X

GUIDE TO THE INTERNATIONAL

PHONETIC ALPHABET fl.P.A.)
I.P.A. Italian I.P.A. Approximate English
Symbol Example Transcription Equivalent

Italian Vowels

[i] figlio, zio ['fi..(i{o -'tsio] between

[e] fresca ['freska] bacon (with Irish accent without [e1) glide)
[c] hello ['bcl:b] pet, bet
[a] patria, amo ['patrja - am~] park the car (Boston flat "a")
[~] sposa ['sp~za] fought, got
[o] amore [a'more] bone (with Irish accent without [our
[u] muto ['muto] boom, gloom

Glides or Semi Vowels

Ul aiuto [a'juto] yammer, yet

[w] quando ['kwand~] quick, wet

Plosive Consonants - (In Italian these plosive consonants must be un-aspirated, that
is with no puff of air escaping between the consonant and vowel or consonant that
follows it.)

[b] bene ['bcne] benefit, ball

[p] patria ['patrja] pet, palace
[d] dammi ['dam:mi] duty, danger
[t] tutto ['tut:to] total, tale
[g] galante [ga'lantc] gallant, go
[k] caro ['kar~] cart, cure

Fricative Consonants

[v] venire [ve'nire] velour, vine

[f] favore [fa'vore] favor, flat
[J] scemo, lasciare ['Jemo - la'JJare] show, ash
[z] svenire, smanie [sve'nire - 'zmanje] zenith, zebra
[s] salute [sa'lute] sale, sole
[1] ladro ['ladr~] late, lose
[i<] figlio ['fiMo] scallion
 xi

Vibrant Consonants

[r] rompere, cor ['rompere] red (British)

[r] ardore [ardore] very (British)

Nasal Consonants
[n] nome ['nome] name
[m] mano ['man:,] man, manner
[I)] stance, sangue ['stal)k:, - 'sal)gwe] bank, anguish
[Jl] sogno ['soppo] canyon, onion
[J'l]] * inferno, invemo [ill]'fem:>-ill)vem:>]---------------------
* (This is the sound the letter n takes when it assimilates before either v or f, the
labiodentals)

Affricate Consonants

[dz] azzurro [ a'd:dzur:ro] adze, adds up

[ts] pazzo ['pat:ts:,] pizza, puts up
[d3] giurare (d3u'rare] judge, jump
[tJ] cielo ['tfeb] champ, chimney

Other Symbols

(:] symbol for a long vowel or consonant. Often used to indicate double sounding
consonants (example: petto ['pet:t:,]).

('] the stress mark used to indicate that the following syllable is the stressed one
(example: amore [a'more]).
 OTES ABOUT THE J.P.A.
~JAN ry,lliSCRlPT.IONS

!1;: :~:~'!11~~l~;d:fc~::
In trarucribing_ theltalien texts into l.P~ti~1

r:~u=~~~f. I~~S:re~~~-~~~-!~;~ ::1: :!1!!:=a~!osth~ s~: 1

:!:.~~~i'8.~:~:p1~~Je
:,~~zeor~=.i ~~~:
•=~f ~~~n,=~~ ~:=t~z:!~'!~
: 1h:=',: •~ore about this la!er.

~
I will aho employ n assimilations [something Zingarelli, p01lJibly the only [Illian

==1g1!r~Athad:;%1~r~/~s:: ;~~:!':ie~:~;;!;.i~~":,.~
where the [n) in in assimilate., loan [g] bocl,use ofthe the [k] sound thet follows m the
wordqutsto.

Another n essimilalion which ii most Italian, Is the change to an ' m' .wund,
when the letter n comes beforo b, p or m, the three bilabial consona nts. For example
in ' Madam,, Butterfly': 'Un bel dl vedremo' lll!!!'bcl divvc'drcrno], and lalcr 'per non morir
,1 primo inc<,wro" rpcrl!O!OO!Srir a! 'primJ ilj'konlro] wd Sbarpless's line 'Que] diavolod'un
Plnkerton'/'kwol 'djavJb'OO!!!"pigktrt:inJ .

