Che fiero costume
D'aligero nume,
Che a forza di pene si faccia adorar!
E pur nell' ardore
Il dio traditore
Un vago sembiante mi fe' idolatrar.

Che crudo destino
Che un cieco bambino
Con bocca di latte si faccia stimar!
Ma questo tiranno
Con barbaro inganno,
Entrando per gli occhi, mi fe' sospirar!

Note (courtesy Laura Prichard): This is one movement of a three-part cantata, first published in Echi di reverenza, op. 14 (Bologna, 1678). The other movements are recitative and aria. Lengrenzi re-used this melody in his 1680 opera Eteocle e Polinice with the text “Festeggia mio core."

Text Authorship:

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Giovanni Legrenzi (1625 - 1690), "Che fiero costume", op. 14, published 1678, from the cantata Echi di reverenza [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Laura Prichard) , title 1: "What fierce power", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• POR Portuguese (Português) (Débora Letícia Batista) , title 1: "Que costume feroz", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 53

What fierce power
[Has] this winged god,
Who by force of punishments, should make himself adored!
And nevertheless in [my] ardor
The traitorous god
Made me idolize a lovely face.

What a cruel destiny,
That a blind child [still]
With a mouth of [mother’s] milk, should make himself esteemed!
But this tyrant
With barbarous deception,
Entering through [my] eyes, made me sigh!