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{{Short description|Tenor aria from Verdi's opera Rigoletto}}
{{For|the 1942 Italian film, ''La donna è mobile''|The Lady Is Fickle}} {{For|the 1942 Italian film|The Lady Is Fickle}}
"'''{{Lang|it|La donna è mobile}}'''" ({{IPA-it|la ˈdɔnna ɛ ˈmɔːbile}}, ''The woman is fickle'') is the Duke of Mantua's ] from the beginning of act 3 of ]'s ] '']'' (1851). The inherent ] is that the Duke, a callous ], is the one who is ''{{Lang|it|mobile}}'' ("inconstant"). Its ] 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.
⚫ {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}


The canzone is famous as a showcase for ]s. ]'s performance of the ] ] 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:<ref>{{cite book|last=Downes|first=Olin|title=The Lure of Music: Depicting the Human Side of Great Composers|year=1918|publisher=Kessinger|page=38|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dc2U6MjW5nAC&printsec=frontcover}}</ref> a necessary precaution, because it proved to be ] and soon after its first public performance every ] in Venice was singing it. "'''{{Lang|it|La donna è mobile|italic=no}}'''" ({{IPA|it|la ˈdɔnna ˌɛ mˈmɔːbile|pron}}; "Woman is fickle") is the Duke of Mantua's ] from the beginning of ] of ]'s ] '']'' (1851). The canzone is famous as a showcase for ]s. ]'s performance of the ] ] at the opera's 1851 premiere was hailed as the highlight of the evening. Before the opera's first public performance (in Venice), the aria was rehearsed under tight secrecy,<ref name=Downes /> a necessary precaution, as "{{Lang|it|La donna è mobile|italic=no}}" proved to be incredibly catchy and soon after the aria's first public performance, it became popular to sing among Venetian ].


As the opera progresses, the ] of the tune in the following scenes contributes to Rigoletto's confusion as he realizes from the sound of the Duke's lively voice coming from the tavern (offstage) that the body in the sack over which he had grimly triumphed was not that of the Duke after all; Rigoletto had paid Sparafucile, an assassin, to kill the Duke, but Sparafucile had deceived Rigoletto by indiscriminately killing Gilda, Rigoletto's beloved daughter, instead.<ref>, OperaGlass, ]</ref>
==The music==

]
==Music==
{|align=right
|<score>{ \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } \clef "treble_8" \key b \major fis_"Range" (ais') }</score>
⚫ |}
{{Listen|type=music|filename=La Donna E Mobile Rigoletto.ogg|title="La donna è mobile"|description=Performed by ] in 1908}} {{Listen|type=music|filename=La Donna E Mobile Rigoletto.ogg|title="La donna è mobile"|description=Performed by ] in 1908}}
{{Listen|image=]|help=no|filename="La donna è mobile" - Rigoletto (2016-17).webm|title="La donna è mobile"|description=], Gran Teatre del ] (2017)}}
⚫ The almost comical-sounding ] of "{{Lang|it|La donna è mobile}}" is introduced immediately, and runs as illustrated (] from the original key of ]). The theme is repeated several times in the approximately two minutes it takes to perform the aria, but with the important—and obvious—omission of the last ]. 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 ] or ] but on the ]. 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 ] in form with an orchestral ].
The aria is in the ] of ] with a ] of 3/8 and a ] mark of ''allegretto''. The ] extends from ] to A{{music|#}}{{sub|4}} with a ] from F{{music|#}}{{sub|3}} to F{{music|#}}{{sub|4}}. Eight ] form the orchestral introduction, followed by a one-bar general rest. Each verse and the refrain covers eight bars; the whole aria is 87 bars long.

⚫ The almost comical-sounding ] of "{{Lang|it|La donna è mobile|italic=no}}" is introduced immediately. 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 ] (B) or ] (F{{music|#}}) but on the ] (G{{music|#}}). Once the Duke has finished singing, however, the theme is once again repeated; this time, it includes the last—and conclusive—bar and finally resolves to the tonic of ]. The song is in ] with an orchestral ].


==Libretto== ==Libretto==
The lyrics are based on a phrase by King ], {{lang|fr|]}} , that he, deceived by one of his numerous mistresses, reputedly engraved on a window pane. ] used this phrase verbatim in his play, '']'', on which ''Rigoletto'' is based.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lalanguefrancaise.com/proverbes/souvent-femme-varie-bien-fol-qui-s-y-fie|title=« Souvent femme varie, bien fol qui s'y fie » : signification et origine du proverbe|language=fr|author=Sylvie Brunet|date=8 September 2021|access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> ] depicted in an 1804 oil painting Francis engraving the lines.<ref>] ]: '']'', (1804)</ref>
{|
<poem lang="it" style="float:left;">&nbsp;
!Italian!!] translation!!] translation
La donna è mobile
|-
|<poem>1.&nbsp;{{Lang|it|La&nbsp;donna&nbsp;è&nbsp;mobile
Qual piuma al vento, Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento muta d'accento
Line 21: Line 28:
leggiadro viso, leggiadro viso,
in pianto o in riso, in pianto o in riso,
è menzognero.}} è menzognero.


