Amor, Natura (Philippe de Monte)

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Editor: Willem Verkaik (submitted 2015-02-01).   Score information: Letter, 6 pages, 521 kB   Copyright: CPDL
Edition notes: Transposed one tone up from G-myxolydian

General Information

Title: Amor, Natura
Composer: Philippe de Monte
Lyricists: Francesco Petrarca and Anthony S. Kline (translator)

Number of voices: 5vv   Voicing: SAATB

Genre: SecularMadrigal

Language: Italian
Instruments: A cappella

Published:

Description: Sonnet 184

External websites:

Original text and translations

Italian.png Italian text

Amor, Natura, et la bella alma humile,
 ov'ogn'alta vertute alberga et regna,
 contra me son giurati: Amor s'ingegna
 ch'i' mora a fatto, e 'n ciò segue suo stile;

Natura tèn costei d'un sí gentile
 laccio, che nullo sforzo è che sostegna;
 ella è sí schiva, ch'abitar non degna
 piú ne la vita faticosa et vile.

Cosí lo spirto d'or in or vèn meno
 a quelle belle care membra honeste
 che specchio eran di vera leggiadria;

et s'a Morte Pietà non stringe 'l freno,
 lasso, ben veggio in che stato son queste
 vane speranze, ond'io viver solia.

Canzoniere 184

English.png English translation

Love, Nature, and the lovely humble soul,
where every virtue lives and reigns,
are my sworn enemies now: Love conspires
to bring about my death as is his custom:

Nature holds her by such a slender thread,
there is barely enough strength to sustain her:
she is so diffident, that she no longer deigns
to live on in this vile and wearisome world.

So that the life from hour to hour grows less
in those dear lovely chaste limbs
that are the mirrors of true gracefulness:

and if Mercy does not tighten Death’s rein,
alas, I see only too well what state vain hope
will come to, by which I used to live.

tr. Anthony S. Kline