Misero te, non vedi (Benedetto Pallavicino)

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(Posted 2020-12-01) CPDL #61737:

Editor: Gerhard Weydt (submitted 2020-12-01). Score information: A4, 10 pages, 272 kB Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: transposed down a fourth. Slighty revised version (not affecting music and text underlay) stored 2022-06-15.

(Posted 2020-12-01) CPDL #61736:

Editor: Gerhard Weydt (submitted 2020-12-01). Score information: A4, 10 pages, 282 kB Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: Slighty revised version (not affecting music and text underlay) stored 2022-06-15.

General Information

Title: Misero te, non vedi
Composer: Benedetto Pallavicino
Lyricist:

Number of voices: 5vv Voicings: SSATB or SSTTB
Genre: Secular, Madrigal

Language: Italian
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1584 in Madrigali a 5 voci, libro 2, no. 13 & 14
2nd published: 1590 in Gemmae musicalis Liber Tertius, no. 48
Description: Pallavicino uses "Augenmusik" (eye music), only visible to the performers in the original prints, to illustrate the text "son di varii color formata e tinta", see the editions #61736 and #61737 for details.
Some voices have a wide range, the most extreme is the tenore, which ranges from d to a in the first part, which would fit a tenor, and from g to c in the second, which would fit an alto. As Pallavicino also used chiavette, an edition transposed down a fourth is provided (#61737), which should be suitable for MsSTBarB.

External websites:

Original text and translations

Italian text

Misero te, non vedi ch‘io son finta,
In van chiedi soccorso al tuo gran male.
Pensi fors’io sia donna naturale,
Non son, non vedi tu ch’io son dipinta,
son di varii colori formata e tinta;
Gratia rend’al pittor m’ha fatta eguale.
Io non son Dea che port’arco ne strale
Ne la faretra a i fianchi, ne arme cinta.

Natura non mi fe com’io vorrei,
Co’l proprio spirto sol per darti aita
Per rasciugar a gl’occh’il vivo ardore.
Gratia rend’ al veder che gl’occhi in vita
Fur male a figurarti contr’a i miei.
Pasciti altronde, in me non regn’amore.

German translation

Unglückseliger, siehst du nicht, dass ich künstlich bin,
vergeblich rufst du um Hilfe für dein großes Leid.
Vielleicht glaubst du, ich sei eine wirkliche Frau,
ich bin‘s nicht, siehst du nicht, dass ich gemalt bin,
ich bin erzeugt und gemalt aus vielen Farben;
Dank sei dem Maler, der mich so lebensecht erschaffen hat,
ich bin keine Göttin, die Bogen oder Pfeile führt
oder den Köcher an der Seite, noch mit Waffen gerüstet.

Die Natur hat mich nicht so geschaffen, wie ich es wünschte,
mit dem passenden Geist, dir zu helfen,
das lebhafte Begehren aus den Augen zu wischen.
Danke der Erkenntnis, dass lebendige Augen
in den meinen zu sehen schlecht vorstellbar war.
Nähre dich anderswo, in mir herrscht nicht die Liebe.

Translation by Gerhard Weydt

English translation

Wretched you, don’t you see, that I am fictive,
in vain you you call for help for your great misery,
perhaps you think I am a real woman,
I am not, don’t you see that I am painted,
I am made and painted of many colours;
thanks to the painter who made me so similar.
I am no goddess that carries bow and arrows
or the quiver at the flank, nor girt with arms.

Nature didn’t create me as I would have wished,
with the right spirit to help you
to wipe the burning desire off your eyes.
Be thankful for the perception that to see living eyes
in mine was hardly conceivable.
Feed elsewhere, love does not reign within me.