''Refrain'' ''Refrain''
{{Lang|it|La donna è mobil'. La donna è mobil'.
Qual piuma al vento, Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento muta d'accento
e di pensier'! e di pensier'!


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


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


''Refrain'' ''Refrain''
{{Lang|it|La donna è mobil' La donna è mobil'
Qual piuma al vento, Qual piuma al vento,
muta d'accento muta d'accento
e di pensier'!}}<ref name=vs>{{Cite book|url=http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bhr8278/large/sco30173.html|title=Rigoletto{{Noitalic|, piano vocal score, Italian/English}}|pages=173ff|first1=Francesco Maria|last1=Piave|authorlink1=Francesco Maria Piave|first2=Giuseppe|last2=Verdi|authorlink2=Giuseppe Verdi|publisher=]|location=New York|year={{Circa|1930}}|others=translated by ]}}</ref></poem> e di pensier'!<ref name=vs>{{Cite book|url=http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bhr8278/large/sco30173.html|title=Rigoletto|others=piano vocal score, Italian/English|pages=173ff|first1=Francesco Maria|last1=Piave|author-link1=Francesco Maria Piave|first2=Giuseppe|last2=Verdi|author-link2=Giuseppe Verdi|publisher=]|location=New York|year=c. 1930|translator=]}}</ref></poem>
<poem style="margin-left:2em; float:left;">&nbsp;
|style="padding-left:2em;"|<poem>Woman is flighty.<!--see discussion page for choice of "flighty" over "fickle"-->
Woman is flighty.
Like a feather in the wind, Like a feather in the wind,
she changes in voice she changes in voice
Line 52: Line 60:
pretty face, pretty face,
in tears or in laughter, in tears or in laughter,
it's untrue. it is untrue.


''Refrain'' ''Refrain''
Woman is flighty. Woman is fickle.
like a feather in the wind, Like a feather in the wind,
she changes in voice she changes her words
and in thought! and her thoughts!


Always miserable Always miserable
Line 71: Line 79:


''Refrain'' ''Refrain''
Woman is flighty. Woman is fickle.
Like a feather in the wind, Like a feather in the wind,
she changes her words, she changes her words,
and her thoughts!
⚫ and her thoughts!<ref>, translated by Randy Garrou, Aria Database</ref></poem>

⚫ |style="padding-left:2em;"|<poem>Plume in the summerwind
</poem>
<poem style="margin-left:2em; float:left;">'''Poetic adaptation'''
⚫ Plume in the summerwind
Waywardly playing Waywardly playing
Ne'er one way swaying Ne'er one way swaying
Line 105: Line 116:
Ev'ry way bendeth Ev'ry way bendeth
Woe who dependeth Woe who dependeth
On joy she spends.<ref name=vs /></poem> On joy she spends.<ref name=vs /></poem>{{Clear|left}}
⚫ |}


