Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori

General information

Lyricist: Ludovico Ariosto; Translator: William Stewart Rose from Orlando furioso, Canto VI ottava 21.

Settings by composers

• Benedetto Pallavicino SAAAB
• Giaches de Wert SAAAB

Texts and Translations

Italian text Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori, di palme e d’amenissime mortelle, cedri et aranci ch’avean frutti e fiori contesti in varie forme e tutte belle, facean riparo ai fervidi calori de’ giorni estivi con lor spesse ombrelle; e tra quei rami con sicuri voli cantando se ne giano i rosignuoli.

English translation Small thickets, with the scented laurel gay, Cedar, and orange, full of fruit and flower, Myrtle and palm, with interwoven spray, Pleached in mixed modes, all lovely, form a bower; And, breaking with their shade the scorching ray, Make a cool shelter from the noontide hour. And nightingales among those branches wing Their flight, and safely amorous descants sing. by William Stewart Rose (1775-1843)