preghi

In the present instance, it was the lady who showed disinclination to go into society, and her recent widowhood gave her good reason for her feeling in the matter; but, won over by the entreaties of her friends, _da preghi vinta_, she finally consented to go.

Women of the Romance Countries John Robert Effinger 1901

Thorner's _Se solitaria preghi la sera_ -- that perfect echo of the heart's most importunate feeling, and its fluctuatons, when plangent passion sinks its voice like the sea, rocking itself to rest, and nearly finds forgetful calm; until suddenly the old pain revives -- the pain that cannot keep silence, the hunger of the heart, the everlasting sorrow -- and swells again in great and greater waves of melody.

Fan : the story of a young girl's life 1881

It also contains a plaintive song for tenor ( "Ah! se de preghi miei"), and closes with a waltz song

The Standard Operas (12th edition) Their Plots, Their Music, and Their Composers 1876