==In popular culture== ==Popular culture==
The tune has been used in popular culture for a long time and for many occasions and purposes. Verdi knew that he had written a catchy tune, so he provided the score to the singer at the premiere, ], only shortly before the premiere and had him swear not to sing or whistle the song outside rehearsals.<ref name=Downes>{{cite book|last=Downes|first=Olin|author-link=Olin Downes|date=September 1918|title=The Lure of Music|url=https://archive.org/stream/lureofmusicdepic00down#page/38/mode/2up|location=New York|publisher=Harper & Brothers|page=38|via=]}}</ref> And indeed, people sang the tune the next day in the streets. Early on, it became a ] staple and was later used extensively in television advertisements.<ref> by Carrie Seidman, '']'', 18 October 2012</ref> Football fans chanted new words to the tune of the melody.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/tales-from-the-terraces-the-chants-of-a-lifetime-5336050.html|title=Tales from the terraces: The chants of a lifetime|author=Stan Hey|newspaper=]|date=21 April 2006|access-date=27 December 2016}}</ref> When all of Italy was under lockdown due to the ], a video of opera singer Maurizio Marchini performing "La donna è mobile" and other arias and songs from his balcony in Florence went viral.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cronaca/tenore-canta-terrazzo-1.5112923|title=Dal balcone di Gavinana al mondo: così il tenore conquista la città|author=Rossella Conte|language=it|date=18 April 2020|work=]|access-date=19 April 2022}}</ref>
*In the 1932 movie ], a background soldier sings this as a woman is wooed, sequentially, by two men outside in a garden.
*In Disney's 1990 short "]" {{Clarify|date=February 2011}}
*In the film 1992, "]"
*The canzone is sung to unsettling effect by the character Richard Benning in ]'s 1893 short story ''An Adventure at Brownville'', including after the suicide of one of Benning's wards.
*In the 2000 film '']'', Jack Campbell (]) gets dressed and heads out to work while singing this song.
*In an episode of '']'', B.J. Hunnicutt sings his version of the song while in the shower.
*In the 2004 movie '']'', a fight scene between ] (The Punisher) and ] (The Russian) occurs while the song plays and his apartment neighbors sing and dance to the song.
*The first verse of the song is featured in '']''.
*In the '']'' episode "]", Kenny sings the canzone while making money for his singing training in ].
*In the '']'' episode "]", the ] sings the first verse while daydreaming that he is in recital for the crew. He "improvises" humorous lyrics to the canzone to trick Tuvok, who is experiencing '']'', into receiving a medicinal sedative.
*In ]'s ']' Doctor Chebutykin sings snippets throughout.
*In the video game '']'' this song can be heard on the ] radio station.
*In the '']'' episode "'']''", '']'' makes a working pastry replica of downtown '']''. In the model a shrimp rows a gondola down a canal while singing the song.
*In the episode of '']'' titled '']'' Lisa sings the song with new lyrics.
*In an episode of '']'', Zimbo and the Snorch torture Ickis, Krumm and Oblina by singing this song during the closing credits.
*In the 1999 film '']'' Martin the Martian sings the song while in a hot tub.
* Many football crowd chants/songs are to this tune.
**'']'': one of the fan's songs with lyrics "We've got ]."
**'']'': one of the supporters' songs praising striker ].
**'']'': one of the supporters' songs praising Villa striker ].
**'']'': one of the supporters' songs praising owner ].
** As is the tune ''"Your ground's too big for you"''
* The Hall Song of Chancellor Hall, ], Mona Campus in Jamaica, is set to the song's tune.
* In an episode of "Figure it Out — Family Style" (1998–1999), a contestant with the secret "Self Taught Opera Soloist," sings the song as his featured song upon the panel figuring his secret out, while his father helped him out.
* In "Queer as Folk", Season 3, Ted gets a job as a singing waiter and is embarrassed when his friends show up at the restaurant as he is singing this song.
*In an episode of '']'', a tall prisoner sings this song in the yard to distract the guards while Max escapes.
* In the film Hannibal Brooks, Oliver Reed (Brooks) distracts German soldiers by drunkenly singing 'Der Schnapps ist gut, mein Herr' to this melody, in order to make his escape.
*In the film ], the Italian Chef Enrico sings the song while drunkenly serenading ]'s character near the end of the movie. Ryan's kidnappers comment on his good singing.
*"The Maestro" is an episode of the NBC sitcom '']'' (aired 6 October 1995; episode 113, third episode of season #7). Elaine sings this canzone as she drives away with "the Maestro".
*In the "Elmo's World" segment of an episode of ''],'' Elmo, dressed as a horse, is onstage. He starts singing ''La donna è mobile'', but his voice is raspy, and when he stops, he gives the pun "I'm a little hoarse (horse)." Mr Noodle in "Singing" lip syncs the song.
*In a ] sketch on ], Opera Man (played by Adam Sandler) sang the song as a parody of a woman in the news.
*At the start of the first episode of the ] story "]," the Doctor (]) attempts to sing the aria while performing repairs on his new antique car Bessie, but can only sing the first line and hums the rest.
** In another, later ] story, "]", the Doctor (]) attempts to sing this in the shower.
*In the 2009 video game '']'', an edited version of the song plays while in the area named "The Ripe Kingdom" before that kingdom is conquered.
*In the television series '']'', in the episode "" (1966) Major Nelson sings the song using several different Jeannie-modified voices, including a ], a '']'', a ], and ].
*In a story from '']'' titled "Symphony for a Rabbit," Rabbit performs an ode to vegetables set to this tune.
*An abridged version was performed by burlesque opera singer ] for the Las Vegas auditions of the 5th season of ].
*In the animated series '']'' episode "", The Tick sings to calm the 400 year bloom while battling El Seed.
⚫ {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2011}}
*] of the UK boy band ] performed the song in the first series of ].
*] performed the song in the 2nd series of ].
*In the remake movie of Oscar Wilde's famous play "]", version of 1952, sung twice by character John Worthing played by ]


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist}}
<references />


==External links==
⚫ {{Rigoletto}}
{{Commons category|La donna è mobile}}
*{{YouTube|8A3zetSuYRg|"La donna è mobile"}}; ] in ]'s 1982 film ''Rigoletto''
*{{YouTube|Q2mMPz_a4vY|Combined performance|link=no}}, Pavarotti, ], ], ], ], 9 April 1994 ] benefit concert
⚫ *, translated by Randy Garrou, Aria Database
*], ]
*{{YouTube|_kmr5IlUAhI|"La donna è mobile" – Explained (7 mins)|link=no}}

⚫ {{Rigoletto|state=expanded}}
{{Giuseppe Verdi}}
{{Portal bar|Opera}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Donna e mobile, La}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Donna e mobile, La}}
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Latest revision as of 03:03, 24 August 2024

Tenor aria from Verdi's opera Rigoletto For the 1942 Italian film, see The Lady Is Fickle.

