S'amor in cor gentil ha signoria
ballata by Paolo da Firenze
Sources
Chicago: Private Library of Edward E. Lowinsky, Fragment, number 1 (2/2);
Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds italien 568, fol. 51v-52 (3/2).
Facsimiles
Paolo Tenorista in a New Fragment of the Italian Ars Nova, A Facsimile Edition with an Introduction by Nino Pirrotta, Palm Springs: Gottlieb, 1961, plate a (Clw)., plate II (Pn568).
Editions
1. Paolo Tenorista in a New Fragment of the Italian Ars Nova, A Facsimile Edition with an Introduction by Nino Pirrotta, Palm Springs: Gottlieb, 1961, p. 69 (Clw).
2. Italian Secular Music: Bartolino da Padova, Egidius de Francia,
Giulielmus de Francia, Don Paolo da Firenze, edited by W. Thomas Marrocco, Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1975. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century IX, p. 164 (Pn568).
3. The Music of Fourteenth-Century Italy,
edited by Nino Pirrotta and Ursula Günther, Rome: American Institute of Musicology. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 8/VI. [forthcoming]
Text Editions
CORSI, Giuseppe. Poesie musicali del Trecento, Bologna: Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1970, p. 282.
Literature
1. PIRROTTA, Nino. 'Paolo da Firenze in un nuovo frammento dell' Ars nova', Musica Disciplina, X (1956), p. 62.
2. BAUMANN, Dorothea. 'Silben- und Wortwiederholungen im italienischen Liedrepertoire des späten Trecento und frühen
Quattrocento', Musik und Text in der Mehrstimmigkeit des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1984, p. 83.
Text
S'amor in cor gentil ha signoria,
che vol dir ch'esta donna non si move
a piatà, che par nata in grembo a Giove?
Forse che la ragion vince el volere
in lei come colonna d'onestate
ed è somma prudenzia.
Donna che
vole onestà mantenere
e addornar di pregio suo biltate,
mostra dura apparenzia;
ma per antica e chiara sperienzia
Amor in lor pur vive e ragion piove,
quando el servo ama e non vacill'altrove
Translation
If love holds sway over a noble heart,
why is this lady not moved to pity?
One would say she was born in the bosom of Zeus.
Perhaps her reason overcomes her will
as she is a pillar of modesty:
that's very wise.
A
woman who wishes to keep her chastity
and adorn her beauty with praise
is outwardly hard in appearance.
But it has been well known for a long time
that love still lives in such women, and reason is infused in them
when their servants love
them and do not turn their faltering steps
elsewhere.
Text revision and translation © Giovanni Carsaniga