The third n auimilation occun befoni / and v, the two labiodental coiuonaolt
Two common Italian word 1. invemo (winter). and inferno (hell) ere prime examples
ofthi1 phenomenon. Here the JetternH!umes a labio-dental position (that is, tha lower
lip touclles the edge of~he upperinciJOTS, jwt es in/ or v]. Thw, in Butterfly's ' Un bel
di", the phrve "levt1n1 un fil di fumo' will be transcribed /k'varsi um'lll di 'fumo]:
Musetta', line in Act JV ofBoh•me 'lnll!Si dire che Mimi fuggita dal Visconti no ere in
,nn di villl' would be transcribed with then in in fin assimila ting to an [!lJ]: !inffm di
Vila ]

soedal Cases of Conp,napt Qoybllngs

The l_tal!en conwnantgmupe sn,sl and sci •see are alm1ys doubled as in: scgrt')
l'IIOflpoJ,//&110 I f~J.lasdrz:lla'Ifatt], lascena[!a"J!ena]. The single Jetter z alwaysgetJ

!~::~1~~1~~!;-~~r:~=~~(;~;2:~~th-:ri~s:::J~~:~t~1::. %:~
0
 xiii

The Two Unphonetic Vowels e and o

The two unphonetic Italian vowels e and o in a stressed position are a

troublesome matter, even for Italians, since there are no rules as to when they are
closed [e-o] or open [e-:>]. All words in these texts are transcribed phonetically with the
correct closed or open symbols, but vocal demands of tessitura may require that in the
singing of these phrases, the vowels be opened to a more comfortable position and I
may transcribe the texts with more comfortable open vowel sounds. This is perfectly
all right, and is what all great Italian singers do instinctively. It is safe to state that very
few of the great Italian singers generally observe the [e-e] or [o-:,] differences in full-out
singing. In quiet passages or in recitative or spoken passages maybe more so. It is a
further known fact that the Italian school of singing recognizes only five vowel sounds
for singing: [i-e-a-:>-u]. The closed [e-o] vowel sounds, as stated by the great teacher of
Melba and Malibran, Matilde Marchesi, "may be used for expressive means or to give
a special color to a word or expression, but are not part of my vocal method".

Since American singers are used to singing in German and French as well, it is
imperative that it be understood that one should never use closed German and French
[e] and [o] sounds in Italian. The Italian counterparts of those two closed vowel sounds
are much more lax and less tense. The difference between closed [e] and open [e] and
closed [o] and open [:,] in Italian singing is minimal due to the demands of tone
production, tessitura and long held notes. In Italian speech, the difference is more
noticeable, but even then, local speech habits make any set of rules impossible. It is
important for American singers to listen to some recordings of great Italian singers. I
recommend, for instance, the "Aida" recording with Renata Tebaldi and Mario del
Monaco. Nowhere do these great singers take the [e-e] or [o-:>] matter literally. They
fit the closed or open vowel sounds to their vocal needs!

As for the unstressed and final e and o, some texts state that they are always
closed, and others state categorically that they are always open. I say that they are
neither. They open or close depending on vocal needs,tessitura and the color of
neighboring vowels (vocalic harmonization) . I have endeavored to use this rule of
vocalic harmonization to render the transcriptions more Italian. For instance in a word
like benedetto, the stress falls on benedetto and that vowel is a closed [e ]. The
phonetic transcription becomes [bene'det:to], with the be, ne and to syllables showing
closed vowels to "harmonize" in closedness with the stressed closed syllable. However,
in a word like serpentello, the stress falls on serpentello and that vowel is an open [e].
The phonetic transcription becomes [serpen'tel:b], with the ser, pen, and Jlo syllables
showing open vowels to "harmonize" in openness with the stressed open syllable. I will
also do this with word groups, always endeavoring to match or "harmonize" vowels in
order to make it sound more Italian and to get a better vocal line.
xiv

Stress Marks
, ] before the stressed syllable. Thus the word
I will always use a stress mark [ · th
. "b d [ , ] showi·ng that the syllable mo 1s e stressed one
am ore 1s transcn e a more , bl · h ·
' ti th sical stress is on the wrong sylla e, as 1n t e case of the
However, some mes emu 'd' •11 f A t I f "M
word simile ['simile] in Des Griewc' aria "Donna non vi I m~i , rom c O anon
Lescaut". Here Puccini put a musical stress on the syll~ble mi on a top G, and therefore
the word simile was transcribed according to the musical and not the spoken stress as
[si'mile], and not ['simile].

