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So sweet is the torment
So sweet is the torment
That fills my heart
I can gladly live
With her cruel beauty.
In beauty’s heaven
Vanity increases
And pity gets lost;
But always my faith
Will be a rock against
The wave of pride.
False hope
Leads me onward,
Neither pleasure nor peace
Descends on me
And the cruel woman
I adore denies me
The relief of her favour;
Amid infinite pain
Amid betrayed hopes,
My faith stays alive.
There is no respite
From fire and ice;
I’ll only find respite
At heaven’s door…
If the fatal hit
Of a straight arrow
Wounds my heart,
Reversing my fate
From the deadly arrow
I will heal my heart…
If the fire of love
Has never been felt
By the hard heart
That’s stolen mine,
If I’m denied mercy
By the cruel beauty
That’s charmed my soul -
So let her suffer,
Repenting and forlorn,
And sigh for me one day.
English translation by Paul Archer of the text of Si dolce è’l tormento by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) from Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze, Venice 1624. Text by Carlo Milanuzzi.
Si dolce è’l tormento
Si dolce è’l tormento
Ch’in seno mi sta,
Ch’io vivo contento
Per cruda beltà.
Nel ciel di bellezza
S’accreschi fierezza
Et manchi pietà:
Che sempre qual scoglio
All’onda d’orgoglio
Mia fede sarà.
La speme fallace
Rivolgam’ il piè,
Diletto ne pace
Non scendano a me,
E l’empia ch’adoro
Mi nieghi ristoro
Di buona mercè:
Tra doglia infinita,
Tra speme tradita
Vivrà la mia fè.
Per foco e per gelo
riposo non ho
nel porto del Cielo
riposo haverò...
se colpo mortale
con rigido strale
il cor m'impiagò
cangiando mia sorte
col dardo di morte
il cor sanerò...
Se fiamma d’amore
Già mai non sentì
Quel rigido core
Ch’il cor mi rapì,
Se nega pietate
La cruda beltate
Che l’alma invaghì:
Ben fia che dolente,
Pentita e languente
Sospirimi un dì.
Selected recordings:
Marco Beasley (tenor) and Accordone.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrNewOLPanA
Rolando Villazón (tenor) and Le Concert d'Astree.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O-_BOHewOc
Lea Desandre (mezzosoprano) and Thibault Cauvin (guitar).
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8PSe2aMFZk
Fiona Stuart-Wilson (soprano) and Guillermo Femenías (lute).
Link: https://soundcloud.com/user-894311142/si-dolce-el-tormento
Copyright notice. The translation is provided as an aid to musicians and audiences. Publication of the translation in print or digital formats is expressly forbidden unless permission from the author has been first obtained and acknowledgement of authorship is duly made. Permission will usually be granted so please contact Paul Archer with details of how you wish to make use of the translation.
For more translations into English of early music texts, go to:
Translations of early music texts. |
