Quando me n’vò

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Also known as "Musetta's Waltz," Quando me'n vò is a soprano aria from Act II of Puccini's opera La Boheme. It is sung by the character Musetta, in the presence of her bohemian friends, and is directed toward Marcello in order to make him jealous.

[edit] Libretto

Italian	Translation in English
Quando me'n vò Quando me'n vò soletta per la via, La gente sosta e mira E la bellezza mia tutta ricerca in me, ricerca in me Da capo a pie' ... Ed assaporo allor la bramosia sottil che da gl'occhi traspira e dai palesi vezzi intender sa Alle occulte beltà. Cosi l’effluvio del desio tutta m'aggira, felice mi fa, felice me fa! E tu che sai, che memori e ti struggi Da me tanto rifuggi? So ben: le angoscie tue non le vuoi dir, non le vuoi dir so ben Ma ti senti morir!	When I walk When I walk alone in the street People stop and stare at me And everyone looks at my beauty, Looks at me, From head to foot... And then I relish the sly yearning which escapes from their eyes and which is able to perceive my most hidden beauties. Thus the scent of desire is all around me, and it makes me happy, makes me happy! And you who know, who remember and yearn you shrink from me? I know it very well: you do not want to express your anguish, I know so well that you do not want to express it but you feel as if you are dying!

Italian

Translation in English

Quando me'n vò
Quando me'n vò soletta per la via,
La gente sosta e mira
E la bellezza mia tutta ricerca in me,
ricerca in me
Da capo a pie' ...

Ed assaporo allor la bramosia
sottil che da gl'occhi traspira
e dai palesi vezzi intender sa
Alle occulte beltà.
Cosi l’effluvio del desio tutta m'aggira,
felice mi fa, felice me fa!

E tu che sai, che memori e ti struggi
Da me tanto rifuggi?

So ben:
le angoscie tue non le vuoi dir,
non le vuoi dir so ben
Ma ti senti morir!

When I walk
When I walk alone in the street
People stop and stare at me
And everyone looks at my beauty,
Looks at me,
From head to foot...

And then I relish the sly yearning
which escapes from their eyes
and which is able to perceive
my most hidden beauties.
Thus the scent of desire is all around me,
and it makes me happy, makes me happy!

And you who know, who remember and yearn
you shrink from me?

I know it very well:
you do not want to express your anguish,
I know so well that you do not want to express it
but you feel as if you are dying!