"Possente Spirto", from the opera 'L'Orfeo' (1607), by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
José Pietri-Coimbre, Orfeo (baritone)
Claire Smith-Bermingham and Marina Fragoulis, baroque violins
Jordan Brown, baroque cello
Christopher Baum and Jimmy Mora, lutes
Francisco Miranda, organ
Friday, January 8, 2016
LiveSOUNDS Concert Series
Third Street Music School
New York City, New York, USA
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ORFEO
Possente Spirto e formidabil nume,
senza cui far passaggio à l' altra riva
alma da corpo sciolta in van presume.
Non viv'io no, che poi di vita e priva
Mia cara sposa il cor non e piu meco
E senza cor com'esser puo ch'io viva?
A lei volt' ho 'l camin per l' aër cieco,
a l' Inferno non già, ch' ovunque stassi
tanta bellezza il paradiso hà seco.
Orfeo son io che d' Euridice i passi
segue per queste tenebrose arene,
ove già mai per uom mortal non vassi.
O de le luci mie luci serene
S'un vostro sguardo può tornarmi in vita,
Ahi, chi nega il conforto à le mie pene?
ORPHEUS
O powerful spirit, awe-inspiring prescence
without whose acquiescence no bodiless soul
can make the passage to the farther shore:
Alive I am not, for as my beloved bride is dead,
my heart is no longer with me,
and with no heart how can I be alive?
For her I took the passageway through pitch-darkness,
though not to Hell, for everywhere it goes,
so great a beauty creates Paradise.
Orpheus am I, who Euridice's steps am tracing
through these dark and dismal ways
where never foot of man has trod before.
O clear eyes, the light of my own eyes,
if one glance from you can restore my life,
ah, who denies my grief this consolation?
