So pleased to have found this thread. This song has haunted me for years. I remember it being played on the radio in the late 1960's - maybe 1967 or 8 - and my friend and I as schoolchildren singing along in her kitchen. The version by Florence Hoare. It was a female singer on the radio. Does anyone remember this and who it was?

There is a nice rendering of the Italian version (about an abandoned lover) on youtube sung by the opera singer Renato Zanelli in 1921, nearly a century ago - his wonderful costumes I presume may be from his Wagnerian roles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqsmYPgz6Q4&index=2&t=0s&list=LLZwL2L6w2x2nRZs6DPCrwBg