Musical and Score Analysis

The music exists in two score editions. A printed edition published by Leo Feist New York in the set of four pieces differs considerably from a handwritten manuscript. The handwritten manuscript contains some awkward transcribing, such as musical directions squeezed into tight spaces or dynamics added with a different pen, while the transcribing in the printed edition cleanly follows standard practice. This suggests that the handwritten edition was created with direct edits in different stages and likely, making it the original version, and the printed edition was adapted from the handwritten one.

Other discrepancies can also be found throughout the scores. In the printed edition, the entire song is transposed down a whole step (F major to E flat major) from the handwritten manuscript. The top of the printed score indicates that there were published versions in a “high key” (E flat major) and a “low key” (C Major), following 20th century popular music and art song publication trends.

It also uses a loose English translation of the Italian text written by Earl Carroll, and credits no other lyricists or collaborators. The handwritten edition, containing only the original Italian text, attributes the text to Eduardo Missiano and additionally lists Alfredo Sarmiento alongside Caruso’s name as a co-composer.

Poetic Translation Process

One of our primary objectives was to create an use-able, accurate poetic translation. As stated by Oxford Handbooks, “Poetry translation may be defined as relaying poetry into another language.” 1 With this definition in mind, we first made literal translations from both the handwritten score and the published score. This proved to be a challenging process as the text was not written in standard Italian, but in the local dialect of Naples, which is where Caruso and Missiano were from. For example “chiagnenno”, while meaningless in standard Italian, means “to weep” in the Neapolitan dialect. 2  3 Additionally, the text of both sources differed substantially. To follow with Western poetic translation practices, we focused on the following three components: layers of meaning, reliable interpretation, and an independently poetic English text. 1

Performance Edition Edits

Our performance edition is intended to serve as an accessible score that is easy for musicians at different levels to read. We chose to keep the piece in F major, as written in the manuscript. To make the music more accessible to different vocal ranges, we are offering a midi file so that the user can transpose the music to their preferred key. Another change we made was to change the da capo and coda to a first and second ending, which is easier to read for most musicians.

Additionally, we made specifications about interpretive details to further guide musicians with less professional training. Some of these details are simply logical conclusions that we would reach as trained musicians. We added an “a tempo” in the fourth measure after the “rallentando” in the third measure, to bring the song back to the marked “allegro“ tempo. We also added tenuti to the ascending scale in measure 13 to emphasize the upward direction of the phrase, and to follow intuitive musical phrasing for Italian text.

We added legato slurs to the piano part to better guide pianists into playing in the style of the music. Due to Caruso’s adherence to a Romantic style and his own style of singing, a legato texture would be appropriate for this song.