is always much more worth it in the long run. For the cases of demonstration here let's use the opening from Mozart's aria 'Deh vieni non tardar’.
'Deh, vieni, non tardar, oh gioia bella, vieni ove amore per goder t'appella'
Step 1 - Find the words you may already know or recognise from English or other languages and double check they mean what you think they mean. In the above phrase everyone will likely pick out 'bella (beautiful), amore (love), and gioia (joy)' being three of the most commonly quoted words in love ballads around the world.
Step 2 - Working backwards from this to get a sense of the whole phrase, it is then a good idea to locate the verbs and work out what they are. 'Vieni' is one of the most used verbs found in Mozart arias. Coming from the verb venire (to come), 'vieni' is the second person singular form of the verb 'tu' used here as a flirtatious command. At this point, it useful to remember that having done your research, Susanna is singing in the garden to Figaro, who is hiding in the bushes, therefore the you she is referring to is really him not the count.'Tardar' is also easily translatable being similar to the French en retard (to be late) coming from the Italian verb 'tardare'. The last 'e' is dropped with poetic licence here to fit that one word into the first beat of this new bar.
Step 3 - We now have most of the first phrase and can piece together the remaining elements. 'Non' is placed between the two verbs to indicate the negation don't be late and 'deh' and 'oh' are a form of emotional exclamation. This then completes our first phrase as:
'Oh come, don't be late, my beautiful joy'
Doing a literal translation in this manner, as far as is possible, gives you a deeper understanding of the text and how it relates to the music. It then allows for more creative freedom to bring out certain words according to the story you want to tell in performance.
Step 4- The second phrase can be approached in much a similar way picking out the main verbs and constructing the phrase bit by bit however, here we have the use of the word 'ove' which in the sense of the full phrase here is the same as ‘dove' (where). Our second phrase therefore reads:
'Come where love's enjoyment calls to you'
If you are not used to translating your own pieces to begin with it can take time to work out a method which works best for you, but if you would like to give it a try I have listed some helpful resources below from basic- more advanced:
Collins Italian Dictionary Online - this site is great for beginners, as it has a detailed grammar section going through everything from tenses, pronoun usage and common verbs which often crop up in famous soprano arias.
Word Reference - this site is helpful for looking up odd vocabulary and also has the option for listening to pronunciation.
Reverso Context/Reverso Conjugation - this site can be quite useful for showing the context of given words, but it is slightly more advanced than the others as you already need to know a little bit of language to see why a given verb/phrase is used in the way it is.
Treccani- this one is really useful for those that have significant knowledge of the language, as the whole site is in Italian, but comes in invaluable for finding lyrical poetic explanations of certain words and phrases as meanings are explained through synonyms and particular literary usages.
Lastly don't forget to ask! A native speaker, or a coach that specialises in the language will likely be able to explain the idiomatic phrases that google cannot answer!
© gayleewalkersoprano originally published on 1.3.22 - Updated 13.3.24