Cruda Amarilli
Pallavicino, a more conservative composer, and a rival of Monteverdi, demonstrates in his setting of Cruda Amarilli, his frequently used device of wide interval leaps, to illustrate i monti (the mountains). This shows just how far the melody had become servant to the text. The tragicomedy play by Guarini, Il Pastor Fido,
became a popular source of inspiration for madrigal composers in the
1590s. Over the following eighty years, over five-hundred compositions
were based on texts from the play. This speech is Mirtillo’s first in
the play as he complains of his unrequited love for Amaryllis, appealing
dramatically to the mountains and streams to join him in his lamenting
as he believes she does not love him in return and never will. Cruda Amarilli
Cruda Amarilli,
che col nome ancora
Cruel Amarilli, who with your very name
D’amar, ahi
lasso, amaramente insegni:
Alas, give bitter instruction on love;
Amarilli del candido ligustro
Amarilli, whiter and more fair
Più candida e più
bella,
Than the white lily,
Ma dell’aspido sordo
But more deaf, more savage, more fleeting
E più sorda e più
fèra e più fugace.
Than the deaf adder:
Poiché col dir t’offendo,
Since in speaking I offend you,
I’ mi morrò tacendo.
I Shall die in silence.
Ma grideran per
me le piagg’ e i monti,
But the meadows and mountains shall cry out for me,
E questa selva a
cui
And these woods also,
Sì spesso il tuo
bel nome
Which so oft your fair name
Di risonar insegno:
I show how to make resound;
Per me piangendo
i fonti,
For me the fountains, weeping,
E mormorando i venti,
And the winds, murmuring,
Diranno i miei lamenti;
Shall proclaim my
lamentation;
Parlerà nel mio volto
Pity and pain shall speak
La pietade e’l dolore,
In my countenance,
E se fia muta
ogn’altra cosa al fine,
And if all else be mute, then at last
Parlerà il mio morire,
My death shall speak,
E ti dirà
la morte il mio martire.
And death shall tell of my torment.