Phrasal Doubling or Raddoppimnento Sintattico

Now a word about "Raddoppiamento Sintattico" or "Phrasal Doubling. In the

Italian language there are some words that cause the initial consonant in the word that
follows in the phrase, to double. Most of these doubling words are monosyllables, such
as: di, che, la, ah, a, e, e, giu, piu, oh and many, many others. Also, all words ending
in an accented syllable with a written accent (such as, sapro, pieta, caffe, volutta, cosi,
perche ahime, etc.) will cause the initial consonant of the word that follows to double
as in: sapro mmorire; perche mmai; di voluttapperir, etc. In the Verdi libretti we find
many instances of such "doublings":

AYda: Amneris/AYda scene, Act II: svela il segreto a mme

Afda: Same scene: Amneris: tu llami ...
AYda: Same scene: Amneris: ...il duce impavido cadde traffitto a mmorte!
AYda: End of Act ID: Radames: Sacerdote, io resto a tte.

1:hen there is Dio, the _word for God. Whenever Dio appears within a group of
?
~ 0rds , it gets 0 ubled,_ and 1~ opera, there are countless times when the characters
implore God with Oh D10! This should really be pronounced 01. DD " 0th 1
are· di Dio h · h h Id b H '10 . er examp es
· w ic s ou e pro~ounced as di DDio, and per Dia and con Dio which
should be pronounced as per DD10 and con DDio res · •
(Dea) or goddesses (Dee) also g t d bl d . pectively. Gods (De1), or goddess
della luna during the First Act !oveoduueet .. ' as m Madame Butterfly: somiglia la DDea

Phrasal doubling is not employed all th .

f
it often for dramatic expression but other It tim~. Most great Italian singers employ
expressive a tool it can be in such me b~ ia~ smgers hardly ever use it. But how
phrase '... il primo sole dell'Aprile em ~~- ra .8 P. rases as Mimi's 'Mi chiamano Mimi'
10 0
Germont's letter in Act IV of "La Trn.U::at d• , ~ m Violetta's words as she finishes reading
uvl : e ttardi!'.
 xv

In this book I will use my discretion (based on time-honored Italian operatic

tradition) as to when to use a raddoppiamenti. Italian operatic declamation, especially
in the "veristic" style of Puccini almost cries out for that extra energy in the consonants
in the particular cases where the raddoppiamento is needed. How can we expect
Scarpia in Act Il of Tosca not to yell out to his executioner: Piu !forte, piu /forte,
(harder, harder!) or later, as he hears Cavaradossi's moans from off stage: Maffat,elo
tacere! (Make him shut up!") .

A Word About the Literal Translations

In the literal word-by-word translations I have tried as much as possible to place

the English words under their Italian equivalents. One must understand however, that
literal translations from Italian into English sometimes result in incomprehensible
gibberish, what with the Italian syntax and sentence structure being totally different
from English. When that happens, I have added a fourth line below, with the English
in proper grammatical sequence in order to unscramble the meaning of the Italian text.

In some cases, where the English may be a bit stilted but still obviously
comprehensible, I have omitted a fourth line. For example, at the beginning of Mimi's
aria 'S1, mi chiamano Miml', I have rendered this in English as "Yes me they call Mimi",
not quite top drawer English prose, but eminently understandable without the need for
a fourth line: ''Yes they call me Miml". Another example is in Act ill of "Tosca" as
Mario speaks to the Jailer: 'lo lascio al mondo una persona cara ', which I have rendered
as "I leave in the world a person dear". This will obviously be understood as "I leave
in the world a dear person" (I hardly think that someone will be so naive as to think
that Cavaradossi is getting that familiar with the Jailer as to call him "dear"!)