Mortale, che pensi?

Nero, Zaida, Mater Euryali, Armida,

the Blessed Virgin, Mary Magdalene
Giacomo Carissimi
Luigi Rossi
Domenico Mazzocchi
Marco Marazzoli
Alessandro Stradella

ATALANTE
Erin Headley
Katherine Watson, Nadine Balbeisi,
Theodora Baka, Samuel Boden,
Julian Podger, Christian Immler

‘Truly revelatory...a milestone…a more

powerful and persuasive advocacy
www.DestinoClassics.com for these pieces could hardly be imagined.’ DESTINO
Worldwide distribution in association with Nimbus Alliance Iain Fenlon, Early Music CLASSICS
RELIQUIE DI ROMA III: Mortale, che pensi?
1 Mortale, che pensi? (KW NB SB) Luigi Rossi (1597–1653) 4:11
Rome,Vatican Library, Barb. lat. 4200
2 Deh, memoria (KW) Giacomo Carissimi (1605–1674) 5:49
Rome,Vatican Library, Chigi. lat. IV. 18
3 Plorate, filii Israel (inst) Giacomo Carissimi 3:28
Historia di Jephte, Rome 1650
L’Incendio di Roma (Nerone, CI) Alessandro Stradella (1639–1682)
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum: Mu. Ms. 44
4 Sopra un’eccelsa torre 3:36
5 Voi, che in soglio di pace adulate sedete 3:30
6 Si, si, viva Nerone 4:02
Nisus et Euryalus, Epilogue Domenico Mazzocchi (1592–1665)
Dialogi, e sonetti, Rome 1638
7 Purpureus veluti cum flos succisus arratro 5:01
8 Hunc ego te Euryale aspicio (KW) 4:08
9 Sonata XXIX,Terzo tono (BC) Giovanni Antonio Leone (c1600–?1652) 4:10
Libro Primo, Opera terza, Rome 1652
10 Lamento di Zaida (NB) Luigi Rossi 6:44
Bologna, Civico Museo, Q. 46
Lamento d’Armida (TB) Marco Marazzoli (1602–1662)
Rome,Vatican Library, Chigi. lat.V. 69
11 Dove fuggi, crudele? 4:03
12 O mio diletto 3:41
13 (inst, PvL) 1:56
14 A piè del sanguinoso tronco (SB) Anonymous 5:17
Rome,Vatican Library, Barb. lat. 4203
15 Lagrime amare (La Maddalena, KW) Domenico Mazzocchi 5:19
Dialogi, e sonetti, Rome 1638
16 Sinfonia ‘Il Damone’ Alessandro Stradella 1:31
Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Mus. F. 1139
TOTAL PLAYING TIME 66:30
2 23
narrowed. The unfolding tonal spectrum at the closing of the Magdalene’s lament reflects the
mixing of her tears with the blood of the wounded Jesus (from F to G# and C# and returning
to F), and offers the listener a rhetorically powerful spiritual transformation.
A variation on Mazzocchi’s enharmonic x, the V indicates that a singer should make a messa di
voce by increasing volume and pitch together while proceeding to the next note. Both symbols
are carefully indicated in the two laments at particularly telling moments in the poetry, and
Mazzocchi directs that the singer rigorously observe his indications.
Mazzocchi seems to have been the voice of reason in a long and labyrinthine tuning saga; his
system is refreshingly practical and manageable. He recommends that the sovereign enharmonic
genus should be added to express all human suffering, but only sparingly, to produce a marvellous
and often unexpected effect:
Voluptates commendat rarior usus
Rare indulgence produces greater pleasure
The lirone also played an important part in the great enharmonic drama. Although the instrument
was invented in the early 16th century, its tunings were not published until the 17th century (by
Cerreto, Cerone, Mersenne and Praetorius). The fingerboard was organized such that its circle of
5ths quite simply never squared up: the flats were on one side and the sharps on the other, so that
with, for example, 13 strings, it was possible to bow even the most remote tonalities with pure
3rds. The lirone’s limitation was that it could only play chords, not melodies; but its plangent and
ethereal sonority was admired and exploited by many Roman composers, including Mazzocchi,
and its success lasted to the end of the 17th century.
© Erin Headley, 2014
I could not have gained an understanding of this subject without the generous time and expertise of
Jörg Jacobi, who contributed valuable concepts and recorded musical examples for the publication of
Manfred Cordes, Nicola Vicentinos Enharmonik (2007). In Atalante’s recording, two harpsichords, one on
top of the other, were used to simulate the cembalo cromatico. EJH
 Atalante
ENHARMONIC EXOTICA Erin Headley - director
The music and theory of the ancient Greeks had been an obsession of scholars even before the Katherine Watson and Nadine Balbeisi – sopranos
Renaissance. Texts were translated, re-translated and re-interpreted in the hope of unlocking Theodora Baka – mezzo-soprano
the secrets of superior, subtler and more expressive tuning systems. To incorporate these marvels Samuel Boden – tenor
into their own current music, theorists and musicians continuously experimented with new Julian Podger – tenor
instruments. At Ferrara, Nicola Vicentino (1511–1576) invented the archicembalo, whose unwieldy Christian Immler – bass
keyboard with 31 divisions of the octave was designed for extremely chromatic music; the
Erin Headley – viola da gamba, lirone
constant microtonal pitch-shifts must surely have left the listener feeling rather seasick.
