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7.13: La donna e mobile

  • Page ID
    72629

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    As you read this page on this aria from Verdi’s Rigoletto, pay particular attention to the information on the theme and the form of the piece.

    Introduction

    La donna è mobile” (The woman is fickle) is the Duke of Mantua’s canzone from the beginning of act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto(1851). The inherent irony is that the Duke, a callous playboy, is the one who is mobile (“inconstant”). Its reprise towards the end of the opera is chilling, as Rigoletto realizes from the sound of the Duke’s lively voice coming from within the tavern (offstage), that the body in the sack over which he has grimly triumphed is not that of the Duke after all: Rigoletto had paid Sparafucile, an assassin, to kill the Duke but Sparafucile deceived him by killing Gilda, Rigoletto’s beloved daughter, instead.

    The canzone is famous as a showcase for tenors. Raffaele Mirate’s performance of the bravura aria at the opera’s 1851 premiere was hailed as the highlight of the evening. Before its first public performance (in Venice), it was rehearsed under tight secrecy: a necessary precaution, because it proved to be catchy and soon after its first public performance every gondolier in Venice was singing it.

    The Music

    The almost comical-sounding theme of “La donna è mobile” is introduced immediately, and runs as illustrated (transposed from the original key of B major). The theme is repeated several times in the approximately two to three minutes it takes to perform the aria, but with the important—and obvious—omission of the last bar. This has the effect of driving the music forward as it creates the impression of being incomplete and unresolved, which it is, ending not on the tonic or dominant but on the submediant. Once the Duke has finished singing, however, the theme is once again repeated; but this time it includes the last, and conclusive, bar and finally resolving to the tonic. The song is strophic in form with an orchestral ritornello.

    Figure 1. Theme (transposed down by a major third)
    Figure 1. Theme (transposed down by a major third)

    Libretto

    Italian Prosaic translation Poetic translation

    1. La donna è mobile
    Qual piuma al vento,
    muta d’accento
    e di pensiero.

    Sempre un amabile,
    leggiadro viso,
    in pianto o in riso,
    è menzognero.

    Refrain
    La donna è mobil’.
    Qual piuma al vento,
    muta d’accento
    e di pensier’!

    2. È sempre misero
    chi a lei s’affida,
    chi le confida
    mal cauto il cuore!

    Pur mai non sentesi
    felice appieno
    chi su quel seno
    non liba amore!

    Refrain
    La donna è mobil’
    Qual piuma al vento,
    muta d’accento
    e di pensier’!

    Woman is flighty.
    Like a feather in the wind,
    she changes in voice
    and in thought.

    Always a lovely,
    pretty face,
    in tears or in laughter,
    it’s untrue.

    Refrain
    Woman is flighty.
    like a feather in the wind,
    she changes in voice
    and in thought!

    Always miserable
    is he who trusts her,
    he who confides in her
    his unwary heart!

    Yet one never feels
    fully happy
    who from that bosom
    does not drink love!

    Refrain
    Woman is flighty.
    Like a feather in the wind,
    she changes her words,
    and her thoughts!

    Plume in the summerwind
    Waywardly playing
    Ne’er one way swaying
    Each whim obeying;

    Thus heart of womankind
    Ev’ry way bendeth,
    Woe who dependeth
    On joy she spendeth!

    Refrain
    Yes, heart of woman
    Ev’ry way bendeth
    Woe who dependeth
    On joy she spends.

    Sorrow and misery
    Follow her smiling,
    Fond hearts beguiling,
    falsehood assoiling!

    Yet all felicity
    Is her bestowing,
    No joy worth knowing
    Is there but wooing.

    Refrain
    Yes, heart of woman
    Ev’ry way bendeth
    Woe who dependeth
    On joy she spends.

    Contributors and Attributions

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    This page titled 7.13: La donna e mobile is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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