"La donna è mobile" (pronounced [la ˈdɔnna ˌɛ mˈmɔːbile]; "Woman is fickle") is the Duke of Mantua's canzone from the beginning of act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto (1851). 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 the opera's first public performance (in Venice), the aria was rehearsed under tight secrecy, a necessary precaution, as "La donna è mobile" proved to be incredibly catchy and soon after the aria's first public performance, it became popular to sing among Venetian gondoliers.

As the opera progresses, the reprise of the tune in the following scenes contributes to Rigoletto's confusion as he realizes from the sound of the Duke's lively voice coming from the tavern (offstage) that the body in the sack over which he had grimly triumphed was not that of the Duke after all; Rigoletto had paid Sparafucile, an assassin, to kill the Duke, but Sparafucile had deceived Rigoletto by indiscriminately killing Gilda, Rigoletto's beloved daughter, instead.

Music

{ \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } \clef "treble_8" \key b \major fis_"Range" (ais') }
"La donna è mobile" Performed by Enrico Caruso in 1908
Problems playing this file? See media help. "La donna è mobile" (2:42) Javier Camarena, Gran Teatre del Liceu (2017)

The aria is in the key of B major with a time signature of 3/8 and a tempo mark of allegretto. The vocal range extends from F♯3 to A♯4 with a tessitura from F♯3 to F♯4. Eight bars form the orchestral introduction, followed by a one-bar general rest. Each verse and the refrain covers eight bars; the whole aria is 87 bars long.

The almost comical-sounding theme of "La donna è mobile" is introduced immediately. 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 (B) or dominant (F♯) but on the submediant (G♯). Once the Duke has finished singing, however, the theme is once again repeated; this time, it includes the last—and conclusive—bar and finally resolves to the tonic of B major. The song is in strophic form with an orchestral ritornello.

Libretto

The lyrics are based on a phrase by King Francis I of France, Souvent femme varie, bien fol qui s'y fie. , that he, deceived by one of his numerous mistresses, reputedly engraved on a window pane. Victor Hugo used this phrase verbatim in his play, Le roi s'amuse, on which Rigoletto is based. Fleury François Richard depicted in an 1804 oil painting Francis engraving the lines.

 
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'!

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 is untrue.

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

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 fickle.
Like a feather in the wind,
she changes her words,
and her thoughts!

Poetic adaptation
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.

Popular culture

The tune has been used in popular culture for a long time and for many occasions and purposes. Verdi knew that he had written a catchy tune, so he provided the score to the singer at the premiere, Raffaele Mirate, only shortly before the premiere and had him swear not to sing or whistle the song outside rehearsals. And indeed, people sang the tune the next day in the streets. Early on, it became a barrel organ staple and was later used extensively in television advertisements. Football fans chanted new words to the tune of the melody. When all of Italy was under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a video of opera singer Maurizio Marchini performing "La donna è mobile" and other arias and songs from his balcony in Florence went viral.

References

  1. ^ Downes, Olin (September 1918). The Lure of Music. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 38 – via Internet Archive.
  2. Rigoletto synopsis, OperaGlass, Stanford University
  3. Sylvie Brunet (8 September 2021). "« Souvent femme varie, bien fol qui s'y fie » : signification et origine du proverbe" (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  4. Fleury François Richard: François I montre à Marguerite de Navarre, sa sœur, les vers qu'il vient d'écrire sur une vitre avec son diamant, (1804)
  5. ^ Piave, Francesco Maria; Verdi, Giuseppe (c. 1930). Rigoletto. Translated by Natalia Macfarren. piano vocal score, Italian/English. New York: G. Schirmer, Inc. pp. 173ff.
  6. "From tomato paste to Doritos: Rigoletto aria a popular refrain" by Carrie Seidman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 18 October 2012
  7. Stan Hey (21 April 2006). "Tales from the terraces: The chants of a lifetime". The Independent. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  8. Rossella Conte (18 April 2020). "Dal balcone di Gavinana al mondo: così il tenore conquista la città". La Nazione (in Italian). Retrieved 19 April 2022.

External links

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