Hawthorne Early Music editions: Canzoniere 324

Amor, quando fioria

Canzoniere #324 (CCCXXIV)

Poetic form: ballata mezzana


Amor, quando fioria
mia spene, e 'l guidardon di tanta fede,
tolta m'è quella ond'attendea mercede.

Ahi dispietata morte, ahi crudel vita!
L'una m'à posto in doglia,
et mie speranze acerbamente a spente;
l'altra mi ten qua giù contra mia voglia,
et lei che se n'è gita
seguir non posso, ch'ella nol consente.
Ma pur ogni or presente
nel mezzo del meo cor madonna siede,
et qual è la mia vita, ella sel vede.
 Love, when my hope
was flowering, the reward for great loyalty,
she, whose mercy I waited for, was taken from me.

Ah, pitiless death, ah cruel life!
One plunged me in grief,
and bitterly quenched my hopes:
the other holds me here against my will,
and she who has gone
I cannot follow: she will not let me.
But, in every moment, my lady
is seated in the centre of my heart,
and what my life is now, she sees.


All translations copyrighted by A.S. Kline, and are used with explicit permission.

ComposerTitleSubtitleLanguagePartsFiles
Luca Marenzio (c.1553-1599) Ahi dispietata morte, ahi crudel vita italian 4 Score + parts