From the following ballet, Music by Gastoldi, A.D. 1570. "Viver lieto voglio "Senza alcun cordoglio. "Spendi pungenti strali "E di te prendo gioco." CCCXC. With sad sorrow wasting, The live-long day I wander all alone: At night no slumber tasting, To Cynthia pale I make my love-sick moan. Deep sighs my bosom rend, My tears in show'rs descend: Nor sighs, nor tears can cure my pain. Founded upon a Madrigal, (Music by Luca Marenzio,) the first words of which are "Consumando mi vo." CCCXCI. Two nymphs well skill'd in Cupid's wiles By silent art the one beguiles; The other, when she speaks and sweetly smiles: Both equal are in beauty, And worthy of all duty. Once I sigh'd for sweet Phillis, Now I burn for Amarillis. Imitated from one of the "Canzone alla Napolitana," music by B. Donato, 1558. "Chi la galliarda, Donne, vo imparare; "Venite a noi, chi siamo maestri fini : "Chi di sera e mattutini "Mai manchiamo di sonare." Tan tan ta ri ra. CCCLXXXIX. Hence dull care and sadness! Sly Love with skilful art, Had well nigh caught my heart; Now it in peace reposes, Spite of his flatt'ring gloses; Shoot, Love, thine arrows spare not, For all thy darts I care not. Ad ogn' hor che volete. Hor poi che voi mia vita e morte sete, CCCXCIII. No din of rolling drum, nor trumpet sounding, No winged darts we use, nor swords nor lances: "Faint heart ne'er yet did win a fair Ladye." In these lines I have only imitated the commencement of Alessandro Striggio's Madrigal, "Non rumor di tamburi" and therefore do not insert the original. The music was written about the year 1560. CCCXCIV. Now tune the viol, and the sprightly lute; In slumber's dreamy trance; Till day its light discloses, We'll merrily sing and dance. Music by Giuseppe Caimo, 1560. These words were suggested to me by the two first bars of the music, wherein one voice begins alone upon G, and at an interval of half a bar is responded to by another upon C the fifth below; thereby producing the effect given by tuning a violin. The original lines are totally different in idea, and not worth transcribing. CCCXCV. Stay, limpid stream, thy winding course, Breathe not a sound, until our Queen appear: Then sing, ye nymphs and shepherds of Diana, Long live our gracious queen, fair Oriana. Written in imitation of the Triumphs of Oriana, and adapted to a Madrigal composed by Luca Marenzio, commencing "Rive e fontane." Adapted to the music of G. Converso, A.D. 1570, but the words are not a translation of his Madrigal. I do not now recollect from whence I borrowed the conceit: it is not mine. Rising, the lark on joyous pinions soars, Sing on, ye birds, and gladden grove and plain, He Words and Music composed by John Bayley, Member and Treasurer of the Madrigal Society, A.D. 1832. died in the following year. CCCLXXX. O sing unto my roundelay, O drop the briny tear with me: Like a running river be. My love is dead, Gone to his death bed All under the willow tree. Black his hair as the winter night, White his skin as the summer snow; The first stanza only of this most beautiful elegy by Chatterton, under the name of Rowley, is set to music by Samuel Wesley, and was one of the unsuccessful candidates for the Madrigal Prize in 1811. The composer died while this sheet was in the press, October 1837. The same words are also set by Paxton. |