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Madamina, il catalogo è questo
(Aria of Leporello)
Wolfgang Amadè Mozart, Don Giovanni, act I
Translation by Miles Rind
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Leporello, servant to Don Giovanni, explains to Donna Elvira, one of Giovanni’s
recent conquests, why it is not worth her while to pursue him any further.
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Madamina, il catalogo è questo
delle belle che amò il padron mio.
Un catalogo egli è che ho fatt’io;
osservate, leggete con me.
In Italia seicento e quaranta;
in Lamagna duecento e trentuna;
cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna;
ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre.
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Young lady, this is the catalogue
of the beauties my master has loved.
It is a catalogue that I made myself;
observe, read along with me.
In Italy, six hundred and forty;
in Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
a hundred in France, in Turkey ninety-one;
but in Spain, there are a thousand and three.
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V’han fra queste contadine,
cameriere, cittadine,
v’han contesse, baronesse,
marchesane, principesse,
e v’han donne d’ogni grado,
d’ogni forma, d’ogni età.
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Among these are peasant women,
chambermaids, city girls;
there are countesses, baronesses,
marquesses, princesses,
and there are women of every rank,
of every shape, of every age.
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Nella bionda egli ha l’usanza
Di lodar la gentilezza,
nella bruna la costanza,
nella bianca la dolcezza.
Vuol d’inverno la grassotta,
vuol d’estate la magrotta.
È la grande maestosa,
la piccina è ognor vezzosa.
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In the blonde one, he is in the habit
of praising gentleness,
in the brunette, constancy,
in the white-haired one, sweetness.
In winter he likes a chubby one,
in summer a slender one.
The tall one is “majestic,”
the little one is always “charming.”
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Delle vecchie fa conquista
pel piacer di porle in lista;
ma passion predominante
è la giovin principiante.
Non si picca se sia ricca,
se sia brutta, se sia bella;
purché porti la gonnella,
voi sapete quel che fa.
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He makes a conquest of old ones
for the pleasure of adding them to the list.
But his ruling passion
is the young beginner.
He doesn’t care if she be rich,
if she be ugly, if she be beautiful:
as long as it wears a skirt,
you know what he does.
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