Siobhán Armstrong – arpa doppia
In the 1630s and 40s, Francesco Barberini’s academy hosted lectures by the theorist Giovanni Fredrik Bock – chitarrone
Battista Doni (1593–1647) on ancient and modern music; he gave demonstrations on his Jörg Jacobi – harpsichord
novel and newly invented lutes, harpsichords and viols for playing 17th-century part-music in
Bojan Čičić – violin
the Greek genera (diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic). The lyra barberina (a two-sided lute)
and the cembalo triarmonico and violone panarmonico (instruments with numerous keyboards and Paulina van Laarhoven and Claire Bracher – treble viols
fingerboards) were so complex and awkward, and the music (mainly composed by Pietro Della Colin Clark – tenor viol
Valle) so routine and unadventurous, that interest was short lived. Keren Bruce – bass viol
Domenico Mazzocchi contributed his own ideas to the academy; they are printed in the Produced, engineered and edited by John Hadden
avvertimento of his Dialoghi, e Sonetti (1638), the publication from which two works on this Recorded 11–15 July 2011, St John at Hackney, London
recording are taken. Lagrime amare, the extraordinarily beautiful lament of the Magdalene, became Executive producer: John Hadden, Destino Classics
something of a cult piece. The lament of Mater Euryali from Virgil’s Nisus et Euryalus is unusual in
being a secular Latin text set to music; the result has a uniquely antique atmosphere. Mazzocchi’s Cover image: Theodora Baka as Armida
tuning system means that both laments inhabit an astonishingly haunting and bizarre sound Booklet reverse image: Erin Headley with lirone in 1981
world; he borrows the music symbol x (for the enharmonic diesis) from earlier theorists like Cover costume: Alessio Rosati
Gioseffo Zarlino (1517–1590), and introduces the V (for Vetruvio). Designed by Doubletake Design Ltd.

The x indicates an enharmonic Ex and Bx, to offer two further tonalities, C# and G# major. B Performing editions: Jörg Jacobi, Edition Baroque, Bremen
is raised to Bx (the same amount as for a quarter-comma meantone sharp) to create a pure 3rd Italian texts and translations: Candace Smith
with G#. Mazzocchi cites Zarlino’s cembalo cromatico, which had split keys with 19 divisions of the Atalante is funded by the AHRC and the University of Southampton
octave and an extra key between B and C and E and F. An astonishing number of tonalities were
thus available: C C# Db D D# Eb E E# F F# Gb G G# Ab A A# Bb B B#, all with pure 3rds.
The basis of this tuning is still quarter-comma meantone, but with the 5ths further and equally

22 3
In 1614 the Roman nobleman, ethnographer, explorer
and amateur musician Pietro Della Valle (1586–1652)
embarked on a fascinating journey to the exotic
east that lasted ten years. He investigated the music,
culture, habits and spiritual beliefs of Turkey, Persia
and India; he collected artifacts and curiosities, books
and manuscripts on the arts and sciences; and he
brought back mummies and live animals (Persian cats
and white monkeys) for his private museum, to the
delight and amazement of his compatriots.
Rome in the 1600s was home to others like
Della Valle: noblemen collected, discussed and
corresponded with learned authorities all over
Europe and the east. The Jesuit movement was in
full swing, too, training priests at their new learning
centres like the prestigious Collegio Romano, and
encouraging everyone to arm themselves with
an enquiring mind, a classical education and self-
discipline to enhance spiritual worthiness. The arts
– in particular music – could offer spiritual truths,
transcendence and a sense of wonder simply through
the act of listening. Musical works on the subjects of
suffering, supplication, redemption and ecstasy were
as compelling as sermons at making the recipient a
better Catholic.
The Roman academy was the nobleman’s place of
study and advanced education, and Urban VIII, their
sophisticated and highly literary pope, provided
generous patronage, especially for music and the arts.
He helped to found the Accademia degli Umoristi
whose members included Giambattista Marino,
Giovanni Battista Guarini, Leonora Baroni, Pietro
Della Valle and visiting members like John Milton.
4 21
Academies soon sprang up in the palaces and villas 15. Lagrime amare Bitter tears
of Rome, including those of Queen Christina of
Sweden, the Baroni family (with its trio of singers, Lagrime amare all’anima, che langue Bitter tears, come to the merciful aid
Leonora, Adriana and Caterina) and the pope’s Soccorete pietose: il dente rio of the languishing soul.
cardinal nephews, Francesco and Antonio Barberini. Già v’impresse d’Inferno il crudel’ angue, The wicked tooth of hell’s cruel serpent has left its mark,
E mortifera piaga, ohimè, v’aprio. and, alas, has opened a deadly wound.
