This song is more commonly known by the English translation of its title--namely, "Tell Me What Love Is"--but it makes us sound so much more learned to write it in Italian. Though, of course, we do risk invoking the annoyance of Harriet Smith. "I hate Italian singing. There is no understanding a word of it," says she.
Never fear, Harriet, for Lizzy does not sing in Italian in that famous scene at Pemberley. Instead, she sings the English lyrics to Mozart's famous tune. (The song comes from the opera The Marriage of Figaro, by the by.)
You who have tasted love's mystic spell
What is this sorrow naught can dispel?
What is this sorrow naught can dispel?
Fair dame or maiden, none else may know
My heart o'erladen, why is this so?
What is this yearning, these trembling fears
Rapturous burning, melting in tears?
While thus I languish, wild beats my heart,
Yet from my anguish I would not part,
I seek a treasure Fate still denies,
Naught else will pleasure,
Naught else I prize...
I'm ever sighing, I know not why,
Near unto dying, when none are by,
My heart is riven night, morn and eve,
But ah 'tis heaven, thus, thus to grieve!
You who have tasted love's mystic spell
What is this sorrow naught can dispel?
What is this sorrow naught can dispel?
14 comments:
Thank you for sharing the lyrics here! I think I may have to track down the sheet music for this, in order to play and sing this piece while I'm in England this September. I'm afraid I play just like Lizzy ("a little and very ill"), but if I started now I could definitely pull it off by the time the Jane Austen Festival rolls around...
Interesting to speculate if a longer version ever existed on some editing room floor.
The lyrics actually sung in this scene are:
Say ye who borrow Love's fleeting spell,
What is this sorrow naught can dispel?
What is this sorrow naught can dispel?
What is this sorrow naught can dispel?
These aren't the exact lyrics Elizabeth sings. Because there is something line that goes... "seizing my brain."
Nobody says "seizing my brain." The lyrics Lizzie sings are exactly as Anonymous reproduces them above ("Say ye who borrow love's fleeting spell/What is this sorrow naught can dispel? [x 3]").
Is it really Jennifer Ehle who sings at Pemberly?
Thanks Anonymous! I have been trying to understand the first line of the Tunes for weeks.
There have been multiple English translations of "Voi che sapete". I believe the version Sophia Rose refers to is the one sung by Charlotte Church.
Yes , it is indeed.
That scene where Elizabeth sings at Pemberley contains a significant and clever tip of the hat by the makers of the series. Jane Austen, like some of her literary influences, relished romantic situations that turned social hierarchies upside down.
At some point during the performance a servant looking every bit like Mozart from the film Amadeus comes in and bows. It’s an acknowledgment of the sublime greatness of Mozart, who would have been considered a mere underling or servant by aristocrats of that time.
The singer is actually early music specialist Catherine Bott.
The singer for Lizzie Bennet is early music specialist Catherine Bott.
No. The vocals for Voi Che Sepete were provided by Catherine Bott.
I was surprised to see that Jennifer Ehle had been dubbed for the singing, because she looked so uncharacteristically tense for the normally confident Lizzie that she was portraying, and the singing, although sweet, sounded a little amateurish for a professional singer on some notes.
I know that Lizzie had moved from dislike, through indifference, to a general acceptance of Mr. Darcy by this time, but it is not until Georgiana begins playing again after the interruption that we see Lizzie begin to show, and presumably realise, her new feelings towards him.
I see the choice of Lizzie's song as a little trick by the film makers to give us an "aha!" moment, rather than a deliberate attempt by Lizzie to signal her feelings to Darcy. After all, only yesterday she had been mortified that she might appear to have "deliberately thrown herself at him" by coming to Pemberley.
You are so right. I wish I were more observant!
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