Ella non sa, se non invan dolersi (Andrea Gabrieli)

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  • (Posted 2015-01-12)  CPDL #34281:    Midi parts: (MIDI)
Editor: Allen Garvin (submitted 2015-01-12).   Score information: Letter, 17 pages, 259 kB   Copyright: CC BY NC
Edition notes: Parts and source available at IMSLP.

General Information

Title: Ella non sa, se non invan dolersi
Composer: Andrea Gabrieli
Lyricist: Ludovico Ariosto from Orlando furioso, canto XXIV ottave 77-81, 83, 85-86

Number of voices: 3vv   Voicing: SSA

Genre: SecularMadrigal

Language: Italian
Instruments: A cappella

{{Published}} is obsolete (code commented out), replaced with {{Pub}} for works and {{PubDatePlace}} for publications.

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Original text and translations

Italian.png Italian text

Ella non sa, se non invan dolersi,
chiamar fortuna e il cielo empio e crudele.
Perché, ahi lassa! dicea non mi sommersi
quando levai ne l’Ocean le vele?–
Zerbin che i languidi occhi ha in lei conversi,
sente più doglia, ch’ella si querele,
che de la passion tenace e forte
che l’ha condutto omai vicino a morte.

Così, cor mio, vogliate, le diceva
dopo ch’io sarò morto, amarmi ancora,
come solo il lasciarvi è che m’aggreva
qui senza guida, e non già perch’io mora:
che se in sicura parte m’accadeva
finir de la mia vita l’ultima ora,
lieto e contento e fortunato a pieno
morto sarei, poi ch’io vi moro in seno.

Ma poi che ’l mio destino iniquo e duro
vol ch’io vi lasci, e non so in man di cui;
per questa bocca e per questi occhi giuro,
per queste chiome onde allacciato fui,
che disperato nel profondo oscuro
vo de lo ’nferno, ove il pensar di vui
ch’abbia così lasciata, assai più ria
sarà d’ogn’altra pena che vi sia. –

A questo la mestissima Issabella,
declinando la faccia lacrimosa
e congiungendo la sua bocca a quella
di Zerbin, languidetta come rosa,
rosa non colta in sua stagion, sì ch’ella
impallidisca in su la siepe ombrosa,
disse: Non vi pensate già, mia vita,
far senza me quest’ultima partita.

Di ciò, cor mio, nessun timor vi tocchi;
ch’io vo’ seguirvi o in cielo o ne lo ’nferno.
Convien che l’uno e l’altro spirto scocchi,
insieme vada, insieme stia in eterno.
Non sì tosto vedrò chiudervi gli occhi,
o che m’ucciderà il dolore interno,
o se quel non può tanto, io vi prometto
con questa spada oggi passarmi il petto.

Zerbin la debol voce riforzando,
disse: Io vi priego e supplico, mia diva,
per quello amor che mi mostraste, quando
per me lasciaste la paterna riva;
e se commandar posso, io vel commando,
che fin che piaccia a Dio, restiate viva;
né mai per caso pogniate in oblio
che quanto amar si può v’abbia amato io.

Non credo che quest’ultime parole
potesse esprimer sì, che fosse inteso;
e finì come il debol lume suole,
cui cera manchi od altro in che sia acceso.
Chi potrà dire a pien come si duole,
poi che si vede pallido e disteso,
la giovanetta, e freddo come ghiaccio
il suo caro Zerbin restare in braccio?

Sopra il sanguigno corpo s’abbandona,
e di copiose lacrime lo bagna;
e stride sì, ch’intorno ne risuona
a molte miglia il bosco e la campagna.
Né alle guancie né al petto si perdona,
che l’uno e l’altro non percuota e fragna;
e straccia a torto l’auree crespe chiome,
chiamando sempre invan l’amato nome.
 

English.png English translation

She, blaming Fortune, and the cruel sky,
Can only utter fond complaints and vain.
Why sank I not in ocean, (was her cry,)
When first I reared my sail upon the main?
Zerbino, who on her his languid eye
Had fixt, as she bemoaned her, felt more pain
Than that enduring and strong anguish bred,
Through which the suffering youth was well-nigh dead.

So be thou pleased, my heart, Zerbino cried,
To love me yet, when I am dead and gone,
As to abandon thee without a guide,
And not to die, distresses me alone.
For did it me in place secure betide
To end my days, this earthly journey done,
I cheerful, and content, and fully blest
Would die, since I should die upon thy breast.

But since to abandon thee, to whom a prize
I know not, my sad fate compels, I swear,
My Isabella, by that mouth, those eyes,
By what enchained me first, that lovely hair;
My spirit, troubled and despairing, hies
Into hell's deep and gloomy bottom; where
To think, thou wert abandoned so by me,
Of all its woes the heaviest pain will be.

At this the sorrowing Isabel, declining
Her mournful face, which with her tears o'erflows,
Towards the sufferer, and her mouth conjoining
To her Zerbino's, languid as a rose;
Rose gathered out of season, and which, pining
Fades where it on the shadowy hedgerow grows,
Exclaims, Without me think not so, my heart,
On this your last, long, journey to depart.

Of this, my heart, conceive not any fear,
For I will follow thee to heaven or hell;
It fits our souls together quit this sphere,
Together go, for aye together dwell.
No sooner closed thine eyelids shall appear
Than either me internal grief will quell,
Or, has it not such power, I here protest,
I with this sword to-day will pierce my breast.

'Twas here his feeble voice Zerbino manned,
Crying. My deity, I beg and pray,
By that love witnessed, when thy father's land
Thou quittedst for my sake; and, if I may
In any thing command thee, I command,
That, with God's pleasure, thou live-out thy day;
Nor ever banish from thy memory,
That, well as man can love, have I loved thee.

I think not these last words of Scotland's knight
Were so exprest, that he was understood:
With these, he finished, like a feeble light,
Which needs supply of was, or other food.
Who is there, that has power to tell aright
The gentle Isabella's doleful mood?
When stiff, her loved Zerbino, with pale face,
And cold as ice, remained in her embrace.

On the ensanguined corse, in sorrow drowned,
The damsel throws herself, in her despair,
And shrieks so lout that wood and plain resound
For many miles about; nor does she spare
Bosom or cheek; but still, with cruel wound,
One and the other smites the afflicted fair;
And wrongs her curling lock of golden grain,
Aye calling on the well-loved youth in vain.

Translation by William Stewart Rose