The Barberini family academies flourished into
the 1650s, and the exceptional productivity of the Ben vuol sanarla il redentore esangue, The bloodless Redeemer truly wishes to heal it,
composers associated with them set a labyrinthine Ma indarno sparso il pretioso rio but the precious stream of that blessed blood
task for scholars today in terms of sorting, classifying, Sarà per lei di quel beato sangue would be shed in vain without
attributing and editing. Each Barberini or Chigi Senza il doglioso humor del pianto mio. the sorrowful liquid of my weeping.
manuscript in the Vatican Library contains over 50
spiritual and secular cantatas, and there are huge Su dunque amare lagrime correte Therefore, bitter tears, flow ceaselessly,
numbers of volumes, mostly unindexed.Very rarely are A gl’occhi ogn’hor da questo cor pentito, from this repentant heart up to my eyes,
composers’ names given; more likely to be named are Versate pur, che di voi sole ho sete. flow forth, for I thirst only for you.
poets, especially if they are members of the nobility or
Se tanto il liquor vostro, è in ciel gradito, If your liquid is so valued in Heaven,
of the curia, like Antonio Barberini or indeed the pope.
Dirò di voi, che voi quell’acque sete, I shall say that you are those waters
Francesco’s Accademia dei Virtuosi (founded in Ch’uscir col sangue da Gesù ferito. which flowed with the blood from the wounded Jesus.
1624) met in his sumptuous palace, the Cancelleria,
to discuss ancient and modern music and to listen to
madrigals. This is where Della Valle heard Giovanni Cardinal Roberto Ubaldino
Battista Doni deliver his lectures on Greek music
theory, and where Domenico Mazzocchi formulated
his own theories (see ‘Enharmonic Exotica’ at
the end of this booklet) and introduced the
extraordinary music from his latest publications. The
choruses in his Nisus et Euryalus reflect the archaic
madrigal style associated with Francesco’s academy,
yet the recitative writing in Lagrime amare is more
forward-looking.
Francesco’s brother Antonio occupied the Palazzo
de Quattro Fontane, a building lavishly filled with
art and musical instruments and frequented by
the leading musical stars of the day: the castrati
Sua rabbia ha il crudo Averno has poured his wrath upon you, Marc’Antonio Pasqualini and Loreto Vittori, soprano
Sto per dir condannata let me say that your mother Leonora Baroni, and at least four harp players
La tua Madre è all’Inferno. has been condemned to Hell. including Orazio Michi, Marco Marazzoli, Luigi
Si ch’all’Inferno io sono Yes, I am in Hell Rossi and his wife, Costanza. Antonio’s academy was
Mentre da me diviso while you, celestial gift, up to date: it featured the latest genre, the chamber
Sei tu Celeste dono who were my Paradise, cantata, as exemplified by Luigi Rossi, Marco
Ch’eri mio Paradiso. have been taken from me. Marazzoli and Giacomo Carissimi.
Ma cresca in questo seno But may the rigour of my hardships Carissimi stands somewhat apart from the rest of the
Il rigor de miei stenti increase in my breast Roman cantata school, if only because most of his
Pur ch’una stilla almeno if even a single tear career was spent as a priest-composer at the church
Si scemi ai tuoi tormenti.’ might diminish your torments.’ of Sant’Apollinare. Besides a prodigious number of
motets and oratorios, he wrote over 200 cantatas,
Così del figlio ai danni Thus, at the pains of her son,
which were commissioned by the Barberini and
Maria tutta rapita Mary, in the throes
In estasi d’affanni of woeful ecstasy, Chigi families; he was also Queen Christina of
Cadde al suol tramortita. fell senseless to the ground. Sweden’s director of chamber music. He and Rossi
were the two most popular Italian composers of the
Cardinal Antonio Barberini day: their cantatas were copied over and over again
by admirers all across Europe.
The anonymous A piè del sanguinoso tronco comes
in the second half of a Vatican manuscript among
a group of cantatas on spiritual poems written by
Cardinal Antonio. The verse is in straightforward
rhymed couplets in quatrains, all in seven-syllable
lines, but the music is exceptional in its through-
composed rhetorical and expressive content, and
has some supremely transcendent moments. Since
the lirone is the one instrument that was thought to
evoke the other world, it would likely have been
called upon here when the soundscape required the
listener’s spiritual attention.
If Della Valle may have actually visited Turkey,
Luigi Rossi’s Spars’il crine certainly takes us there
musically. A young Muslim woman witnesses the
20
abduction of her beloved by pirates on to a Tuscan
ship. She pleads, she prays, she rages not only at
the Christian god, but at Mohammed himself. A
delectably exotic introduction evokes the Aegean’s
expansive shores, winds and waves; the lament makes
use of quasi-oriental melodic intervals (including
augmented 2nds), but at moments of supplication
and forgiveness, the music takes on a Catholic flavour
reminiscent of Rossi’s spiritual cantatas.
Marco Marazzoli’s Dove fuggi, crudele? involves yet
another Muslim woman, Armida. Her lover, Rinaldo,
devoted and loyal Christian warrior, leaves her. She
wallows in rage and remorse, but shows little spiritual
reflection or necessity for the lirone’s evocative
soundscape.
Rossi and Marazzoli were Rome’s preeminent
representatives of extravagant recitative: illustrative,
panoramic, scenic, narrative, affective, emotionally
expressive, harmonically prolongated, richly
dissonant. With Stradella and the Scarlattis came
the ascendency of the aria, and the subjugation of
recitative mainly to dramatic action rather than
emotional expression. Stradella did specify the lirone
in the opening sinfonia of Il Damone (or: Hor che
l’alme restaura il ciel), but perhaps Sopra un’ eccelsa torre,
his Fire of Rome cantata is a more fitting memento
for the decline and ultimate fall of an extraordinary
instrument. After 1700, only occasionally can its feint
halo still be detected in the string accompagnati of
oratorios and passions.
