Williams Chamber Choir

Monteverdi Madrigals
Texts & Translations

S chio Vorrei Morire S chio vorrei morire ora chio bacio, Amore, la bella bocca del mio amato core. Ahi, cara e dolce lingua, datemi tantumore, che di dolcezzin questo sen mestingua! Ahi, vita mia, a questo bianco seno, deh, stringetemi n chio venga meno! Ahi bocca, ahi baci, ahi lingua, torna dire: S, chio vorrei morire. Maurizio Moro

Yes, I would like to die Yes, I would like to die, now that I kiss, Love, the beautiful mouth of my beloved. Ah, dear and sweet tongue, give me such a feeling that from sweetness I expire on this breast! Ah, my life, on this white bosom, oh, press me until I swoon! Ah, mouth, ah, kisses, ah, tongue, I say again: Yes, I would like to die.

Anima del cor mio Anima del cor mio poi da che me, misera me, ti parti, sami confortalcun amiei martiri, non isdegnar chalmen ti seguanchio, solo co miei sospiri e sol per rimembrarti, chin tante penen cos ero scempio vivr damor di vera fede esempio. author unknown

Spirit of my heart Spirit of my heart, since you are leaving me, wretched me, if you take pleasure in some solace for my pain, dont scorn the fact that at least I am following you too, only with my sighs and only to remember you, so that in such distress, such cruel slaughter I shall live as an example of love and true faith.

Cruda Amarilli Cruda Amarilli, che col nome ancora, damar, ahi lasso, amaramente insegni; Amarilli, del candido ligustro pi candida e pi bella, ma de laspido sordo e pi sorda e pi fera e pi fugace; poi che col dir toffendo, i mi mor tacendo. Gian Bittista Guarini

Cruel Amaryllis Cruel Amaryllis, who even with your name, to love, alas, instruct bitterly; Amaryllis, more pure and beautiful than the white privet, but more deaf and more erce and more eeting than the deaf asp; since in speaking I offend you, I will die in silence.

Piagne e sospira Piagne sospira; e quandi caldi raggi fuggon la greggia a la dolcombra assise, ne la scorza de pini o pur de faggi segn lamato nome in mille guise e de la 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. Torquato Tasso

She wept and sighed She wept and sighed; and when the suns rays had abandoned the ock, resting in the gentle shade, on the bark of pine tree or beech she wrote her beloveds name in a thousand fashions and carved in hard bark the deep sufferings and the many twists of her fortune; and then, reading her own messages again, she moistened her vermillion cheeks with tears.

Cor Mio, Non Mori? Cor mio, non mori? e mori! Lidolo tuo, ch tolto a te, sia tosto in altrui braccia accolto. Deh, spezzati, mio core! Lascia, lascia con laura anco lardore; chesser non pu che ti reserbi in vita senza speme e aita. Su, mio cor, mori! Io moro, io vado; a Dio, dolcissimo ben mio. author unknown

My Heart, you do not die? My heart, you do not die? Die! Your idol, who has been taken from you, will soon be embraced by other arms. Ah, break, my heart! Leave, leave with the air your ardor as well; for it is not possible for you to remain alive without hope and aid. Come, my heart, die! I die, I depart, farewell, My sweetest love.

Dorinda, ah! dir mia Dorinda, ah! dir mia se mia non sei, se non quando ti perdo e quando morte da me ricevi, e mia non fosti allora chi ti potei dar vita? Pur mia dir, che mia sarai mal grado di mia dura sorte; e, se mia non sarai con la tua vita, sarai con la mia morte. Gian Battista Guarini

Dorinda, ah! shall I then call you mine Dorinda, ah! shall I then call you mine, even if you are mine only when I lose you and when you die by my hand, and though you were not mine when I was able to give you life? Yet I shall call you mine, for mine you shall be in spite of my harsh destiny; and, if you will not be mine while you live, you shall be mine when I die.

Cor mio, mentre vi miro Cor mio, mentre vi miro, visibilmente mi trasform in voi, e trasformato poi, in un solo sospir lanima spiro. O bellezza, bellezza mortale, O bellezza, bellezza vitale, poi che si tosto un core per te rinasce, e per te nato more. Gian Bittista Guarini

My hearts delight while I gaze on you My hearts delight, while I gaze on you I am visibly transformed into you; and, thus transformed, I breathe out my soul in a single sigh. O beauty, death-bringing beauty! O beauty, life-giving beauty! Since no sooner do you bring a heart to life, then, born for you, it dies.

Anima dolorosa Anima dolorosa che vivendo tanto peni e tormenti quantodi e parli e pensi e miri e senti, ancor spiri? Che speri? Ancor dimori in questa viva morte? in questinferno de le tue pene eterno? Mori, misera, mori! Che tardi pi, che fai? Perch, mortal piacer, vivi al martire? Perch vivi al morire? Consuma il duol che ti consuma omai, di questa morte che par vita uscendo. Mori meschina, il tuo morir morendo. author unknown

Anima dolorosa Sorrowful spirit, whose life is but pain and torment, whatever you hear, say, think, see and feel do you aspire to love? What hopes have you? Do you still cling to this living death, in this inferno of eternal suffering? Die, wretched one, die! Why delay longer? What are you doing? Why, dead to pleasure, do you live for martyrdom? Why live to die? Consume the sadness which devours you ever; leave this death that seems to be life. Die, miserable creature, and be done with death!

Era lanima mia Era lanima mia gi presso a lultimore e languia come langue alma che more; quandanima pi gradita volse lo sguardo in s pietoso giro, che mi manten in vita. Parean dir que bei lumi: Deh, perch ti consumi? Non m s caro il cor, ondio respiro, come se tu, cor mio; se mori, ohim, non mori tu, morio. Gian Battista Guarini

My life was already My life was already nearing its last hour, languishing with the languor of a dying soul, when a more beautiful and gracious soul turned its gaze on me with so compassionate a glance that it kept me in life. For those lovely eyes seemed to say: Ah! Why are you thus dying away? The very heart by which I live and breathe is not so dear to me as you, my heart; and, if you die, alas! it is yet not you but I who die.

Chio tami Chio tami, e tami pi de la mia vita, se tu nol sai, crudele, chiedilo a queste selve, che tel diranno, e tel diran con esse le fere loro e i duri sterpi e i sassi di questi alpestri monti, chi ho s spesse volte inteneriti al suon de miei lamenti. Gian Battista Guarini

I love you If you do not know, O cruel one, that I love you, and that I love you more than my own life, then ask these forests, and they will tell you, as will the wild beats and the hard stumps and stones of these harsh mountains, which I have so often moved to pity with the sound of my lamenting.

O Mirtillo O Mirtillo, Mirtillo, anima mia, se vedessi qui dentro come sta il cor di questa che chiami crudelissima Amarilli, so ben che tu di lei quella piet, che da lei chiedi avresti. Oh anime in amor troppo infelici! Che giova a te, cor mio, lesser amato? Che giova a me laver s caro amante? Perch, crudo destino, ne disunisci tu, sAmor ne stringe? e tu, perch ne stringi, se ne parte il destin, perdo Amore? Gian Battista Guarini

O Mirtillo O Mirtillo, Mirtillo, my love, if only you could see the inner life and feelings of her whom you call most cruel Amarilli, I know well that you would feel for her that same pity which you ask of her. Oh, our souls are too unhappy in love! What joy is there, my heart, in being loved? What joy is there for me in having so dear a lover? Why, cruel Destiny, do you divide us when Love unites us? And why do you unite us, treacherous Love, when Destiny divides us?