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Lagrime mie, à che vi trattenete? Perchè non isfogate il fier dolore che mi toglie 'l respiro e opprime il core? Lidia che tant'adoro, perch'un guardo pietoso, ahi, mo donò il paterno rigor l'impriggionò. Tra due mura rinchiusa sta la bella innocente dove giunger non può raggio di sole; e quel che più mi duole ed accresc'al mio mal tormenti e pene, è che per mia cagione provi male il mio bene. E voi, [lumi]1 dolenti, non piangete? Lagrime mie, à che vi trattenete? Lidia, ahimè, [veggo]2 mancarmi l'idol mio che tanto adoro; sta colei tra duri marmi, per cui spiro e pur non moro. Se la morte m'è gradita, hor che son privo di speme, deh, togliete mi la vita, ve ne prego, aspre mie pene. Ma ben m'accorgo che per tormentar mi maggiormente la sorte mi niega anco la morte. Se dunque è vero, o Dio, che sol del pianto mio il mio destino ha sete; lagrime mie, à che vi trattenete?
1 in some more modern sources, "luni"
2 in some more modern sources, "vedo"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Barbara Strozzi (1619 - 1677), "Lamento", op. 7 no. 4, published 1659 [ voice and continuo ], from Diporti di Euterpe, no. 4, Venice, Apresso Francesco Magni [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Jennifer Gliere) , "Lament", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Complainte", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor] , Jennifer Gliere [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2011-10-23
Line count: 30
Word count: 166
My tears, why do you hold back? Why do you not let burst forth the fierce pain that takes my breath and oppresses my heart? Lidia, whom I so much adore, Because she looked on me with a pitiable glance is imprisoned by her strict father. Between two walls the beautiful innocent one is confined, where the sun’s ray can't reach her; and what grieves me most, and adds torment and pain to my agony, is that my beloved suffers on my account. And you, sorrowful eyes, you don't cry? My tears, why do you hold back? Alas, I yearn for Lidia, my idol whom I so much adore; she's captured in hard marble, she for whom I sigh and yet do not die. Because I welcome death, now that I'm deprived of hope; Ah, take away my life, I pray to you, my bitter pain. But well I realize that to torment me even more Fate denies me even death. Since it's true, oh God, that vicious Destiny thirsts only for my wailing, My tears, why do you hold back?
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2017 by Jennifer Gliere, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Pietro Dolfino
This text was added to the website: 2017-05-11
Line count: 30
Word count: 181