© Erin Headley, 2014
5
ATALANTE
Erin Headley’s award-winning ensemble Atalante the first time in over 350 years, some of the most 14. A piè del sanguinoso tronco At the foot of the bloody tree
is named in honour of Leonardo da Vinci’s friend impressive works on this disc. The performances are
exquisite—a more powerful and persuasive advocacy A piè del sanguinoso tronco At the foot of the bloody tree
and pupil Atalante Migliorotti, who invented the
for these pieces could hardly be imagined.’ Da cui pendea il suo figlio amoroso from which her beloved son was hanging,
lirone in 1505. That magic and hauntingly beautiful
Così Maria piangea: Maria thus wept:
bowed instrument has been Erin Headley’s domain Atalante’s luxurious continuo band also captured
since 1980, through an astonishing number of Fenlon’s attention: ‘not so much a question of ‘Figlio convien anch’io ‘My Son, I too am
performances and recordings that have been accompaniment… but rather a fully integrated Al tuo morire in Croce at your death on the Cross,
acclaimed worldwide. In the 17th century the lirone conversation between voices and instruments, Ma vuol teco il cor mio but my heart, with you,
was associated with the lament, a genre that first submerged in an intensely alert and sensitive texture Portar doglia si atroce. wants to carry such appalling sorrow
appeared during the generation of Monteverdi, that is ever ready to acknowledge the significance of Che se à languir prendesti so that if you, in your languishing,
reached its culmination in Rome, and has been individual words and phrases’. Sangue da queste vene should take blood from these veins,
Atalante’s main specialization. Son (hor ch’alfin giungesti) (now that you have reached your end)
Since 2009 Atalante has made numerous appearances Dovute a me tue pene. your pains are due to me.
Atalante’s London début was recently cited in in Europe, the UK and the US. In 2014, with Erin E ben provo per loro, And they make me feel
Iain Fenlon’s comprehensive review in Early Music Headley as music director, the group will be the Ch’al par dell’empia morte that on a par with wicked death,
of the group’s first two CDs: ‘It is not surprising featured performers in a production of Luigi Rossi’s In dare a me martoro Love, in giving me martyrdom,
that Atalante has specialized in semi-staged Orfeo at the Galway Festival, while 2015 will see a Amor anch’egli è forte. is itself also strong.
performances…since their spectacular début at the tour of the US and Canada, and performances in E di sua man li spini And the thorns of its hand,
Southbank Centre in London in 2009 presented, for Istanbul, Stockholm and Bratislava. Chiodi e flagelli uniti together with nails and whippings,
www.Atalante.co.uk www.DestinoClassics.com Mi fanno entro i confini bring infinite tortures
Del cor strazij infiniti. to the confines of my heart.
Anzi che tu cangiato Indeed, you have changed into
Atalante’s next recording in the Reliquie di Roma series: In mio supplicio sei my torture,
Lamento di David: Oratorios, della Maddalena, compassionately The devoted companions reflect E’ nel tuo sen squarciato and my spirit
dialogues, motets and arie spirituale accompanies the Magdalene’s on the events of Christ’s life as Han Tomba i spirti miei. is buried in your torn breast.
of Domenico Mazzocchi pitiful and poignant visit to Jesus’s they pass sites of their beloved Pur son viva ai dolori, Yet I am alive to the pains,
Two of Mazzocchi’s most tomb. Mediterranean homeland: Misera genitrice, wretched parent,
magnificent and dramatic choral A remarkable dialogue for three Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Detta da sommi Chori whom the highest choirs once called
works for the oratory: Lamento voices, also written for the Gethsemane and Golgatha. Their Madre già si felice. felicitous mother,
di David paints a heartrending oratory, Maddalena errante is based plight on the turbulent sea is a Ma questo grado altero but this lofty position
image of David’s anguish over the on the Golden Legend, in which metaphor for life’s journey; their Ad altro hor non mi vale means nothing more to me now
deaths of Saul and Jonathan, and Mary, Martha and Lazarus flee utter devotion to their Savior Ch’a soffrir duol più fiero, than to suffer the fiercest sorrows
the choir, ‘Ploremus’ in Dialogo the Holy Land in a small boat. guides them to the harbour. Che non può un cor mortale. that a mortal heart can bear.
E’ poi d’in te versata And since cruel Hades
6 19
Trar, guerrier mansueto, i tuoi riposi? among these shady myrtles? 1. Mortale, che pensi? O mortal, what are you thinking?
Vanne, empio, vanne, e’l cielo, Go away, wicked man, go away, and may heaven,
E l’onde, e nembi, e le tempeste, e venti and the waves, and the clouds, and the tempests, Mortale, che pensi? O mortal, what are you thinking?
S’armin di tetro velo. and the winds arm themselves with a dark shroud. Son caduchi i tuoi trionfi Your triumphs are fleeting
E si muore ogni momento. and there is a death every moment.
Voi folgori, voi lampi, You thunderbolts, you flashes of lightning, Aura cieca non ti gonfi. Do not let the blind breeze swell your head:
Voi turbini e procelle you whirlwinds and storms Sei di polve, fuggi il vento. you are dust, flee the wind.
