1. |
Eva ... Adagio
04:40
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Hec insuper, tam iure originis quam incolatus, paradisi civis facta et amicta splendore nobis incognito, dum una cum viro loci delitiis frueretur avide, invidus sue felicitatis hostis nepharia illi suasione ingessit animo, si adversus unicam sibi legem a Deo impositam iret, in ampliorem gloriam iri posse. Cui dum levitate feminea, magis quam illi nobisque oportuerit, crederet seque stolide ad altiora conscensuram arbitraretur, ante alia, blanda quadam suggestione, virum flexibilem in sententiam suam traxit; et in legem agentes, arboris boni et mali poma dum gustassent, temerario ausu seque genusque suum omne futurum ex quiete et eternitate in labores anxios et miseram mortem et ex delectabili patria inter vepres glebas et scopulos deduxere.
Eve, furthermore, became a citizen of Paradise as much by right of origin as of residence,
and she was cloaked in a radiance unknown to us. While she and her husband were eagerly enjoying the garden’s pleasures, the Enemy, envious of her happiness, impressed upon her with perverted eloquence the belief that she could attain greater glory if she disobeyed the one law that God had laid upon her. With a woman’s fickleness, Eve believed him more than was good for her or for us; foolishly, she thought that she was about to rise to greater heights. Her first step was to flatter her pliant husband into her way of thinking. Then they broke the law and tasted the apple of the Tree of Good and Evil. By this rash, foolhardy act they brought themselves and all their future descendants from peace and immortality to anxious labor and wretched death, and from a delightful country to thorns, clods, and rocks.
English translation by Virginia Brown.
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2. |
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Qua suscepta, ad successionem consequendam, vicissim finitimis adherebant et, cum concepissent, evestigio revertebantur in sedes. Tandem qui nascebantur mares occidebantur illico, virgines ad militiam cum diligentia servabantur, tenellis igne, seu medicamine alio, sublato incremento mammille dextere, ne sagittandi exercitium impediretur adultis;
sinixtra linquebatur intacta ut ex illa nutrimenta porrigerent nascituris; ex pro Amazonum vocabulum sortite sunt.
Afterwards, in order to assure the royal succession, they took turns sleeping with men of the neighboring regions and returned home as soon as they became pregnant. Male offsprings were killed immediately after birth, and females were carefully brought up for military service. The right breast of very young girls was withered by means of fire or medicine, so that it would not grow and hinder them in the use of the bow during adult life. The left breast, however, was left unharmed, so that they would be able to suckle their future children. This practice gave rise to the name ‘Amazon.’
English translation by Virginia Brown.
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3. |
Medea ... Sostenuto
04:58
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Sed, ne omiserim, non omnis oculis prestanda licentia est. Eis enim spectantibus, splendores cognoscimus, invidiam introducimus, concupiscentias attrahimus omnes; eis agentibus, excitatur avaritia, laudatur formositas, damnatur squalor et paupertas indigne; et cum indocti sint iudices et superficiebus rerum tantummodo credant, sacris ignominiosa, ficta veris et anxia letts persepe preficiunt; et dum abicienda commendant et brevi blandientia tractu, inficiunt nonnunquam animos turpissima labe. Hi nescii a formositate, etiam inhonesta, a lascivis gesticulationibus, a petulantia iuvenili mordacibus uncis capiuntur trahuntur rapiuntur tenenturque; et, cum pectoris ianua sint, per eos menti nuntios mictit libido, per eos cupido inflat suspiria et cecos incendit ignes, per eos emictit cor gemitus et affectus suos ostendit illecebres.
I should not omit this observation: we must not give too much freedom to our eyes. Their wandering gaze dazzles us, makes us envious, and excites us to concupiscence. And it is by means of the eyes that avarice is aroused; beauty praised; squalor and poverty unworthily condemned. Since, however, the eyes are unlearned judges and trust only the outward appearance of things, they often prefer the shameful to the sacred, the false to the truth, and troubles to blessings. When the eyes praise things that should be condemned and whose pleasure is fleeting, they sometimes stain the soul in a shameful way. The eyes are unwittingly captivated, attracted, seized, and held fast in the sharp hooks of beauty (especially dishonorable beauty), of lascivious gestures, of youthful wantonness. The eyes are the gateway of the spirit: through them lust sends messages to the mind; through them love sighs and lights hidden fires; through them the heart sends out its groans and reveals its seductive intentions.
English translation by Virginia Brown.
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4. |
Medusa ... Largo
06:10
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Infelix auri possessio est; quod, si lateat, possessori nullius est comodi; si fulgeat, mille concupiscentium nascuntur insidie; et si stent violentorum manus, non cessant possidentis anxie cure; fugatur enim quies animi, subtrahitur somnus, timor ingeritur, fides minuitur, augetur suspicio et omnis breviter vite usus impeditur misero; si vero casu quocunque pereat, anxietatibus excarnificatur, pauper factus avarus, laudat liberalis, ridet invidus, consolatur inops et omne vulgus dolentis canit in fabulam.
