Giovanni Boccaccio: Dichter in schwarzen Zeiten
Featuring a lovestruck shepherd, the Three Graces, a host of nymphs and shepherds, the programme leads the audience through the forests of Arcadia. Cupid lets fly his arrows in madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi, a forsaken lover laments his broken heart in a deeply expressive lament by Sigismondo d’India, while the Three Graces delight in the confusions of human love. The great masters of the Italian madrigal—Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Domenico Mazzocchi, Claudio Monteverdi and Sigismondo d’India—set texts by some of the most celebrated poets of their age, including Giovanni Battista Guarini, Torquato Tasso and Giulio Strozzi. The result is a musical journey into the Arcadian world of the Italian early Baroque, where love is at once miracle, wound and promise.
Programme
Mazzocchi — Uscite a mille a mille
- ca 2:40
- CCATB
- Madrigali a cinque voci, e d’altri varii Concerti (Rome, 1638), no. 1.
Uscite a mille, a mille dal mio petto, o sospiri
Go forth by the thousands, by the thousands, from my breast, o sighs
Ch’entro a musici giri raccor vi deve
which must gather you within musical rounds
e poi spiegarvi al vento
and then unfurl you to the wind:
L’adorata cagion del mio tormento
the adored cause of my torment.
E così risonar faravvi Amore
And thus Love will make you resound
Ne le sue labra almen, se non nel core.
in her lips at least, if not in her heart.
Text: Pier Francesco Paoli (1585–c. 1638)•Translation: Tempera Mente
Monteverdi — Ch’io t’ami, e t’ami più de la mia vita
- ca 9:00
- CCATB
- SV 98·Il quinto libro de Madrigali a cinque voce (Venice, 1605), no. 9.
Ch’io t’ami, e t’ami più de la mia vita,
That I love you, and love you more than my own life,
se tu nol sai, crudele,
if you don’t know this, you cruel one,
chiedilo a queste selve,
ask these very woods;
che tel diranno, e tel diran con esse
they will tell you so, and together with them,
le fere loro e i duri sterpi e i sassi
their wild beasts, the hard thorn-thickets, and the stones
di questi alpestri monti,
of these rugged mountains,
ch’io ho sì spesse volte
which I have so often
intenerito al suon de’ miei lamenti.
moved to pity with the sound of my laments.
Deh bella e cara e sì soave, un tempo
Ah, beautiful, dear, and once so sweet
cagion del viver mio mentre al ciel piacque,
cause of my very life, while heaven still willed it,
volgi una volta, volgi
turn back to me once more, oh turn
quelle stelle amorose,
those love-lit stars,
come le vidi mai, così tranquille
as calm as I have ever seen them,
e piene di pietà, prima ch’i’moia,
and full of tenderness, before I perish;
che ‘l morir mi sia dolce.
so that death itself may taste sweet to me.
E dritto è ben che se mi furo un tempo
And it is only right that, if they were once to me
dolci segni di vita, or sien di morte.
sweet tokens of life, they now be tokens of death,
Quei begli occhi amorosi,
those lovely, loving eyes;
e quel soave sguardo,
and that gentle glance
che mi scorse ad amare,
that first led me into love,
mi scorga anco a morire;
let it lead me now to death as well;
e chi fu l’alba mia,
and let her who was once my dawn
del mio cadente dì l’espero or sia.
now become the evening star of my fading day.
Ma tu, più che mai dura,
But you, more unyielding than ever,
favilla di pietà non senti ancora.
still feel not the faintest spark of pity;
Anzi t’inaspri più quanto più prego.
indeed you only grow more bitter, the more I beg.
Così senza parlar dunque m’ascolti?
So, saying nothing at all, is this how you hear me?
A chi parlo, infelice, a un muto sasso?
To whom am I speaking, wretch that I am? To a silent stone?
S’altro non mi vuoi dir, dimmi almen mori,
If you’ll tell me nothing else, then at least say this: “Die!”
e morir mi vedrai.
And you shall watch me die.
Questa è ben, empio amor, miseria estrema,
This, pitiless Love, is misery’s very extreme:
che sì rigida ninfa
that so unyielding a nymph
non mi risponda, e l’armi
will not answer me, and that the weapon
d’una sola sdegnosa e cruda voce
of one single scornful, cruel word
sdegni di proferire al mio morir.
she scorns even to speak as I lie dying.
Text: Battista Guarini (1538–1612), Il Pastor Fido (1592), Act 3, scene 3•Translation: Tempera Mente
Mazzocchi — Pian piano
- ca 5:00
- CCATB bc
- Madrigali a cinque voci, e d’altri varii Concerti (Rome, 1638), no. 8.
Pian piano, aure tranquille
Hush, hush, quiet winds
non destate costei.
do not wake her up.
Dormono i dolor miei;
My sorrows sleep;
deh, fermatevi! o venti:
ah, stop!, winds:
dormono i miei tormenti.
my torments rest.
Ma destatela pur, che mai non posa
In fact, wake her!, for is never asleep
beltà crudel che m’è nel petto ascosa.
the cruel beauty concealed in my bosom.
Text: Alessandro Adimari (1579–1659)•Translation: Campelli/CPLD
Performers
- Janneke Stoute soprano
- Iris Bouman mezzo
- Anna Bachleitner alto
- Carlos Negrín tenor
- Bas Cornelissen bass
- Riccardo Casamichiela harpsichord
Composers
- Domenico Mazzocchi 1592–1665
- Claudio Monteverdi 1567–1643