Per figura del cielo
ballata by Bartolino da Padova
Sources
Florence: Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Palatino 87 (Squarcialupi Codex), fol. 104v-105 (2/2);
Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds nouv. acq. français 6771 (Reina Codex), fol. 16 (2/2).
Facsimiles
1. WOLF, Johannes. Geschichte der Mensural-Notation von 1250-1460 nach den theoretischen und praktischen Quellen, 3 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1904. [reprinted Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1965], p. 78 (Fl87, diplomatic).
2. Il
Codice Squarcialupi edited by F. Alberto GALLO, Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1992.
Editions
1. WOLF, Johannes. Geschichte der Mensural-Notation von 1250-1460 nach den theoretischen und praktischen Quellen, 3 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1904. [reprinted Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1965], Vol. III, p. 112 (Fl87).
2. Der
Squarcialupi-Codex Pal. 87 der Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana zu Florenz, edited by Johannes Wolf and H. Albrecht, Lippstadt: Kistner and Siegel, 1955, p. 165.
3. 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. 53 (Pn6771).
Text Editions
CORSI, Giuseppe. Poesie musicali del Trecento, Bologna: Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1970, p. 253.
Literature
1. WOLF, Johannes. Handbuch der Notationskunde, 2 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1913, 1919. [reprinted Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1963].
2. HALLMARK, Anne. 'Some evidence for French influence in northern Italy, c.1400', Studies in the
Performance of Late Mediaeval Music, edited by Stanley Boorman, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 193-226.
Text
Per figura del cielo
questa spera mortal a nullo celo,
ma mostr'a tutti el corso celeste
con grande spoglie ed ora in picciol veste,
et muta doglia in feste
e così occult'a tutti el suo bel velo.
O voglia sì
o voglia no, ciascuno
dee viver sì ched e' possa quel muno
di laude che digiuno
non sia, ma abbia memoria sanza velo
Translation
I do not hide from anyone the fact
that this mortal orb is an image of Heaven,
but I show everybody its celestial course,
now with great pomp, now in plain dress.
(Fortune) turns sorrow into joy,
and thus hides from
us all her beautiful body.
Whether we want it or not, we must live
in such a way that we be not deprived
of the reward of glory, and enjoy
an untarnished memory.Text revision and translation © Giovanni Carsaniga