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La bocca sollevò dal fiero pasto quel peccator, forbendola a' capelli del capo ch'elli avea di retro guasto. Poi cominciò: "Tu vuo’ ch’io rinovelli disperato dolor che ’l cor mi preme già pur pensando, pria ch’io ne favelli. Ma se le mie parole esser dien seme che frutti infamia al traditor ch’i’ rodo, parlare e lagrimar vedrai insieme. Io non so chi tu se’ né per che modo venuto se’ qua giù; ma fiorentino mi sembri veramente quand’io t’odo. Tu dei saper ch’i’ fui conte Ugolino, e questi è l’arcivescovo Ruggieri: or ti dirò perché i son tal vicino. Che per l’effetto de’ suo’ mai pensieri, fidandomi di lui, io fossi preso e poscia morto, dir non è mestieri; però quel che non puoi avere inteso, cioè come la morte mia fu cruda, udirai, e saprai s’e’ m’ ha offeso. Breve pertugio dentro da la Muda, la qual per me ha ’l titol de la fame, e che conviene ancor ch’altrui si chiuda, m’avea mostrato per lo suo forame più lune già, quand’io feci ’l mal sonno che del futuro mi squarciò ’l velame. Questi pareva a me maestro e donno, cacciando il lupo e ’ lupicini al monte per che i Pisan veder Lucca non ponno. Con cagne magre, studïose e conte Gualandi con Sismondi e con Lanfranchi s’avea messi dinanzi da la fronte. In picciol corso mi parieno stanchi lo padre e ’ figli, e con l’agute scane mi parea lor veder fender li fianchi. Quando fui desto innanzi la dimane, pianger senti’ fra ’l sonno i miei figliuoli ch’eran con meco, e dimandar del pane. Ben se’ crudel, se tu già non ti duoli pensando ciò che ’l mio cor s’annunziava; e se non piangi, di che pianger suoli? Già eran desti, e l’ora s’appressava che ’l cibo ne solëa essere addotto, e per suo sogno ciascun dubitava; e io senti’ chiavar l’uscio di sotto a l’orribile torre; ond’io guardai nel viso a’ mie’ figliuoi sanza far motto. Io non piangëa, sì dentro impetrai: piangevan elli; e Anselmuccio mio disse: "Tu guardi sì, padre! che hai?". Perciò non lagrimai né rispuos’io tutto quel giorno né la notte appresso, infin che l’altro sol nel mondo uscìo. Come un poco di raggio si fu messo nel doloroso carcere, e io scorsi per quattro visi il mio aspetto stesso, ambo le man per lo dolor mi morsi; ed ei, pensando ch’io ’l fessi per voglia di manicar, di sùbito levorsi e disser: "Padre, assai ci fia men doglia se tu mangi di noi: tu ne vestisti queste misere carni, e tu le spoglia". Queta’ mi allor per non farli più tristi; lo dì e l’altro stemmo tutti muti; ahi dura terra, perché non t’apristi? Poscia che fummo al quarto dì venuti, Gaddo mi si gittò disteso a’ piedi, dicendo: "Padre mio, ché non m’aiuti?". Quivi morì; e come tu mi vedi, vid’io cascar li tre ad uno ad uno tra ’l quinto dì e ’l sesto; ond’io mi diedi, già cieco, a brancolar sovra ciascuno, e due dì li chiamai, poi che fur morti. Poscia, più che 'l dolor, poté 'l digiuno". Quand’ebbe detto ciò, con li occhi torti riprese ’l teschio misero co’ denti, che furo a l’osso, come d’un can, forti. Ahi Pisa, vituperio de le genti del bel paese là dove 'l sì suona, poi che i vicini a te punir son lenti, muovasi la Capraia e la Gorgona, e faccian siepe ad Arno in su la foce, sì ch’elli annieghi in te ogne persona!
F. Morlacchi sets lines 1-79
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Dante's Divine comedy : The Inferno, edited by John Aitken Carlyle, Chapman, London, 1847, Pages 398-405.
