Il mio bel foco,
O Iontano o vicino
Ch'esser poss'io,
Senza cangiar mai tempre
Per voi, care pupille,
Arderà sempre.

Quella fiamma che m'accende
Piace tanto all'alma mia,
Che giammai s'estinguerà.
E se il fato a voi mi rende,
Vaghi rai del mio bel sole,
Altra luce ella non vuole
Nè voler giammai potrà.

Note: many publications still attribute the song to Marcello, but recent research shows this is incorrect. Please see John Glenn Paton's Gateway to Italian Art Songs for more information.

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 Francesco Bartolomeo Conti (1681 - 1732) and misattributed to Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (1686 - 1739), "Il mio bel foco", note: the recitative beginning "Quella fiamma che m'accende" is very likely a phony, constructed by a 19th century editor named Carl Banck [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "My fire of love", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Mein Liebesfeuer", copyright © 2001, (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: 13
Word count: 54

 Mein Liebesfeuer,
 wie fern oder nah
 ich auch sein mag,
 wird, ohne sich jemals zu ändern,
 immer für euch 
 brennen, teure Augen.

 Jener Flamme, die mich entfachte,
 erfreut sich meine Seele so sehr,
 dass sie niemals mehr erlöschen wird.
 Und falls das Schicksal mich euch anvertraut,
 liebliche Strahlen meiner geliebten Sonne,
 wird meine Seele niemals mehr
 ein anderes Licht begehren können.