Barbara Strozzi: L'Amante modesto

Pegasus Early Music and NYS Baroque present
Venice
Barbara Strozzi: L' Amante modesto
Shari Alise Wilson, soprano; Debi Wong, mezzo-soprano;
Andrew Fuchs, Jonas Budris, tenors; Steven Hrycelak, bass;
Emily Walhout, viola da gamba; Naomi Gregory, harpsichord;
Michael Leopold, baroque guitar; Deborah Fox, theorbo
recorded live in concert November 4, 2018

L’Amante Modesto
Volano frettolosi i giorni e presto
un secolo sarà che t’amo,
o Clori, né de’ miei lunghi ossequiosi amori
un picciol guiderdone anco ti’ho chiesto.
Amante son, ma candido e modesto;
voglio che taciturno il cor t’adori
e voglio disfogar gl’interni ardori
col muto fiato d’un sospir honesto.
Godati chi di me più fortunato
nacque ai diletti impuri.
A me sol basta
saper dalla mia Clori esser amato.
Così mai non guerreggia e non contrasta
rivalità;
diverso è il nostro stato:
egli t’ama impudica, io t’amo casta.
(Giulio Strozzi)

The Modest Lover
The days fly by in a hurry, and soon
it will have been a century that I've loved you,
O Clori, and yet in my unceasing subservient
love I've not asked for even a small reward.
I'm a lover, but purehearted and modest;
I want my heart to adore you silently,
and to relieve my internal burning
with the silent breath of an honest sigh.
Let the one enjoy you who is more fortunate
than me, who elicits licentious pleasures.
To me it is enough only
to know that I am loved by my Clori.
Thus our rivalry is without contention
or quarrel;
our conditions differ:
he loves you lasciviously, I love you sincerely.
~translation Richard Kolb