Sources used for collation: Vi-1587; Am-1587; AnGa-1593; Sc-heir-1603; AnGa-1605
Other sources: Ph-1594; Ka-1608; Ph-1610; 15899; 15934; 159713; 16058; 16059; 161412; 162814; 159724 (English contrafactum So sayth my faire and beautifull)
Measures | Sources – Voices | Variants |
---|---|---|
2 | Vi-1587 – C |
a3; previously c4, then corrected |
Lines | Sources – Voices | Variants |
---|---|---|
4 | e noa si può | |
7 | begl’occh’il miro | |
8 | tocar | |
8 | poo tocar | |
8 | posso tocca |
Dice la mia bellissima Licori
Giovanni Battista Guarini
Madrigal: XaABbccDd
Dice la mia bellissima Licori, | My beautiful Lycoris tells me, | |
Quando talor favello | when I talk to her about Love, | |
Seco d’Amor, ch’Amor è un spiritello | that Love is a spirit | |
Che vaga e vola e non si può tenere, | that wanders, flies and cannot be held, | |
5 | Né toccar, né vedere. | nor touched, nor seen. |
E pur se gl’occhi giro, | If I turn my eyes, though, | |
Nei suoi begl’occhi il miro, | I see it in her fair eyes, | |
Ma no ’l posso toccar, ché sol si tocca | but I cannot touch it, since it can only be touched | |
In quella bella bocca. | on those beautiful lips. |
The translations are partially indebited to the ones by Barbara Reynolds in Luca Marenzio, The Complete Six Voice Madrigals. Vol IV: The Fourth Book of Madrigal for Six Voices, ed. John Steele and Suzanne Court (New York: Gaudia, 2002).
Rime de diversi, ed. Licino (Venezia, 1587): also in Rime del molto illustre Signor Cavaliere Battista Guarini (Venice: Ciotti, 1598), 96v (available online as of September 2024).