Ch’ergeste il pondo de’ cerulei campi that lifted up the of cerulean fields
Fin’all’aurate stelle, to the golden stars, Non ambire che la fortuna Do not hope for fortune
Entro all’algoso lido submerge on the algae-covered shore Del suo crine ti lasci herede, to leave you heir to her bridle,
Sommergete quest’empio e quest’infido. this wicked and perfidious man. Ne sgridarla se ben non diede nor rebuke her if she did not give you
Archi d’oro per la tua cuna. golden arrows for your cradle.
Aria Aria Non può darti quiete alcuna Her wheel, which always turns,
Ma che parlo? che dico? But what am I saying? La sua rota che sempre gira can give you no comfort;
Vanne con cielo amico, Depart under favourable skies, Non vi ride ma vi sospira she who is not hitched to Heaven
Habbia l’aure seconde, may the winds assist you, in May the waves be calm; Chi col Cielo non sposai sensi. does not mock, but rather sighs for you.
Habbia tranquille l’onde, those lovely eyes that once armed themselves with
S’armasti di strali i tuoi begl’occhi, arrows, Mortale, che pensi? O mortal, what are you thinking?
Arma di ferro il petto. now arm your breast with iron.
Vattene, o mio diletto, Go hence, oh my beloved,
fà ch’il core and make your heart blaze with love
Nelle fiamme di Marte arda d’amore. in the flames of Mars.

18 7
2. Deh, memoria
Deh, memoria, e che più chiedi?
Ch’io rammenti il primo affetto?
Se m’annidi eterna in petto,
Ben’il sai, mentre lo vedi.
Deh, memoria, e che più chiedi?
Ahi, ahi, partir non può dall’alma
Quell’imagine gradita,
E sospesa con lei la vita,
Recta gelida la salma.
Tu da me, che vuoi, pensiero?
Ch’io sospiri il mio tesoro?
Egli è spento. Io sempre moro,
Che veder più non lo spero.
Tu da me, che vuoi, pensiero?
O sapessi quante volte
Chiamo l’ombra del mio bene.
E gli mostro le catene
Che conservo al core avvolte.
Vieni, dice,
E trammi teco nella tomba
In cui dimori.
Ch’a vederti in quegl’horrori,
Anco Amor vuol’ venir meco.
Ma s’il Ciel ha ritardata
La fortuna del morire,
Sto sepolta col desire
In quell’ urna sospirata.
8 17
O memory
O memory, what more do you ask?
That I should remember my first love?
If you dwell eternally in my heart,
you know well, while you see it.
O memory, what more do you ask?
Ah, ah, that beloved image cannot
depart from my soul,
and its life being ended,
the cold corpse remains.
Thought, what do you want from me?
That I should sigh for my treasure?
He is dead. I constantly die,
because I cannot hope to see him again.Thought,
what do you want from me?
O, if you knew how often
I invoke the shade of my beloved
and show him the chains
that I keep twined about my heart!
Come, I say
and take me with you into the tomb,
in which you dwell.
For to see you in that darkness,
even Love itself wishes to come with me.
But since Heaven has not allowed me
the good fortune of dying,
I remain entombed with my desire
in that longed-for urn.
Che ben cieco esser suole
Chi non rimira il sole.
Già da tartarei Numi,
Su’l tergo alpestre di diserti monti,
A’ simulati fiumi,
A’ non veraci fonti
Scoprir ti vidder le ridenti sponde,
L’aure mentite, e l’onde
Risero, e fece alla natura scherno
Primavera d’inferno;
Or sol rimane al tormentoso core
Un inferno d’amore.
Caggia il magico Aprile, hor che si perde
Della svanita speme il fiore, e’l verde,
E fra tanti martiri,
Restin sol l’onde, e l’aure
Al mio doglioso pianto, a’ miei sospiri.
12. O mio diletto, o mio caro, o mio vago,
Ed è pur vero, ahi lassa,
Che mi t’involi, oh Dio?
Né più ti veggia in questa verde chiostra,
A questi avidi lumi
Far de la tua beltà gradita mostra?
Deh, quali empi costumi
Il cor ti trasformato?
E chi t’invoglia,
Là fra barbare turbe,
Le tenere sembianze, e’l molle volto
Porger di morte entr’all’horribil soglia?
E più non curi in questo seno accolto,
Tra questi mirti ombrosi
for he who is blind
does not gaze wondrously at the sun.
Once among the infernal gods,
from behind deserted alpine mountains,
at imaginary rivers,
and at illusory springs,
you were seen to discover the laughing shores.
The deceitful winds and the waves
laughed, and hellish springtime
made mockery of nature;
now all that remains for my tormented heart
is a hell of love.
May magical April fall, now that the flowers
and greenery of faded hope have been lost,
and among so many torments,
may only the waves and the winds remain
for my painful tears, for my sighs.
Oh my beloved, oh my dear one, oh my delight,
is it true, alas,
that you are deserting me, O God?
Shall I no longer see you in this green cloister,
as you display your pleasing beauty
to these eager eyes?
Alas, what wicked ways
have changed your heart?
And who has inspired you
to go among the barbarous hordes
and carry your delicate countenance and gentle face
through the horrible gates of death?
