Se tu m'ami, se sospiri
Sol per me, gentil Pastor;
[Ho]1 dolor de' tuoi martiri,
[Ho]1 diletto del [tuo]2 amor.

Ma se [pensi]3 che soletto
Io ti debba riamar;
Pastorello, sei soggetto
Facilmente a t'ingannar.

Fu già caro un solo Amante,
Or quel tempo non è più:
Il mio Sesso è men costante,
Perchè il vostro ha men virtù.

Bella Rosa porporina
Oggi [Silvio]4 sceglierà;
[Colla]5 scusa della spina
Doman poi la sprezzerà.

Ma degli Uomini il consiglio
Io per me non seguirò;
Non perché mi piace il Giglio
Gli altri Fiori sprezzerò.

Scelgo questo, scelgo quello,
Mi diletto d' ogni fior:
Questo par di quel più bello,
Quel di questo ha meglio odor.

Colti tutti, e poi serbati
Un bel Serto se ne fa,
Che sul crine, [e]1 al Sen portati,
[Fan più vaga]6 la beltà.

A. Parisotti sets stanzas 1-2, 4-5
A. Vivaldi sets stanzas 1-2, 4-5
S. Gendel sets stanzas 1-2, 4-5

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Leçons hebdomadaires de la langue italienne à l'usage des dames, Paris, La Veuve Ravenel, 1772, page 101.

¹ Malipiero: "o"
² Malipiero: "tu'"
³ Malipiero: "credi"
⁴ Gendel, Parisotti, Vivaldi: "Silvia"
⁵ Gendel, Malipiero, Parisotti, Vivaldi: "Con la"
⁶ Malipiero: "fanno illustre"

Text Authorship:

• by Paolo Antonio Rolli (1687 - 1765), "Canzonetta" [author's text checked 1 time 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 Scott Gendel (b. 1977), "Se tu m'ami", 2002-2013, stanzas 1-2,4-5 [ voice and piano ], from Italian Art Songs & Arias, Reimagined, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882 - 1973), "Se tu m'ami, se sospiri" [ voice and piano ], from Tre Canti di Filomela, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Alessandro Parisotti (1853 - 1913) and misattributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710 - 1736), "Se tu m'ami", stanzas 1-2,4-5, note: passed off as a song by Pergolesi [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Corona Elisabeth Wilhelmine Schröter (1751 - 1802), "Se tu m'ami", published 1794 [ voice and piano ], from Gesaenge mit Begleitung des Fortepiano von Corona Schroeter, zweyte Sammlung, no. 11, Weimar: In Commission bey dem Industrie Comptoir [sung text not yet checked]
• by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741), "Se tu m'ami, se sospiri", stanzas 1-2,4-5 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• POR Portuguese (Português) (Débora Letícia Batista) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Aminta Iriarte) , no title, copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 145

If you love me, if you sigh
Only for me, dear shepherd,
I am sorrowful for your sufferings;
yet I delight in your love.

But if you think that
I must in return love only you,
Little shepherd, you are subject
To deceiving yourself easily.

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The beautiful purple rose
Will Silvia choose today;
With the excuse of its thorns, 
Tomorrow, then, will she despise it.

But the advice of the men
I will not follow -
Just because the lily pleases me,
I do not have to despise the other flowers.

[...
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