Text & Translation
Qual musico gentil
Italian source:
Torquato Tasso
Altamente la lingua al canto snodi;
All’armonia gli animi altrui prepara
Con dolci ricercate in bassi modi:
Così costei, che nella doglia amara
Già tutte non oblia l’arti e le frodi;
Fa di sospir breve concento in prima,
Per dispor l’alma in cui le voci imprima.
As a refined musician
translation ©
Emiliano Ricciardi & Amyrose McCue Gill
And high his tongue he loosens in song,
To harmony the souls of others he prepares
With sweet improvisations in low modes:
Thus she, who in bitter pain
Still does not forget all artifices and deceits,
Makes of sighing a brief concord first,
To dispose the soul upon which she would impress her tones.
Reprinted with the kind permission of the Tasso in Music Project
Qual musico gentil
Italian source:
Torquato Tasso
As a refined musician
source:
Emiliano Ricciardi & Amyrose McCue Gill
Qual musico gentil, prima che chiara
As a refined musician, before clear
Altamente la lingua al canto snodi;
And high his tongue he loosens in song,
All’armonia gli animi altrui prepara
To harmony the souls of others he prepares
Con dolci ricercate in bassi modi:
With sweet improvisations in low modes:
Così costei, che nella doglia amara
Thus she, who in bitter pain
Già tutte non oblia l’arti e le frodi;
Still does not forget all artifices and deceits,
Fa di sospir breve concento in prima,
Makes of sighing a brief concord first,
Per dispor l’alma in cui le voci imprima.
To dispose the soul upon which she would impress her tones.
