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by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612)

Ferir quel petto, Silvio?
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  FRE SPA
Ferir quel petto, Silvio?
Non bisognava agli occhi miei scovrirlo,
s'avevi pur desio ch'io tel ferissi.
O bellissimo scoglio,
già da l'onda e dal vento
de le lagrime mie, de' miei sospiri
sí spesso invan percosso,
è pur ver che tu spiri
e che senti pietate? o pur m'inganno?
Ma sii tu pure o petto molle o marmo,
già non vo' che m'inganni
d'un candido alabastro il bel sembiante,
come quel d'una fèra
oggi ingannato ha il tuo signore e mio.
Ferir io te? te pur ferisca Amore,
ché vendetta maggiore
non so bramar che di vederti amante.
Sia benedetto il dí che da prim'arsi!
benedette le lagrime e i martíri!
di voi lodar, non vendicar, mi voglio.

Text Authorship:

  • by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612), appears in Il Pastor Fido, Act IV, Scene 9, lines 1286-1305 [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 Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643), "Ferir quel petto, Silvio?", published 1605 [  vocal quintet ], from Libro V de madrigali, no. 8, madrigal [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Frapper ce sein, Silvio ?", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Javier Pablo Sotelo) , "¿Herir ese pecho, Silvio?", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Alberto Pedrotti

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 118

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