Listen to dolente.mid
View or print Page1
View or print Page2
View or print Page3
|
Ah, dolente partita! ah, fin de la mia vita! da te parto e non moro? E pur i provo la pena de la morte e sento nel partire un vivace morire, che da vita al dolore per far che moia immortalmente il core |
Oh, painful separation! This is the end of my life! I part from you and do not die? And yet I do experience the sorrow of death, and as we part I feel a life-giving death which keeps my pain alive only to make my heart die unendingly |
Italian text by Giovanni Battista Guarini from Il Pastor Fido, II, iii, 498-505. Translation by Stanley Appelbaum in Monteverdi, Madrigals, Books IV and V (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1986), xi.
This text is taken from Guarini's play The Faithful Shepherd, written in the late sixteenth century, which was the source of text for a great many madrigals of its time. The speaker is Mirtillo, who is just wrapping up a tormenting meeting with his love, Amaryllis. Amaryllis is also in love with Mirtillo, but she hasn't told him because she is pledged to another man.
Return to Mike's home page.