The Turn of the Screw
August 2019
Italian translation of Myfanwy Piper’s libretto for Benjamin Britten‘s opera “The Turn of the Screw“, adapted from the story by Henry James.
The translation was presented as a mock edition of the libretto, and is accompanied by 17 illustrations and a cover design (pencil and digital).
MILES, FLORA
“Tom, Tom, the piper’s son
Stole a pig and away he run.
Pig was eat and Tom was beat,
Tom ran howling down the street.”
[…]
“Tom, Tom, the piper’s son
Stole a pig and away he run.
Pig was eat and Tom was beat,
Tom ran howling down the street.”
[…]
“Malo: I would rather be
Malo: in an apple-tree
Malo: than a naughty boy
Malo: in adversity.”
[…]
Malo: in an apple-tree
Malo: than a naughty boy
Malo: in adversity.”
[…]
FLORA
“Today by the dead salt sea,
Tomorrow her waxen lids may close
On the plains of Muscovy.
And now like a Queen of the East she lies,
With a Turk to guard her bed,
But next, when her short-lived daylight dies,
She’s a shepherdess instead.
But sleep dear dolly, O sleep and when
You are lost in your journeying dream
The sea may change to a palace again,
For nothing shall stay the same…
[…]
“Today by the dead salt sea,
Tomorrow her waxen lids may close
On the plains of Muscovy.
And now like a Queen of the East she lies,
With a Turk to guard her bed,
But next, when her short-lived daylight dies,
She’s a shepherdess instead.
But sleep dear dolly, O sleep and when
You are lost in your journeying dream
The sea may change to a palace again,
For nothing shall stay the same…
[…]
MILES, FLORA
“Quel gran birbo d’un Tommaso
rubò il maial’ da sotto il naso
al bravo garzone, che prese il bastone
e su Tommaso ne fece buon uso.”
[…]
“Quel gran birbo d’un Tommaso
rubò il maial’ da sotto il naso
al bravo garzone, che prese il bastone
e su Tommaso ne fece buon uso.”
[…]
“Malo: preferisco l’ombra serena
Malo: d’un melo e le sue fronde
Malo: ai canti orrendi di sirena
Malo: di ritorno a care sponde.”
[…]
Malo: d’un melo e le sue fronde
Malo: ai canti orrendi di sirena
Malo: di ritorno a care sponde.”
[…]
FLORA
“Oggi sul Mar Morto,
domani vai per piane
dove il giorno è più corto.
Come le regine indiane
hai la fida sentinella.
Ma poi, vita venuta ‘l fine,
ti risvegli pastorella.
Ma ora dormi, mia cara,
la marea si ritira
e il tuo castello riaffiora
dal profondo del mare.”
[…]
“Oggi sul Mar Morto,
domani vai per piane
dove il giorno è più corto.
Come le regine indiane
hai la fida sentinella.
Ma poi, vita venuta ‘l fine,
ti risvegli pastorella.
Ma ora dormi, mia cara,
la marea si ritira
e il tuo castello riaffiora
dal profondo del mare.”
[…]