Deh, dolze Morte, cavami di pena

ballata by Paolo da Firenze

Sources

Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds italien 568, fol. 84v-85 (3/1).

Editions

1. Italian Secular Music, edited by W. Thomas Marrocco, Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1978. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century XI, p. 43.
2. 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. 288.

Literature

1. GÜNTHER, Ursula. 'Die "anonymen" Kompositionen des Ms. Paris BN, fonds ital, 568 (Pit)', Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, XXIII (1966), p. 88.
2. BAUMANN, Dorothea. Die dreistimmige italienische Lied-Satztechnik im Trecento, Baden-Baden: Valentin Koerner, 1979. Sammlung musikwissenschaftlicher Abhandlung no. 64, passim.

Recordings

1. [Landini], Hortus Musicus, directed by Andres Moustonen: Chant du Monde LDX 78.666 (FRA).
2. The Italian Madrigal: Ars Nova and the 16th Century, Vassar Madrigal Singers, directed by Geer: Allegro ALG 3029.
3. Ecco la Primavera. Florentine Music of the 14th Century, Early Music Consort, directed by David Munrow (1969): Argo ZRG 642 (GB).
4. Francesco Landini 1325 - 1397, Early Music Studio, directed by Thomas Binkley (1973): EMI-Reflexe 1CO63-30-113 (GER).

Text

Deh, dolze Morte, cavami di pena
da poi che per seguir non ho più lena.

Che debb'i' far, o mie signor Amore
che m'ha' fedit'ed ella sta crudele?
Mancami l'alma come neve al sole;
niente vale el mio esser fedele.
E però, Morte, stendi le tuo vele,
ché vita m'è, morendo, uscir di pena

Translation

Pray, sweet Death, take me out of pain:
I have no more strength to go on.

What must I do, o my lord Love,
since you have wounded me, and she remains cruel?
My soul passes away like snow in the sunshine;
my being faithful is of no avail.
Therefore, Death, unfurl your sails:
for pain to cease through death is life to me.

Text revision and translation © Giovanni Carsaniga