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Medieval Music Database

Che cosa F quest', Amor, che 'l ciel produce
Three-voice ballata by Francesco Landini

Sources

Florence: Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Palatino 87 (Squarcialupi Codex), fol. 163 (3/3); Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Panciatichiano 26, fol. 36v-37 (3/2).

Facsimiles

1. Il codice musicale Panciatichi 26 della Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze, facsimile edition by F. Alberto Gallo, Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1981, no. 70 (FP).
2. Il Codice Squarcialupi edited by F. Alberto GALLO, Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1992.

Editions

1. The Works of Francesco Landini, edited by Leonard Ellinwood, Cambridge/Massachusetts: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1939, p. 186.
2. Der Squarcialupi-Codex Pal. 87 der Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana zu Florenz, edited by Johannes Wolf and H. Albrecht, Lippstadt: Kistner and Siegel, 1955, p. 295.
3. The Works of Francesco Landini, edited by Leo Schrade, Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1958. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century IV, p. 164.

Text Editions

1. CORSI, Giuseppe. Rimatori del Trecento, Turin: Unione tipografica editrice torinese, 1969, p. 1058.
2. CORSI, Giuseppe. Poesie musicali del Trecento, Bologna: Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1970, p. 144.

Literature

1. FERRARI, S. Madrigali e ballate del secolo decimoquarto, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1903.
2. FISCHER, Kurt von. 'On the technique, origin and evolution of Italian Trecento music', Musical Quarterly, XLVII (1961), p. 54.
3. FISCHER, Kurt von. 'Les compositions à trois voix chez les compositeurs du Trecento', L'Ars nova italiana del Trecento I: Certaldo 1959, 1962, p. 28.
4. BAUMANN, Dorothea. Die dreistimmige italienische Lied-Satztechnik im Trecento, Baden-Baden: Valentin Koerner, 1979. Sammlung musikwissenschaftlicher Abhandlung no. 64, passim.

Text

Che cosa F questa, Amor, che 'l ciel produce.
per far pi· manifesta la suo luce?

Ell'F tanto vezosa, onesta e vaga.
legiadra e graziosa, adorna e bella.
ch'a chi la guarda subito 'l cor piaga
con gli ochi be', che lucon pi· che stella.
E a cui lice star fiso a vedella.
tutta gioia e virt· in sT conduce.

Ancor l'alme beate, che in ciel sono.
guardan questa perfetta e gentil cosa.
dicendo: - [Quando] fia che 'n questo trono
segga costei, dov'ogni ben si posa? -
E qual nel sommo Idio ficcar gli ochi osa.
vede come Esso ogni virt· in lei induce.

Translation

What is this thing, Love, which Heaven brings forth
better to manifest its light?

She is so pretty, fine and lovely.
fair and graceful, elegant and beautiful.
as to wound at once the heart of whoever looks at her.
with her beautiful eyes brighter than a star.
And she brings in herself joy and fulfilment
to whomever is allowed to gaze upon her.

Even the blessed souls in Heaven
look at such a perfect and noble thing and say:
"When shall she come to sit in this throne
which is the seat of all goodness?"
And whoever dares to fix his eyes upon God in the highest
sees how He inspires her with every virtue.
Text revision and translation © Giovanni Carsaniga

Content Approved by: MMDB Director
Last updated: Wednesday, 19 March 2003

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