Authorship:
- by Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), "Canto XXXIII", written c 1321, appears in La divina commedia, in Inferno, no. 33 [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 Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848), "Il Canto XXXIII Della Divina Comedia di Dante", subtitle: "Il Conte Ugolino", In. 371 (1826) [ baritone voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francesco Morlacchi (1784 - 1841), "Lamento del Conte Ugolino", 1832, lines 1-79 [ baritone voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Iain Sneddon) , subtitle: "Count Ugolino", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2023-02-12
Line count: 84
Word count: 588
His mouth lifted from the savage meal that sinner, wiping away the hair of the head, the back of which he had gnawed. Then he began: "You want me to relive the desperate sorrow that presses on my heart let me think before I speak of it. But if my words are seeds what infamous fruits are the traitor’s I’m eating, you will see words and tears combined. I don't know who you are or how you came down here; but a Florentine you truly seem to me, your speech betrays you. You know that I was Count Ugolino, and this is Archbishop Ruggieri: now I will tell you why we are neighbours. That, as a result of his evil thoughts, trusting him, I was taken and after died, it is not necessary to tell you; but what you cannot have understood is that as my death was cruel, you will hear, and you will know how he offended me. A small opening inside the Mew tower, which for me has the name of Famine, and where it is also fitting that others are still confined, It had already shown me many moons, when I had the nightmare that the veil over my future was torn apart. He seemed to me lord and master, hunting the wolf and wolf-cubs in the mountains that block Pisans’ view of Lucca. With skinny, crafty hounds and count Gualandi with Sismondi and with Lanfranchi standing in front of him. In a short time they seemed tired, the father and sons, and watching closely it seemed to me that teeth tore at their flanks. When I was awake before the dawn, and hearing my children, who were with me, weeping in their sleep and asking for bread. You are very cruel, if you do not already grieve thinking of what my heart predicted; and if you don't weep, what can make you cry? They were already awake, and the hour was approaching when food used to be handed out, and each disturbed by his dream; And I heard the gate locked from below the horrible tower from which I watched the faces of my children without making a sound. I didn't cry, inside I still prayed: they wept; and my little Anselmo said: "You stare at us, father! what is wrong?". Therefore no tears, no answer all that day nor the night after, until another sun leaves the world. When a glimmer of light stole into the doleful prison, and I saw on the four faces my own appearance, I bit both my hands in anguish; and they, thinking that I wished to eat, suddenly rose and said: "Father, there would be less anguish if you eat of us: you clothed us in this wretched flesh, and now you may strip us of it." I calmed myself lest I made them sadder; After he said it, the next day we were all silent; Ah, pitiless earth, why didn't you open yourself? When we were in the fourth day, Gaddo threw himself at my feet, saying, "My Father, why do you not help me?" There he died; and as you see me now, I saw them fall, all three, by one by one between the fifth day and the sixth; when I stirred, already blind, groping for each one, and for two days I called them, but they were dead. then starvation more than sadness held fast." When he had said this, with writhing eyes took up again the wretched skull with his teeth that were strengthened on bones, like a dog’s. Ah, Pisa! scandal of the people of the beautiful country where “sì” is heard, since the neighbouring towns are slow to punish you, move the Capraia and Gorgona islands, and block up the mouth of the Arno, so that it drowns every person in the city!
Subtitle: "Count Ugolino"
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of title(s):
"Canto XXXIII" = "Canto XXXIII"
"Il Canto XXXIII Della Divina Comedia di Dante" = "Canto XXXIII of Dante's Divine Comedy"
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian - Medieval (Volgare) to English copyright © 2023 by Iain Sneddon, (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 - Medieval (Volgare) by Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), "Canto XXXIII", written c 1321, appears in La divina commedia, in Inferno, no. 33
This text was added to the website: 2023-02-12
Line count: 84
Word count: 642