Händel: E partirai, mia vita? HWV 111a (1/2) - Pabyan

E partirai, mia vita? HWV 111a

Italian cantata for soprano and basso continuo

Text: Anonymous

Music: Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)

Composed: Rome, 1707?
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Video part 1
Recitativo: E partirai, mia vita?
Aria: Vedrò teco ogni gioia
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Amanda Pabyan, soprano

Lorenzo Cavasanti, bass recorder
Magdalena Mårding, violoncello
Paola Erdas, harpsichord

Recorded in November 2003
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Nota: I have removed the final bar of the B section of the first aria (on the picture that you can see at 5:00). It contained a low G (dotted minim) at the bass, which is redundant with the one (crotchet) that starts the A section, and is not performed in this recording; it does not appear either in the copy of a (non-autograph) manuscript that I have.
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Recitativo

E partirai, mia vita?
Né in quel del tuo partir crudo momento
farà l'anima mia da me partita?
Ah! se un duro tormento,
nel ripensarvi sol, quasi m'uccide,
che farà quel dolore,
ch'allora (ohimè!) per gli occhi miei
con tutti gli strali suoi
mi scenderà nel core?

Aria

Vedrò teco ogni gioia, ogni bene,
da me lunge rivolgere il piè;

e gl'affanni, gli strazi, le pene,
tutti insieme restarsi con me.
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Translation (by Terence Best):

Recitativo

And will you leave me, O my life?
And will not my soul leave me
in that cruel moment of your departing?
Ah! if merely thinking of a harsh torment
almost kills me,
what will be the effect of that grief,
which (alas!) will pierce my eyes
and with all of its darts
fall on my heart?

Aria

I shall see all joy, all pleasure,
go with you far away from me;

and grief, torture and pain
remain all together with me.
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Marc D.