And do you no longer care, docile warrior,
to take your rest in this welcoming breast,
Lamento d’Armida Lament of Armida L’Incendio di Roma (Nerone) The Fire of Rome (Nero)
11. Dove fuggi, crudele? Whither are you fleeing, cruel one?
4. Sopra un’eccelsa torre, From atop a lofty tower
Crudele amato, e non più dolce amante? Cruel beloved, and sweet lover no longer?
Cui le nubi del cielo eran confine, surrounded by the clouds of heaven,
E con fugaci vele And with absconding sails
Delle mura latine Nero sat watching the blazing
Il dorso fendi all’ocean sonante? do you sunder the waves of the roaring ocean?
L’incendio a rimirar sedea Nerone; of the Latin walls;
Ahi dove? ahi come? ahi quale? Ah, whither? Ah, how? Ah, wherefore?
E, del Troiano scempio and recalled the example
Hor con piaga mortale Now, with mortal wound,
Rileggendo l’esempio, of the destruction of Troy,
Lasci costei, che abbandonata grida, Do you leave her, the wretched Armida,
Struggea quel cor di pietra the blood-thirsty heart of stone
La sventurata Armida? who, abandoned, cries out?
Di sangue sitibondo that destroyed the queen of the world (Rome)
Così mi sveglio? E’l sonno Do I thus awaken? And does sleep
La regina del mondo a suon di cetra. to the sound of the lyre.
Par che ancor mi lusinghi, ancor m’alletti, seem still to cajole me, and bewitch me,
Alle fiamme, alle strida, At the flames, at the screams,
E di torbide larve and offer to my mind confusing visions
Parea Roma l’inferno, Rome seemed like hell,
Offra a’la mente mia confusi oggetti? of murky spectres?
Pluto Nerone ed Acheronte il Tebro. Nero like Pluto, and the Tiber like Acheron.
O sonno, O de la morte O sleep, O horrid image Sol di gioia tutt’ebro, Drunk with joy,
Horrido simulacro, of death, Alle lagrime altrui Claudio ridea Claudius laughed at the tears of others,
O di mia vita O swift predator E con superbo scherno, and with haughty scorn,
Rapido predatore, of my life, Moltiplicando ai miseri l’affanno, adding woes to the wretched,
O di mia sorte O most pernicious forger Queste voci spargea l’empio tiranno: the wicked tyrant spoke these words:
Funestissimo fabro! of my fate!
‘Claudio rida e Roma avampi. ‘May Claudius laugh and Rome burn.
Ahi, sì m’affligge Alas, this dreadful departure
Quest’empia dipartita, indeed afflicts me, Ardi, Troia latina Burn, Latin Troy,
Onde m’avveggio whereby I realize Face de’ miei trofei. the torch of my trophies.
Fra quest’ombre, in quest’erbe, among these shadows, in these fields, Corrano superbi e gonfi May the torrents of the flames race,
In questo sasso, in these rocks, A sfidar la marina proud and swollen,
Che dal sonno a’la morte è un breve passo. that it is a brief step from sleep to death. Delle fiamme i torrenti to challenge the sea,
Et in pochi momenti and may the giants,
Voi, mal accorte luci, Meanwhile, you foolish eyes,
I colossi, i trofei di cento lustri the trophies of two hundred years,
Voi lagrimate intanto, you weep,
Cadano a’ cenni miei disfatti et arsi, fall broken and burnt at my command:
Già chiuse al sonno, ed hor aperte al pianto, once closed to sleep, and now open to weeping,
Che ne poté mostrarsi what could be a more beautiful spectacle
Morite homai, morite, now you die;
Spettacolo più bello a tiranniche luci: to tyrannous eyes:
Poiché più non vedete i chiari raggi, to what do you open, since without this beloved vision
Senza l’amata vista a che v’aprite? You no longer see the bright rays of light? Claudio rida e Roma abbruci! May Claudius laugh and Rome burn.
Cieche v’aprite, e sol mirate l’ombre, You open blindly, and see only shadows,

16 9
5. Voi, che in soglio di pace You who sit E d’ogni ricca preda, and every rich booty,
Adulati sedete, flattered on the throne of peace, Faccia all’etrusco mar lieto ritorno; return safely to the Etruscan sea;
Voi che di volto altiero, you with your proud faces Volgi le prore in qua, turn your prow this way,
Di plebe contumace do not fear the dangers of a rebellious mob, Che drizzaste a Livorno, you who were heading towards Livorno,
L’insidie non temete, e per soverchia and for excessive ease Rendimi Mustafà. give me back Mustafà.
Facilità d’impero despise the crowns of the empire
Le corone avvilite at the cathedra of fire Ma tu, lassa, non curi But you, alas, you ignore
In catedra di foco I read the lesson of tyranny Mie lagrimose strida! my teary cries!
Io leggo tirannia, prencipi, udite! O princes, hear me! Ahi, nemico del cielo, Ah, enemy of heaven,
Chi desia di salde temper fabricar He who wishes to protect his throne Non mai fortuna arrida may fortune never smile
L’usbergo ai troni, with a solid breastplate, All’ingiuste tue voglie on your unjust desires
S’armi d’ira e mai perdoni should arm himself with ire and never forgive, E tue cristiane spoglie and may your Christian remains
Creda poco e finga sempre. may he believe little and feign greatly. Preda sian di color che tu predasti, be the prey of those whom you have pillaged,
Ferri, veleni e lacci May irons, poisons and snares L’acqua in cui tant’osasti, may the waters, opposed by winds,
Traggano i rei di vita, ire d’impacci. restrain the wicked ones of life, the kings of Contrastata da’ venti, in which you were so daring,
encumbrances. Perfido, a te contrasti oppose you, O perfidious one,
Giove è solo al governo, Jupiter alone governs, E qual ti mostri a me, sordo a’ tuoi preghi, and just as you show yourself to me,
A lui cede ogni stella. each star yields to him. Barbaro, il mar t’anneghi! O barbarous one, may the seas,
Il suo volere è legge, His will is law, deaf to your prayers, drown you!
