Me voici, posant le genou à terre | Me voici, posant le genou à terre

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by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612)

Translation © by Guy Laffaille

Ecco, piegando le ginocchia a terra

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: FRE SPA

[Ti disprezzai superbo:]
ecco, piegando le ginocchia a terra,
riverente t'adoro
e ti cheggio perdon, ma non già vita.
Ecco gli strali e l'arco;
ma non ferir già tu gli occhi o le mani,
colpevoli ministri
d'innocente voler; ferisci il petto,
ferisci questo mostro,
di pietate e d'amore aspro nemico;
ferisci questo cor che ti fu crudo:
eccoti il petto ignudo.

Text Authorship:

by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612), appears in Il Pastor Fido, Act IV, Scene 9, lines 1275-1285 [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 Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643), "Ecco, piegando le ginocchia a terra", published 1605 [ vocal quintet ], from Libro V de madrigali, no. 7, madrigal [sung text checked 1 time]

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Me voici, posant le genou à terre", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Javier Pablo Sotelo) , "He aquí que, llevando la rodilla a tierra", 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: 12
Word count: 61

Me voici, posant le genou à terre

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

Me voici, posant le genou à terre,
qui te vénère et t'adore ;
et qui implore ton pardon, mais pas la vie.
Voici les flèches et l'arc ;
mais ne blesse pas mes yeux ni mes mains,
coupables ministres
d'une volonté innocente ; frappe le cœur,
frappe ce monstre,
de pitié et d'amour l'ennemi sévère ;
frappe ce cœur qui te fut cruel,
voici pour toi mon sein nu.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to French (Français) copyright © 2012 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), appears in Il Pastor Fido, Act IV, Scene 9, lines 1275-1285
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2013-01-25
Line count: 11
Word count: 66