Alfin sarai contenta Empia fortuna avara! Quanto mi costi cara Spiantata nobilità! Per me Imeneo già versa La sua bevanda amara: Addio per sempre addio Mia bella libertà! Orsù non ci pensiamo, Corraggio, e concludiamo: Alfin s'io prendo moglie So ben perchè lo fo. Lo fo per pagar [debiti]1, La prendo per contanti, Di dirlo, e di ripeterlo, Difficoltà non ho. [Tra]2 tanti modi, e tanti Di prender moglie al mondo, Un modo più giocondo Del mio trovar non so. Si prende per affetto, Si prende per rispetto, Si prende per consiglio, Si prende per puntiglio, Si prende per capriccio E' vero sì, o nò? Ed io per medicina Di tutt'i mali miei Un poco di sposina Prendere non potrò? Ho detto e'l ridico, Lo fo [pei]3 contanti; Lo [fan]4 tanti, e tanti; Anch' io lo farò. Nuotando, sguazzando Fra l'oro, e l'argento Felice, contento Goder me la vò.
F. Schubert sets stanzas 3-8
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Il contraccambio ovvero L'amore alla pruova. Dramma per musica da rappresentarsi nel R. Teatro del Fondo nel inverno dell' 1823. Napoli, della Tipografia Flautina 1823, pages 17-18.
The text appears in the play Il contraccambio ovvero L'amore alla pruova, atto I, scena VIII, as the aria of Duca Alberto di Kalitz. The author of the libretto is unknown, the play has been set by Luigi Carlini and has been staged 1823 in Naples, where the libretto has been printed (see above).
1 Schubert: "i debiti"2 Schubert: "Fra"
3 Schubert: "per li"
4 Schubert: "fanno"
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- sometimes misattributed to Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Il modo di prender moglie (Die Art ein Weib zu nehmen)", op. 83 (Drei Lieder von Metastasio) no. 3, D 902 no. 3 (1827), published 1827, stanzas 3-8 [ bass, piano ], Tobias Haslinger, VN 5063, Wien [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Thomas Dawkins) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "Die Art ein Weib zu nehmen"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 38
Word count: 149
[...] Wohlan und ohne Zagen, ich muss es einmal wagen, muss schnell ein Weib erjagen. Warum? Das weiß ich schon. Ich thu's, nun ich thu's ob dem Gelde, das ist, was mir noch fehlte. Ich sag es immer, ich sag es sans facon, Geld ist mein Schutzpatron. Von all den faden Laffen, die nach den Weibern gaffen, der Kuckuck soll mich strafen, ist ein jeder ein Wicht. Der nimmt ein Weib aus Liebe, der Andere aus anderm Triebe, der weil man's ihm gerathen, der wegen Patronaten, der weil's sich schon verrathen. Ist's also oder nicht? Und ich für all die Schmerzen, im Beutel und im Herzen, soll nicht ein bischen Weibchen nehmen als Medicin? Ein bischen Weibchen nicht nehmen als Medicin? Für den Beutel? Für mein Herz? Ich sag es laut und immer, ich thu was manche tathen, ich heirath die Dukaten, das Weibchen lass ich ziehn.
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "Die Art ein Weib zu nehmen" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , as Pietro Metastasio, no title and misattributed to Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Brigitta Grünbauer
This text was added to the website: 2012-01-19
Line count: 29
Word count: 146