“La Pastorella,” Claudio Monteverdi
From Arcadia by Jacopo Sannazaro
Translated by Ralph Nash
La pastorella mia spietata e rigida
che nott’e giorn’al mio soccorso chiamola
si sta superba e più che giaccio frigida.
Ben sanno questi boschi quant’io amola
Sannolo fiumi, monti fiere et homini
ch’ogn’ hor piangendo e sospirando bramola.
Ecco rimbomba e spesso in dietro voltami
le voci; che si dolci in aria sonano:
e ne l’orecchie il bel nome risoltami.
Sallo quante fiate il dì la nomini
il gregge mio chegià tutt’hore ascoltami;
o ch’egli in selva pasco o in mandra romini.
Quest’alberi di lei sempre ragionano
e ne le scorze scritta la dimostrano
ch’ a pianger spesso et a cantar mi spronano.
Unbending and unpitying my shepherdess,
Though night and day I call her to my aid,
And she remains proud, and colder than ice;
Well do they know, these woods, how much I love her,
Rivers. Mountains, beasts, and men they know it,
How weeping and sighing every hour I need her.
Echo resounds, and often returns again to me
The words that sound so sweetly in the air,
And in my ears her lovely name reverberates.
How many times a day I call her name
My flock knows, that hears me all the time,
Whether it is grazing in the woods or ruminating in the fold.
Constantly these trees converse of her
And show her written on their bark,
So that often the spur me to weeping and to singing
“Cum complerentur dies Pentecostes,” Tarquinio Merula
From Acts 2:1
Cum complerentur dies pentecostes erant omnes pariter in eodem loco alleluia.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Alleluia.
“Confitebor terzo,” Monteverdi
From Psalm 118
Confitebor tibi Domine,
In toto corde meo;
In consilio justorum,
Et congregatione.
Magna opera Domini,
Exquisita in omnes voluntates ejus.
Confessio et magnificentia opus ejus;
Et justitia ejus manet
In saeculum saeculi.
Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum,
Misericors et miserator Dominus.
Escam dedit timentibus se.
Memor erit in saeculum
Testamenti sui.
Virtutem operum suorum
Annuntiabit populo suo.
Ut det illis
Hereditatem gentium;
Opera manuum ejus
Veritas et judicium.
Fidelia omnia mandata ejus,
Confirmata in saeculum saeculi,
Facta in veritate et aequitate.
Redemptionem misit Dominus
Populo suo;
Mandavit in aeternum testamentum suum.
Sanctum et terribile nomen ejus:
Initium sapientiae timor Domini;
Intellectus bonus omnibus
Facientibus eum.
Laudatio ejus manet
In saeculum saeculi.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper.
Et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
I acknowledge you, o Lord,
With my whole heart;
In the council of the just
And in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord,
Chosen by all His desires.
I acknowledge as well the magnificence of His deeds;
And His justice endures
From generation to generation.
He has made memorials of His miracles,
A merciful and compassionate Lord.
He gives food to those that fear Him.
He will remember forever
His covenant.
The power of His works
Will be announced to His people.
So that He may give them
The inheritance of the nations;
The works of His hands
Are truth and justice.
All His commandments are faithful,
Confirmed from generation to generation,
Made in truth and fairness.
The Lord has sent salvation
To His people;
He has given His convenant for eternity.
Holy and awesone is His name;
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
All who practice it
Have a good understanding.
His praise endures
From generation to generation.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever,
and for generations of generations. Amen.
“Confitebor Tibi,” Merula
From Psalm 118
Confitebor tibi Domine,
In toto corde meo;
In consilio justorum,
Et congregatione.
Magna opera Domini,
Exquisita in omnes voluntates ejus.
Confessio et magnificentia opus ejus;
Et justitia ejus manet
In saeculum saeculi.
Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum,
Misericors et miserator Dominus.
Escam dedit timentibus se.
Memor erit in saeculum
Testamenti sui.
Virtutem operum suorum
Annuntiabit populo suo.
Ut det illis
Hereditatem gentium;
Opera manuum ejus
Veritas et judicium.
Fidelia omnia mandata ejus,
Confirmata in saeculum saeculi,
Facta in veritate et aequitate.
Redemptionem misit Dominus
Populo suo;
Mandavit in aeternum testamentum suum.
Sanctum et terribile nomen ejus:
Initium sapientiae timor Domini;
Intellectus bonus omnibus
Facientibus eum.
Laudatio ejus manet
In saeculum saeculi.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper.
Et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
I acknowledge you, o Lord,
With my whole heart;
In the council of the just
And in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord,
Chosen by all His desires.
I acknowledge as well the magnificence of His deeds;
And His justice endures
From generation to generation.
He has made memorials of His miracles,
A merciful and compassionate Lord.
He gives food to those that fear Him.
He will remember forever
His covenant.
The power of His works
Will be announced to His people.
So that He may give them
The inheritance of the nations;
The works of His hands
Are truth and justice.
All His commandments are faithful,
Confirmed from generation to generation,
Made in truth and fairness.
The Lord has sent salvation
To His people;
He has given His convenant for eternity.
Holy and awesone is His name;
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
All who practice it
Have a good understanding.
His praise endures
From generation to generation.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever,
and for generations of generations. Amen.
“Vedrò con mio diletto,” Vivaldi
Text by Nicolò Beregan
Translated by Steven Paul Spears
Vedrò con mio diletto
l’alma dell’alma mia
Il core del mio cor pien di contento.
E se dal caro oggetto
lungi convien che sia
Sospirerò penando ogni momento…
I will see with joy,
the soul of my soul
heart of my heart full of content.
And if from my dear object
I be far away
I will sigh, suffering every moment…
“Desideri vani,” Barbara Strozzi
Translated by Richard Kolb
Desideri, che sperate
Di gioir? Voi v’ingannate.
Può ben grand’ ale ingigantito il core
Spiegar al ciel d’amore,
Mentre dalla crudel che vi fa guerra
Vostre speranze in terra
Piombano fulmiate.
Desideri, che sperate…
In vano ergete ardimentoso il guardo
Ad un seren bugiardo,
Mentr’al vostro salir fiere procelle
Dalle nemiche stelle
Vengono minacciate.
Desideri, che sperate…
Desires, what do you hope to enjoy?
You’re deceiving yourselves.
The heart can well soar
on giant wings in the sky of love,
but the cruel one at war with you
will send your hopes
plumetting in flames to the ground.
Desires, what do you hope…
In vain you raise your fervent eyes
to a treacherous face,
but your aspirations are threatened
with fierce storms
from the enemy stars.
Desires, what do you hope…
“Movete al mio bel suon,” Monteverdi
Translated by Susannah Howe
Movete al mio bel suon le piante snelle,
sparse di rose il crin leggiadro e biondo,
e lasciato dell’Istro il ricco fondo,
vengan l’umide ninfe al ball’anch’elle.
Fuggano in questo dì nembi e procelle
d’aure odorate al mormorar de l’onde,
fatt’eco al mio cantar, rimbombi il mondo
l’opre di Ferdinando eccelse e belle.
Let your slender feet dance to my fine music,
your fair, golden hair entwined with roses.
And let the naiads of the Danube too
leave its deep waters and join our dance.
Let clouds and storms flee on this day,
let the happy murmur of the perfumed breeze
echo my song, and let the world resound with
the fine and noble feats of Ferdinand.
