O Mio Babbino Caro for Vocalists

Go to YouTube and check out the enormous offerings there of this beautiful song. This piece enjoys star status, even with non-classical singers. I guarantee your students will fall in love with it, especially if you show them the aria sung by a beautiful and glamorous opera singer. My favorite video is sung by Anna Netrebko, who puts her whole self into the aria, looking like nothing so much as the most gorgeous Barbie Doll come-to-life. Even a non-operatic singer such as Hayley Westenra can demonstrate some of the beauties of this aria.





Download free opera sheet music O Mio Babbino in Ab

Download melody of O Mio Babbino in G

Download melody of O Mio Babbino in F

Download melody of O Mio Babbino in Eb

Originally written in the key of Ab, I have it here in G, F, and Eb. The song is much more accessible for young girls in the lower keys!

My simple melody-with-chord-symbols lead sheet is all I use, even at performances, and for most singers, it won't be necessary to see the piano part. The standard arrangement, let's not fool ourselves -- the standard arrangement is a handful, with its long harp-like broken chords and filled right hand octaves. But the difficulty of the accompaniment is not my primary objection to using it with young singers. It can be heavy with some pianists, and on some pianos! You don't want accompanists all tangled up in a thicket of ponderous chords and big leaps, when they should have their eyes on the vocalist!

The voice is the thing here, not the piano, so stay out of the way! If you really want to play the regular accompaniment, many books of Italian favorites and opera music include it, or go here to download it from my website. For now, these arrangements are still free, in 3 of the 4 levels of difficulty, and in several keys. Here they are, from simplest to most elaborate:





This easiest arrangement of O Mio Babbino for voice and piano is available as a set in the keys of Ab, G, F, and Eb (8 pages total) for $1.00 for the entire collection. Only one dollar! So much beauty, so much musical joy... only $1, from PayPal. (The pdf document is delivered by E-Junkie.com)

Buy O Mio Babbino Easy Arrangement Four Keys Collection:

If you don't know how to pronounce Italian, for goodness' sake, get yourself some books or an Italian course! Listen to Italians singing Italian. You need to be able to sing Italian well for the sake of your students. (In older times, vocal teachers wanted more than just good pronunciation; they recommended personally translating each word of a foreign language song.)

This aria is a good workout for phrasing and breathing. You will probably need to write all over the music to remind your student or yourself where to breathe. On the long note, "Di-o," work with them to swell or crescendo, to put expression in.

If you want a copy of the standard arrangement of O Mio Babbino for piano accompaniment, keep checking back, or subscribe to The Music Notes Blog, my RSS feed (see the top left of this page), to learn when new pages are added to Music for Music Teachers.

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