Music I love: Se tu m'ami

Some find my taste in music laughable, or baffling, or strange, or pedestrian. It's probably all of those, depending on the person doing the critique. But it's mine, and I take delight in it. I want to share examples of the music I love, with the thought that maybe others will share some of the pleasure I have found, or at least get a good laugh.

Se tu m'ami, se sospiri (pronounced more or less "Say two Mommy, say so speedy", better translated as "If you love me, if you sigh") is a poem from the early 18th century by Paolo Antonio Rolli. It was set to music in the late 19th century by Alessandro Parisotti, who for some reason attributed the composition to Giovanni Pergolesi. Why? Perhaps because Pergolesi lived around the time that Rolli wrote the poem, and Parisotti thought a spurious attribution would give his melody more credibility; perhaps because the melody evoked a more Baroque feel that seemed out of place in Parisotti's late Romantic era; perhaps something else entirely. I have no clue.

Here is a live version by Cecilia Bartoli.

The text of the poem is as follows (the parenthetical "tu" is added in the sung version to make it scan correctly with the music):

Se tu m'ami, se (tu) sospiri

Sol per me, gentil pastor,

Ho dolor de' tuoi martiri,

Ho diletto del tuo amor,

Ma se pensi che soletto

Io ti debba riamar,

Pastorello, sei soggetto

Facilmente a t'ingannar.

Bella rosa porporina

Oggi Silvia sceglierà,

Con la scusa della spina

Doman poi la sprezzerà.

Ma degli uomini il consiglio

Io per me non seguirò.

Non perché mi piace il giglio

Gli altri fiori sprezzerò.

Here's my attempt at a poetic translation:

If you love me, sighing deep

For me alone, dear shepherd boy,

In your suff'rings I take pity;

In your love I take great joy.

But you think my love I'll give

To you alone? This you believe?

Foolish shepherd! See how quick

And easily you self-deceive!

Silvia may likely choose

The pretty purple rose today,

But, lamenting thorns, tomorrow

That same rose she'll cast away.

For myself, I see no reason

Men's vain counsel I must take;

Just because I love the lily,

Other flow'rs I'll not forsake.

Listen to how the music conforms to the words. A beautiful, longing, lyric melody accompanies her initial declaration of love for the shepherd boy. But then, when she asks if he then expects her to return his love only to him, the music changes; she laughs! Unmistakably, the music changes to a tone of scornful laughter at the naive shepherd who expects fidelity.

I think that's just plain amazing. I don't understand how people possess such ability to compose music that fits like a glove over a hand -- how a simple tune can first communicate love and longing, then switch so effortlessly to mocking laughter. Music is not a language I speak, but it is a language I understand to some extent. I am left in awe at such offhand displays of genius.

The song itself doesn't express a particularly Latter-day-Saintesque sentiment about love and commitment, of course. It seems to subscribe more to the "Woman is fickle" point of view. But it does make for a pretty aria.