DESCRIPTION:
Rondine al nido is a beautiful romance and one of the best known works of the Italian composer Vincenzo de Crescenzo, whose music was in the repertoire of Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Richard Tucker, Luciano Pavarotti, Luigi Infantino, Ramón Vargas, Robert Dean Smith, Francesco Albanese, among many others.
Written by de Crescenzo in the early 20th century (circa 1920), it deals with lost love. While written and performed as a Neapolitan song, but with lyrics in Italian, it is more like an aria of the late Romantic period, demanding of the singer high intensity, high notes, and excellent breath control.[1] It begins calmly and lightly, and then it becomes a passionate outburst. The second stanza repeats this scheme.
The song was sung by tenor Agostino Castagnola as The Doctor (EMH) portrayed by Robert Picardo in the 13th episode, Virtuoso, of the sixth season of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. The episode was first aired on 26 January 2000 in the United States. The song is performed in Las Vegas at the Bellagio's fountain, which dances to Luciano Pavarotti's version of the song.
Italian
I
Sotto la gronda de la torre antica
Una rondine amica,
Allo sbocciare del mandorlo è tornata.
Ritorna tutti gli anni,
Sempre alla stessa data,
Monti e mare essa varca
per tornar.
Solo amore
Quando fugge e va lontano
Speri invano
ma non torna più,
Speri invano
Ma non torna più.
II
Ne la penombra dolce della sera
Passa la primavera.
Cinguettano le rondini nel volo,
Ebbre di luce e d'aria.
Ed io son triste e solo;
Monti e mare tu non varchi
per tornar.
Mia piccina,
Fosti tutta la mia vita;
Sei fuggita
E non torni più.
Sei fuggita
E non torni più.
Translation in English
I
Under the eaves of the old tower,
as the almond tree blossoms,
a friendly swallow has returned.
Every year she returns,
always in the same day.
She crosses mountains and sea
to get back here.
Only love flees
and does not return.
It makes you hope in vain,
but it does not return.
It makes you hope in vain,
but it does not return.

II
In the soft twilight of evening
springtime is passing.
The swallows chatter in their flight —
they are drunk with light and air.
But I am sad and lonely.
You do not cross mountains and sea
to come back to me.
My little one,
You were my whole life,
but you ran away,
never to return.
You ran away,
never to return!