Songs

¿Con qué la lavaré?

by Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre From Cuatro madrigales amatorios (1947)

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Text & Translation

¿Con qué la lavaré?
English source: Anon.

¿Con qué la lavaré
la tez de la mi cara?
¿Con qué la lavaré,
Que vivo mal penada?

Lávanse las casadas
con agua de limones:
lávome yo, cuitada,
con penas y dolores.
¿Con qué la lavaré,
que vivo mal penada?

With what shall I wash
Spanish translation © Richard Stokes

With what shall I wash
the skin of my face?
With what shall I wash it?
I live in such sorrow.

Married women wash in lemon water:
in my grief I wash
in pain and sorrow.
With what shall I wash it?
I live in such sorrow.

Translations by Jacqueline Cockburn and Richard Stokes published in the The Spanish Song Companion (Gollancz, 1992)

¿Con qué la lavaré?
English source: Anon.

With what shall I wash
Spanish source: Richard Stokes

¿Con qué la lavaré
With what shall I wash
la tez de la mi cara?
the skin of my face?
¿Con qué la lavaré,
With what shall I wash it?
Que vivo mal penada?
I live in such sorrow.

Lávanse las casadas
Married women wash in lemon water:
con agua de limones:
in my grief I wash
lávome yo, cuitada,
in pain and sorrow.
con penas y dolores.
With what shall I wash it?
¿Con qué la lavaré,
I live in such sorrow.
que vivo mal penada?

Composer

Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre

Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez, was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist.

Poet

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