Dear Laurie,
Just for further clarification: `aperti' means `opened'
(past participle) and agrees here with `cieli'. To construe
`aperti' as I suggest, it would have to be read as `apri'
or `apristi' or understood to contain the idea of the woman
who, revealing her `bei tesori' thereby reveals either an
enemy or a paradise.
Paul
On Mon, 29 Dec 1997 19:22:02 +0000 (GMT Standard Time) PAUL
DIFFLEY <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Dear Laurie,
> >
> > A couple of points to add to the interesting correspondence
> > you have already received:
> >
> > 1. The final tercet is almost certainly based on an
> > `either'/`or' construction, as suggested by Giovanni
> > Carsaniga, and `aperti' is best construed as an active
> > verb: `So, if one day she reveals beautiful treasures to
> > me/either she is an enemy, worthy of the name Tyrant,/ or
> > she opens up [`aperti'] Heaven or paradise here below [on
> > Earth]'. The idea of Heaven on Earth revealed by the `donna
> > angelicata' is in Petrarch, Canzoniere , no. 292 (`Gli
> > occhi di ch'io parlai...). The dichotomy in the sonnet
> > under discussion perhaps results from the conflict implicit
> > in the two names of Tarquinia Molza, the first suggesting
> > Tyrant and enemy, the second suggesting softness: hence the
> > rather odd ending of the poem (??). The final `either/or' is
> > not uncommon in this position in sonnets, eg. Gaspara
> > Stampa, `O non fia, lassa, mai, o saran bianchi/ questi
> > crin prima...' (in L. Baldacci, Lirici del Cinquecento
> > ((Milan; LOnganesi, 1975), p.89; cf. ibid., Tullia
> > d'Aragona, p.260: `Ma io, s'avvien che perda il mio bel
> > sole,/ o per mia colpa, o per malvagia sorte, ...'), and
> > far more famously Lorenzo de' Medici in the sonnet `O sonno
> > placidissimo...' with its final tercet: `Se cosi' me la
> > mostri, o sia eterno/ il nostro sonno, o questi sonni
> > lieti,/ lasso, non passin per l'eburnea porta' [ie. let me
> > dream of my beloved, and if the dream sleep is not eternal
> > then let it not be illusory].
> >
> > 2. You have probably already consulted `The New Vogel',
> > namely E. Vogel, A. Einstein, F. Lesure, C. Sartori,
> > `Bibliografia della musica italiana vocale profana
> > pubblicata dal 1500 al 1700'(Pomezia, 1977), in 3 vols. The
> > third vol has an index (amongst others) of `incipits' of all
> > texts set. It might be difficult to trace your sonnet, since
> > the catalogue usually gives only the first line, which is by
> > Petrarch of course. A sinmilar project to Vogel's is in
> > progress under the editorship of Antonio Vassalli, I
> > believe.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > and Happy New Year
> > Paul
> >
> >
> > On Thu, 18 Dec 1997 11:17:15 -0800 Laurie Stras
> > <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > > Dear Italianists
> > > I'm looking for some help in translating a sonnet set by Marc'Antonio
> > > Ingegneri. I've struggled with it for some months now with help from
> > > various other scholars of Italian music, and still can't quite make
> > > sense of the end. I wonder if someone would be so good as to enlighten
> > > me?
> > > The text describes a performance by the Modenese singer/poet Tarquinia
> > > Molza (as revealed by the puns on her name and the location on the
> > > Secchia river). There is a possibility that it is by Francesco Pigna,
> > > but I can't prove this. As you can see, it is a loose parody of the
> > > Petrarch sonnet she's supposed to be performing. All punctuation is
> > > mine but the orthography is straight from the partbook:
> > >
> > > 'Hor che ‘l ciel et la terra e ‘l vento tace,'
> > > incomincio colei che l’aria molce
> > > con angelici accenti, e in lingua dolce
> > > rischiara secchia con la tosca face.
> > > Sentiam gli spirti altrui beata pace;
> > > tutto l’amar si trammutava in dolce.
> > > E giva al ciel (che piu l’alma soffolce)
> > > mio cor, che via da lei morendo giace.
> > >
> > > Che poi se i moti de suoi tersi avori,
> > > de’ vaghi lumi e del leggiadro viso,
> > > l’occhio vedea ch’or vana vista intrica;
> > > che poi s’un dì mi spiega bei tesori,
> > > o del nome Tiran degn’et nemica,
> > > o qua giu cieli aperti, o paradiso.
> > > [Ingegneri, Secondo libro a 5, 1572]
> > >
> > > Is there anyone out there who'd be generous enough to help?
> > > Many thanks
> > >
> > > --
> > > Dr Laurie Stras
> > > Lecturer in Performance Studies
> > > Department of Music
> > > The University
> > > Highfield
> > > Southampton SO17 1BJ
> > > Tel: +44 1703 593425
> > > Fax: +44 1703 593197
> >
> > ----------------
> > PROFESSOR PAUL DIFFLEY
> > HEAD OF ITALIAN DEPARTMENT
> > EXETER UNIVERSITY
>
> ----------------
> PROFESSOR PAUL DIFFLEY
> HEAD OF ITALIAN DEPARTMENT
> EXETER UNIVERSITY
----------------
PROFESSOR PAUL DIFFLEY
HEAD OF ITALIAN DEPARTMENT
EXETER UNIVERSITY
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