DESCRIPTION:
ITALIAN LYRICS:
O mio babbino caro,
mi piace, è bello, bello.
Vo'andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l'anello!

Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se l'amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno!

Mi struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!

ENGLISH LITERAL TRANSLATION:

Oh my dear papa,
I love him, he is handsome, handsome.
I want to go to Porta Rossa
To buy the ring!

Yes, yes, I want to go there!
And if my love were in vain,
I would go to the Ponte Vecchio
And throw myself in the Arno!

I am anguished and tormented!
Oh God, I'd like to die!
Papa, have pity, have pity!
Papa, have pity, have pity!

SINGABLE ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Oh my beloved father,
I love him, I love him!
I'll go to Porta Rossa,
To buy our wedding ring.

Oh yes, I really love him.
And if you still say no,
I'll go to Ponte Vecchio,
And throw myself below.

My love for which I suffer,
At last, I want to die.
Father I pray, I pray.
Father I pray, I pray.

"O mio babbino caro" ("Oh My Dear Papa") is a soprano aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918), by Giacomo Puccini, to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between Schicchi and his prospective in-laws have reached a breaking point that threatens to separate her from Rinuccio, the boy she loves. It provides a contrasting interlude expressing lyrical simplicity and single-hearted love in the atmosphere of hypocrisy, jealousy, double-dealing and feuding in medieval Florence of Puccini's only comedy, and it provides the only set-piece in the through-composed opera.


Florence Easton as Lauretta at the world premiere of Gianni Schicchi, 14 December 1918.
The aria was first performed at the premiere of Gianni Schicci on 14 December 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York by the popular Victorian English soprano Florence Easton.