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Quando me'n vo'

{{Short description|Aria from La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini}}

"Quando me'n vo'", also known as "Musetta's Waltz", is a soprano aria, a waltz in act two of Puccini's 1896 opera La bohème. It is sung by Musetta, in the presence of her bohemian friends, hoping to reclaim the attention of her occasional boyfriend Marcello.[http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=34 "Quando me'n vo' (Musetta's Waltz)"]. Aria database site. Retrieved 14 August 2018

This scene takes place at the {{ill|Café Momus|fr}}. Shortly after Mimì, Rodolfo, and their friends have taken seats for a drink, Marcello's former girlfriend, Musetta, shows up with her current patron, the elderly Alcindoro. They quarrel for a bit, then the episode begins as Musetta initiates her move on Marcello. She grabs the spotlight, musically speaking, for a short self-promoting aria (Quando me'n vo'). It is a song directed at the people in the café as much as at the audience in the theater.{{cite web| url=https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/discover/education/educator-guides/boheme-la/boheme.13-14.guide.pdf| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803071802/https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/discover/education/educator-guides/boheme-la/boheme.13-14.guide.pdf| url-status=dead| archive-date=August 3, 2019| title=What to Expect from La bohème| website=Metropolitan Opera |access-date=September 18, 2020}}

Libretto

Quando me'n vo'

Quando me'n vo' soletta per la via,

la gente sosta e mira

e la bellezza mia tutta ricerca in me

da capo a piè ...

Ed assaporo allor la bramosia

sottil, che da gli occhi traspira

e dai palesi vezzi intender sa

alle occulte beltà.

Così l'effluvio del desìo tutta m'aggira,

felice mi fa!

E tu che sai, che memori e ti struggi

da me tanto rifuggi?

So ben:

Le angoscie tue non le vuoi dir,

ma ti senti morir!

When I walk

When I walk all alone in the street,

people stop and stare at me

and look for my whole beauty

from head to feet ...

And then I taste the slight yearning

which transpires from their eyes

and which is able to perceive from manifest charms

to most hidden beauties.

So the scent of desire is all around me,

it makes me happy!

And you, while knowing, reminding and longing,

you shrink from me?

I know it very well:

you don't want to express your anguish,

but you feel as if you're dying!{{Clear|left}}

Later uses

Popular renditions of the melody were produced during the 1950s, including an American Top 40 hit by Sammy Kaye ("You") and a version by Della Reese ("Don't You Know?"), which reached number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.{{cite book|title=Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnspop00whit/page/62/mode/2up?q=della+reese|first=Joel|last=Whitburn|author-link=Joel Whitburn|page=63|publisher=Record Research|year=1991|access-date=September 18, 2020|isbn=978-0898200904}}

In addition, an arrangement of the song by pianist Dick Hyman and saxophonist Moe Koffman was used in the soundtrack to film Moonstruck.

In the Broadway musical Rent, which is inspired by La Bohème, the first verse of the song "Take Me or Leave Me" has lyrics based on those of "Quando me'n vo'".{{cite book|page=175|last=Sherrell|first=Kat|title=Experiencing Broadway Music: A Listener's Companion|date=2016|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=9780810889019}}{{cite journal|journal=Studies in Musical Theatre|title=Transposition in Jonathan Larson’s RENT|last=Nisbet|first=Ian|pages=225–244|volume=5|issue=3|doi=10.1386/smt.5.3.225_1|date=2011}}

References

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External links

{{Giacomo Puccini}}

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Category:Arias by Giacomo Puccini

Category:Opera excerpts

Category:1896 compositions

Category:Soprano arias