Punisce e non corregge; he punishes and does not correct;
E se talor favella, Ma, ciel, che dissi, oh Dio? But heaven, what have I said, O God?
and if at times he speaks, Scenda sopra di me l’augurio indegno May the terrible augur fall instead upon me,
Altra lingua non ha che tuoni e lampi. he has no other language than thunder and lightning. Poi che va l’alma mia dentro a quel legno! for my soul is inside that ship!
Claudio rida e Roma avampi. May Claudius laugh and Rome burn. Ah, che sia maledetto, Ah, since he cares so little
Poi che del mio dolor sì poco cura, for my pain
6. Sì, sì, viva Nerone Yes, yes, long live Nero, L’arabo Macometto cursed be the arab Mohammed
E per maggior suo vanto and for his own gain E ‘l suo seguace Alì, and his disciple Alì,
Ogni legge calpesti; may he trample every law; La Mecca il suol la copra may the earth cover Mecca
Copran di reggio manto may he cover theft and incest E cada sotto sopra and may Medina Talnabì
Le rapine, gl’incesti. with his regal cloak. Medina Talnabì! be turned upside down!
Britannico s’uccida, May the Briton kill himself, Sia maledetto il dì che Zaida nacque Cursed be the day that Zaida was born,
Ottavia s’avveleni, Octavia poison herself, Poi che prigion, per l’acque, for on the waters,
Il maestro si sveni, the pedant empty his veins, Cinto di ferro va imprisoned in a wall of iron,
Mora Poppea, sia da ferine squadre Poppea die, may the mother Mio caro Mustafà. goes my dear Mustafà.
Trucidata la madre, be murdered by feral packs, Fabio della Corgna
10 15
Lamento di Zaida
10. Spars’il crine e lagrimosa,
Dell’Egeo nell’ampie sponde,
Zaida bella e dolorosa, infelice
Grida all’aure e piange all’onde,
così dice:
Dove, dove n’andate
Quasi a volo per mar, tumide vele
Del pirata crudele
Che serve al re toscano?
Ahi, barbaro cristiano,
Volgi le prore in qua,
Rendimi Mustafà.
Rendil, superbo ed empio,
Ché non lice involar le spoglie a un dio:
Egli non è già mio, servo è d’Amore,
D’Amor che ‘l tutto regge
Et alla legge sua cede ogni legge.
Predator insolente,
Che con croci di foco ardi ogni lido,
Senti, deh, senti il grido
E ti mova il dolore
D’una mora che more in man d’Amore.
Così gonfin tue vele aure felici
Et obbedisca il mare
E s’increspi giocondo alle tue voglie,
Così per te si spoglie
Bisanzio invitto e del turchesco impero
Prostrato ogni guerriero
Alla tua spada ceda,
E tu, già carco di piropi e d’oro
14
Lament of Zaida Gema il Lazio, arda Roma, ingombri il tutto may Lazio groan, Rome burn, may everything be
Loosening her hair tearfully Foco, sangue, furor, spavento, e lutto. filled with fire,
while standing on the wide shores of the Aegean, La mia raggion di stato blood, furor, fear and mourning.
the beautiful and sorrowful Zaida, È la forza e l’inganno, My raison d’État
cries out unhappily to the winds Ché, s’io naqui privato, is force and deceit,
and weeps to the waves, saying: Saprò morir tiranno. and, though I was not born to it,
Vuo’ tributi di pianti, I will know how to die as a tyrant.
Where, where are you going, Incensi di sospiri, Despite weeping tributes
almost flying through the sea E chi m’odia rimiri and sighing adulation,
with the bloated sails Pria della notte mia la propria sera. he who despise me will see
of the cruel pirate who serves the Tuscan king? his own dusk before my night.
Ah, barbarous Christian,
turn the prow this way, Claudio rida, e ‘l mondo pera.’ May Claudius laugh and the world perish.’
give me back Mustafà. Con sì barbari accenti, With such barbarous words,
Give him up, O proud and wicked one, Della tragedia sua non ben presago, and unaware of his impending doom
for you must not steal the spoils of a god; L’empio mostro fremea; the wicked monster shuddered.
he was never mine, he serves Love, Ma nel banco d’Astrea At the bank of Astraea,
Love which governs everything, Debito non si fa che non si paghi. no debts go unpaid.
and to its law all other laws yield.
Insolent predator,
you who with crosses of fire burn every shore,
hear, oh hear my wailing, Giovanni Filippo Apolloni
and may you be moved by the pain
of a Moorish woman who dies at the hands of Love.