The possession of gold brings unhappiness. If the gold is kept hidden, it is of no use to the owner; if displayed, it gives rise to a thousand plots of the part of those who covet it. Even if violent persons do not lay their hands on it, the worries and cares of the owner do not cease. His peace of mind is gone, he loses sleep, falls prey to fear, loses his sense of trust, becomes suspicious - in short, the wretched fellow has a hard time enjoying life. If by some mischance he loses his wealth, the miser, now a pauper, is tormented by anxiety while the gentleman calls him fortunate, the envious man laughs, the poor man offers consolation, and the vulgar all turn the tale of his grief into song.
English translation by Virginia Brown.
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5. |
Iola ... Molto allegro
02:44
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Blandus quippe incautis sese offert et placidus intuitu primo; et si recipiatur spe leta, primo delectat ingressu, suadet ornatus corporum, mores, compositos, facetias urbicas choreas cantus et carmina, ludos et commessationes atque similia. Postquam vero approbatione stolida totum occupaverit hominem et, libertate subacta, mentibus catenis iniectis et vinculis, differentibus preter spem votis, suspiria excitat, premit in artes ingenia, nullum discrimen faciens inter virtutes et vitia, dummodo consequatur optatum, in numero ponens hostium quecunque obstantia.
To the unwary, love presents itself at first sight as gentle and caressing, If love is received joyously and happily, it gives pleasure at its first appearance and encourages us in attractive dress, refined behavior, sophisticated witticism, dancing, song, verse, games, conviviality, and other things of this kind. But after love has completely subdued a man through his own foolish consent, taken away his freedom, chained and bound his mind; when desires have been deferred beyond hope; then love awakens sighs and implants cunning stratagems in our thoughts; it does not discriminate between vices and virtues so long as it achieves its goal - all the while numbering among its enemies any obstacles it may encounter.
English translation by Virginia Brown.
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6. |
Ilia ... Largo
05:17
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O ridiculum stolidum! Ignorant ociosam feminam Veneri militare et summe publicis invidere meretriculis earumque cellas suis preponere claustris; et dum secularia coniugia spectant,
vestes ornatusque varios, choreas et festos dies, se, nulla coniugii habita experientia, vere et ab ipso vite huius ingressu viduas deflent, fortunam suam, parentum animas, victas et claustra tota execrantur mente, nec alibi solature mesta precordia recurrunt quam in meditationem quo pacto in fugam carcerem erumpere possint aut saltem intromictere mechos, incestu querentes agere furtim quod palam illis sublatum est fecisse coniugio.
How ridiculous and foolish! These people do not know that an idle woman serves Venus and is consumed with envy of the public prostitutes, whose brothels she prefers to her own cloister. When nuns see the weddings of secular women, their dresses and various ornaments, dances and festivals, and realize that they themselves will have no experience of marriage, they feel sorry for themselves. As though widowed on the doorstep of life, they curse mightily their destiny, the souls of their parents, their own veils, and their cloisters. As consolation for the sadness in their hearts, their sole recourse is to plan how they can escape from their prison or at least bring their lovers inside, trying to take secretly the sexual pleasure whose open enjoyment in marriage has been denied them.
English translation by Virginia Brown.
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7. |
Sappho ... Moderato
04:09
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Verum—si danda fides est—uti feliciter studuit, sic infelici amor capta est. Nam, seu facetia seu decore seu alia gratia, cuiusdam iuvenis dilectione, imo intolerabili occupata peste, cum ille desiderio suo non esset accomodus, ingemiscens in eius obstinatam duritiem, dicunt versus flebiles cecinisse; quos ego elegos fuisse putassem, cum tali sint elegi attributi materie, ni legissem ab ea, quasi preteritorum carminum formis spretis, novum adinventum genus, diversis a ceteris incedens pedibus, quod adhuc ex eius nomine saphycum appellatur.
But, if the story is true, Sappho was as unhappy in love as she was happy in her poetic craft. Either because of his wit or good looks or because of some other charm she became infatuated with a young man (better still, fell prey to an intolerable pestilence). He, however, did not reciprocate her passion. Lamenting his stubborn resistance, Sappho is said to have composed mournful verses. I should have thought that these would be elegiac distichs, since they are appropriate to such subjects, had I not read that Sappho scorned the verse forms used by her predecessors and wrote a new kind of verse in a completely different meter which is still called ‘Sapphic’ after her.
English translation by Virginia Brown.
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Thomas Oboe Lee Cambridge, Massachusetts
Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, he studied composition at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College since 1990. ... more
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