Tenor aria from Verdi's opera Rigoletto
"
La donna e mobile
" (
pronounced
[la
?d?nna
??
m?m?ːbile]
; "Woman is fickle") is the Duke of Mantua's
canzone
from the beginning of
act 3
of
Giuseppe Verdi
's
opera
Rigoletto
(1851). The canzone is famous as a showcase for
tenors
.
Raffaele Mirate
's performance of the
bravura
aria
at the opera's 1851 premiere was hailed as the highlight of the evening. Before the opera's first public performance (in Venice), the aria was rehearsed under tight secrecy,
[1]
a necessary precaution, as "
La donna e mobile
" proved to be incredibly catchy and soon after the aria's first public performance, it became popular to sing among Venetian
gondoliers
.
As the opera progresses, the
reprise
of the tune in the following scenes contributes to Rigoletto's confusion as he realizes from the sound of the Duke's lively voice coming from the tavern (offstage) that the body in the sack over which he had grimly triumphed was not that of the Duke after all; Rigoletto had paid Sparafucile, an assassin, to kill the Duke, but Sparafucile had deceived Rigoletto by indiscriminately killing Gilda, Rigoletto's beloved daughter, instead.
[2]
Music
[
edit
]
The aria is in the
key
of
B major
with a
time signature
of 3/8 and a
tempo
mark of
allegretto
. The
vocal range
extends from
F
♯
3
to A
♯
4
with a
tessitura
from F
♯
3
to F
♯
4
. Eight
bars
form the orchestral introduction, followed by a one-bar general rest. Each verse and the refrain covers eight bars; the whole aria is 87 bars long.
The almost comical-sounding
theme
of "
La donna e mobile
" is introduced immediately. The theme is repeated several times in the approximately two to three minutes it takes to perform the aria, but with the important?and obvious?omission of the last bar. This has the effect of driving the music forward as it creates the impression of being incomplete and unresolved, which it is, ending not on the
tonic
(B) or
dominant
(F
♯
) but on the
submediant
(G
♯
). Once the Duke has finished singing, however, the theme is once again repeated; this time, it includes the last?and conclusive?bar and finally resolves to the tonic of
B major
. The song is in
strophic form
with an orchestral
ritornello
.
Libretto
[
edit
]
The lyrics are based on a phrase by King
Francis I of France
,
Souvent femme varie, bien fol qui s'y fie.
[Women are fickle, and who trusts them is a fool.], that he, deceived by one of his numerous mistresses, reputedly engraved on a window pane.
Victor Hugo
used this phrase verbatim in his play,
Le roi s'amuse
, on which
Rigoletto
is based.
[3]
Fleury Francois Richard
depicted in an 1804 oil painting Francis engraving the lines.
[4]
La donna e mobile
Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento
e di pensiero.
Sempre un amabile,
leggiadro viso,
in pianto o in riso,
e menzognero.
Refrain
La donna e mobil'.
Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento
e di pensier'!
E sempre misero
chi a lei s'affida,
chi le confida
mal cauto il cuore!
Pur mai non sentesi
felice appieno
chi su quel seno
non liba amore!
Refrain
La donna e mobil'
Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento
e di pensier'!
[5]
Woman is flighty.
Like a feather in the wind,
she changes in voice
and in thought.
Always a lovely,
pretty face,
in tears or in laughter,
it is untrue.
Refrain
Woman is fickle.
Like a feather in the wind,
she changes her words
and her thoughts!
Always miserable
is he who trusts her,
he who confides in her
his unwary heart!
Yet one never feels
fully happy
who from that bosom
does not drink love!
Refrain
Woman is fickle.
Like a feather in the wind,
she changes her words,
and her thoughts!
Poetic adaptation
Plume in the summerwind
Waywardly playing
Ne'er one way swaying
Each whim obeying;
Thus heart of womankind
Ev'ry way bendeth,
Woe who dependeth
On joy she spendeth!
Refrain
Yes, heart of woman
Ev'ry way bendeth
Woe who dependeth
On joy she spends.
Sorrow and misery
Follow her smiling,
Fond hearts beguiling,
falsehood
assoiling
!
Yet all felicity
Is her bestowing,
No joy worth knowing
Is there but wooing.
Refrain
Yes, heart of woman
Ev'ry way bendeth
Woe who dependeth
On joy she spends.
[5]
Popular culture
[
edit
]
The tune has been used in popular culture for a long time and for many occasions and purposes. Verdi knew that he had written a catchy tune, so he provided the score to the singer at the premiere,
Raffaele Mirate
, only shortly before the premiere and had him swear not to sing or whistle the song outside rehearsals.
[1]
And indeed, people sang the tune the next day in the streets. Early on, it became a
barrel organ
staple and was later used extensively in television advertisements.
[6]
Football fans chanted new words to the tune of the melody.
[7]
When all of Italy was under lockdown due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
, a video of opera singer Maurizio Marchini performing "La donna e mobile" and other arias and songs from his balcony in Florence went viral.
[8]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Downes, Olin
(September 1918).
The Lure of Music
. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 38 – via
Internet Archive
.
- ^
Rigoletto
synopsis
, OperaGlass,
Stanford University
- ^
Sylvie Brunet (8 September 2021).
"≪ Souvent femme varie, bien fol qui s'y fie ≫ : signification et origine du proverbe"
(in French)
. Retrieved
14 July
2023
.
- ^
Fleury Francois Richard
:
Francois I
er
montre a Marguerite de Navarre, sa sœur, les vers qu'il vient d'ecrire sur une vitre avec son diamant
, (1804)
- ^
a
b
Piave, Francesco Maria
;
Verdi, Giuseppe
(c. 1930).
Rigoletto
. Translated by
Natalia MacFarren
. piano vocal score, Italian/English. New York:
G. Schirmer, Inc.
pp. 173ff.
- ^
"From tomato paste to Doritos:
Rigoletto
aria a popular refrain"
by Carrie Seidman,
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
, 18 October 2012
- ^
Stan Hey (21 April 2006).
"Tales from the terraces: The chants of a lifetime"
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
27 December
2016
.
- ^
Rossella Conte (18 April 2020).
"Dal balcone di Gavinana al mondo: cosi il tenore conquista la citta"
.
La Nazione
(in Italian)
. Retrieved
19 April
2022
.
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