May prosperous winds fill your sails,
may the sea obey you
and bend merrily to your will;
may invincible Byzantium
render its riches to you, and may every warrior
of the prostrate Turkish Empire
surrender to your sword;
and may you, laden with garnets and gold
11
Nisus et Euryalus, Epilogus
Chorus
7. Purpureus veluti cum flos succisus arratro
Languescit moriens lassove papavera collo
Demisere caput pluvia cum forte gravantur.
Virgilius
At Nisus ruit in medios solumque per omnis
Volcentem petit, in solo Volcentem moratur.
Quem circum glomerati hostes hinc comminis atque
Hinc proturbant instat non setius ac rotat ensem
Fulmineum, donec Rutuli clamantis in ore
Condidit adverso et moriens animam abstuli hosti.
Tum super exanimum sese proiecit amicum cofossus,
Placidaque ibi demum morte quievit.
Chorus
Fortunati ambo! Si quid mea carmina possunt,
Cantus primus
Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet imperiumque Pater Romanus habeat.
Chorus
Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet imperiumque Pater Romanus habebit.
12
Nisus and Euryalus, Epilogue
Chorus
He is like a bright flower scythed by the plough
bowing as it dies, or a poppy weighed down
by a chance shower, bending its weary head.
Virgil
But Nisus rushed at them, seeking Volcens
above all, intent on Volcens alone.
The enemy gathered round him, to drive him off
in hand-to-hand combat. He attacked nonetheless,
whirling his sword like lightning, until he buried it
full in the face of the shrieking Rutulian, and, dying,
robbed his enemy of life. Then, pierced through, he
threw himself on the lifeless body of his friend, and
found peace at last in the calm of death.
Chorus
Happy pair! If my poetry has the power,
First soprano
no day will erase you from time’s memory
while the House of Aeneas lives beside the Capitol’s
immobile stone, and a Roman leader rules the
empire.
Chorus
No day will erase you from time’s memory
while the House of Aeneas lives beside the Capitol’s
immobile stone, and a Roman leader shall rule the
empire.
Virgilius
Interea pavidam volitans pennata per urbem
Nuntia fama ruit, matrisque allabitur aures
Euryali: ac subitus misere calor ossa reliquit.
Evolat infelix, caelum de hinc questibus implet.
Mater Euryali
8. ‘Hunc ego te Euryale aspicio?
Tu ne illa senectae Sera meae requies?
Potuisti linquere solam Crudelis?
Nec re sub tanta pericula missum
Affari extremum miserae data copia matri?
Heu, terra ignota canibus data preda Latinis,
Alitibusque jaces?
Nec te rua funera mater
Produxi, pressive oculos, aut vulnera lavi
Veste tegens: tibi quam noctes sestina, diesque
Urgebam, et tela curas solabar aniles.
Quo sequar aut que nunc artus?
Avulsaque membra, Et funus lacerum tellus habet?
Hoc mihi de te Nate refers?
hoc sum terraque marique secuta?
Figite me, si qua est pietas; in me omnia tela
Coniicite, o Rutuli: me primam absumite ferro.
Aut te, magne Pater Divum, miserere, tuoque
Invisum hoc detrude caput sub Tartara telo:
Quando aliter nequeo crudelem abrumpere vitam.’
Virgil
13
Virgil
Meanwhile winged Rumour, flying through the
anxious town,
sped the news, and stole to the ears of Euryalus’s
mother.
And suddenly all warmth left her helpless bones;
the wretched woman rushed out and sought the
ramparts.
Mother of Euryalus
‘Is it you I see, Euryalus? You who brought peace
at last to my old age? How could you bring yourself
to leave me alone, cruel child? Why did you not give
your mother a final goodbye before being sent into
so much danger?
Ah, you lie here in a strange land, given as prey to
the carrion birds and dogs of Latium! I, your mother,
did not escort you in funeral procession, or close
your eyes, or bathe your wounds, or shroud you
with the robes I laboured at night and day for you,
soothing the cares of old age at the loom.
Where shall I go? What earth now holds your body,
your torn limbs, your mangled corpse? My son,
is this what you bring home to me? Is this why I
followed you by land and sea? O Rutulians, if you
have feelings, pierce me: hurl all your spears at me,
destroy me above all with your steel; or you, great
father of the gods, pity me, and with your lightning
bolt, hurl this hated being down to Tartarus, since I
can shatter this cruel life no other way.’
RELIQUIE DI ROMA: III
 DESTINO
CLASSICS
RELIQUIE DI ROMA III:
Mortale, che pensi?
1 Mortale, che pensi? Luigi Rossi
2 Deh, memoria Giacomo Carissimi
3 Plorate, filii Israel Giacomo Carissimi
4-6 L’Incendio di Roma Alessandro Stradella
ATALANTE • ERIN HEADLEY
RELIQUIE DI ROMA III: Mortale, che pensi?

ATALANTE • ERIN HEADLEY

RELIQUIE DI ROMA III: Mortale, che pensi?
7-8 Nisus et Euryalus Domenico Mazzocchi
9 Sonata XXIX,Terzo tono Giovanni Antonio Leone
10 Lamento di Zaida Luigi Rossi
11-13 Lamento d’Armida Marco Marazzoli
14 A piè del sanguinoso tronco Anonymous
15 Lagrime amare Domenico Mazzocchi
16 Sinfonia ‘Il Damone’ Alessandro Stradella

ATALANTE
Erin Headley

Atalante is funded by the AHRC and the University of Southampton

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