The traitor tricked
(Poet's title: Il traditor deluso)
Set by Schubert:
D 902/2
[1827]
Part of Drei Gesänge für Baßstimme mit Klavier, D 902
Ahimè, qual forza ignota
Anima quelle voci! Io tremo, io sento
Tutto inondarmi il seno
Di gelido sudor… Fuggasi… Ah quale…
Qual’ è la via! Chi me l’addita? Oh Dio,
Che ascoltai! Che m’avvenne! Ove son io!
Ah l’aria d’intorno
Lampeggia, sfavilla,
Ondeggia, vacilla
L’infido terren!
Qual notte profonda
D’orror mi circonda!
Che larve funeste,
Che smanie son queste!
Che fiero spavento
Mi sento nel sen!
Alas, what unkown power
Is animating those voices? I am trembling, I feel that
My breast is being inundated
With frozen sweat . . . Flee! . . . Oh which . . .
Which way? Who can show me? Oh God,
What can I hear? What is happening to me? Where am I?
Oh, the air all around
Is lighting up, is sparkling,
There is a swaying and a quaking
In the treacherous earth!
What a dark night
Of horror surrounds me!
What funereal shadows,
What disturbances are these?
What a terrifying fear
I feel in my breast!
All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.
☙
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Tutte le opere di Pietro Metastasio, Firenze, Tipografia Borghi e compagni 1832, page 540.
The text appears in Gioas Re di Giuda, parte II, Aria di Atalia.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 319 [331 von 418] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ176741408