Poet/poetic source: Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme Conquistata, Canto VIII, ottava 6
Poetic form/text type: ottava rima
Music composer: Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Music source: Il quarto libro de madrigali a5 (Amadino press, Venice, 1603)
| Original Italian | Translation |
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Piagne e sospira; e quando i caldi raggi fuggon le gregge, alla dolce ombra assise, nella scorza de' pini o pur de' faggi segnò l'amato nome in mille guise; E della sua fortuna, i gravi oltraggi, e i vari casi in dura scorza incise; e in rileggendo poi le proprie note spargea di pianto le vermiglie gote. Compare \italic { Gerusalemme liberata }, canto VII, ottava 19: Sovente, allor che su gli estivi ardori giacean le pecorelle a l’ombra assise, ne la scorza de’ faggi e de gli allori segnò l’amato nome in mille guise, e de’ suoi strani ed infelici amori gli aspri successi in mille piante incise; e in rileggendo poi le proprie note rigò di belle lagrime le gote. |
She weeps and sighs, and when the flocks flee the scorching rays, to lie in the sweet shade, on the bark of pines or beeches she signed her beloved's name in a thousand ways; And the outrageous betrayal of her fortune, and the various fates she inscribed on the tough bark; and then rereading her own words, she shed tears across her rosy cheeks. Edward Fairfax's (non-literal) poetic translation of 1600: But oft, when underneath the green-wood shade Her flocks lay hid from Phoebus' scorching rays, Unto her knight she songs and sonnets made, And them engrav'd in bark of beech and bays; She told how Cupid did her first invade, How conquer'd her, and ends with Tancred's praise; And when her passion's writ she over read, Again she mourn'd, again salt tears she shed. |