Italian Poetry

Today we read Care selve, a voi ritorno, by Apostolo Zeno.

The heroine of the last story of Boccaccio’s Decameron (and of Chaucer’s The Clerk’s Tale) is put through quite the ordeal. Her husband, in order to test her, first asks her to give up their two children so they can be put to death. Then, even though she complied, she is told that he obtained Papal dispensation to divorce her, and is sent away.

This libretto by poet Apostolo Zeno recounts that same tale, and became a huge success at the time. It was put to music by several high-profile composers, among which Albinoni, Scarlatti and Vivaldi.

In this brief extract, the exiled Griselda has arrived to her father’s place. She looks at the familiar surroundings, noting that nothing seems changed, and yet she is different, because of her love for her husband. It blossomed right there, and the memories threaten to overwhelm her.

I particularly enjoy here the transition from the regular, simple and lulling pattern of the ottonari in the aria to the more complex, discursive and expressive rhythm of the recitativo.

The original:

Care selve, a voi ritorno
sventurata pastorella.
È pur quello il patrio monte;
questa è pur l’amica fonte,
e sol io non son più quella.
Se la dolce memoria
del perduto mio bene
bastasse a consolar l’alma dolente;
qui spererei conforto, ove col nome
del mio Gualtiero impressi
mi ricordan diletti i tronchi istessi.
Ma che? nel rivedervi, o patrie selve,
ove nacque il mio foco,
cresce l’affanno; e qui spietato, e rio
mi condanna il destino
a pascer di memorie il dolor mio.
Andiam, Griselda, andiamo,
ove il rustico letto in nude paglie
stanca m’invita a riposar per poco.
E là scordando al fine,
Gualtier non già, ma la real grandezza,
al silenzio, e a la pace il duolo avvezza. \ The music in this episode is Lamento della Ninfa from Monteverdi’s Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi, sung by Daphne Ramakers (under creative commons).