Lyrics + translation for Vesti la Giubba (Leoncavallo Pagliacci):
Recitar! Mentre preso dal delirio,
non so più quel che dico,
e quel che faccio!
Eppur è d’uopo, sforzati!
Bah! sei tu forse un uom?
Tu se’ Pagliaccio!
Vesti la giubba,
e la faccia in farina.
La gente paga, e rider vuole qua.
E se Arlecchin t’invola Colombina,
ridi, Pagliaccio, e ognun applaudirà !
Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto;Change into laughs the spasms of pain;
in una smorfia il singhiozzo
il dolor, Ah!
Ridi, Pagliaccio,
sul tuo amore infranto!
Ridi del duol, che t’avvelena il cor!
To recite! While taken with delirium,
I no longer know what it is that I say,
or what it is that I am doing!
And yet it is necessary, force yourself!
Bah! Can’t you be a man?
You are “Pagliaccio”
Put on the costume,
and the face in white powder.
The people pay, and laugh when they please.
and if Harlequin invites away Colombina
laugh, Pagliaccio, and everyone will applaud!
into a grimace the tears of pain, Ah!
Laugh, Pagliaccio,
for your love is broken!
Laugh of the pain, that poisons your heart!
Lyrics for As It Is, Plenty (Britten):
As it is, plenty,
As it’s admitted
The children happy
And the car, the car
That goes so far…
And the wife devoted:
To this as it is,…
To the work and the banks…
Let his thinning hair
And his hauteur
Give thanks, give thanks.
All that was thought
As like is not, is not;…
When nothing was enough
But love,
And the rough future
Of an intransigent nature
And the betraying smile,
Betraying, but a smile:
That that is not, is not
Forget, forget, forget.
Let him not cease to praise…
Then his spacious days;…
Yes, and the success…
Let him bless, let him bless:
Let him see in this…
The profits larger
And the sins venal,
Lest he see as it is
The loss as major
And final, final, final, final, final,
Final.