Visage perfide | Visage perfide

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by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612)

Translation © by Guy Laffaille

Perfidissimo volto

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: FRE

Perfidissimo volto,
Ben l'usata bellezza in te si vede
Ma non l'usata fede.
Già mi parevi dir: «Quest'amorose
Luci che dolcemente
Rivolgo à te, sì bell'e sì pietose
Prima vedrai tu spente,
Che sia spento il desio ch'à te le gira.»
Ahi, che spento è'l desio,
Ma non è spento quel per cui sospira
L'abbandonato core!
O volto troppo vago e troppo rio,
Perchè se perdi amore
Non perdi ancor' vaghezza
O non hai pari alla beltà fermezza?

Text Authorship:

by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612) [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 Giulio Caccini (1546 - 1618), "Perfidissimo volto", published 1601, from Le nuove musiche, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643), "Perfidissimo volto", published 1592 [ vocal quintet ], from Libro III de madrigali, no. 10, madrigal [sung text not yet checked]

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Visage perfide", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-09-08
Line count: 15
Word count: 78

Visage perfide

Language: French (Français) after the Italian (Italiano)

Visage perfide,
La beauté habituelle se voit en toi,
Mais pas la fidélité habituelle.
Déjà tu semblais me dire : « Ces yeux
Pleins d'amour que doucement
Je tourne vers toi, si beaux, si pleins d'attention,
Tu les verras s'éteindre
Avant que s'éteigne mon désir
Qui me fait te regarder. »
Hélas, ce désir est mort,
Mais il n'est pas éteint celui pour qui soupire
Le cœur abandonné.
Ô visage trop gracieux et trop cruel,
Pourquoi si tu n'aimes plus
Ne perds-tu pas ta beauté,
Oh, pourquoi ta constance n'égale-t-elle pas ta beauté ?

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to French (Français) copyright © 2016 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-03-01
Line count: 16
Word count: 92