So many of you probably know that I have studied music in my mundane life. Naturally then it probably comes as no surprise that I started dabbling in some period and period-recreation musics. Here is one, a setting of a poem by Petrarch. It is a a dance called an “estampie” (for the stomping dance steps). It alternates between short and long iambs, and were very common in the Mediterranean nations in the 13th and 14th Centuries.
ITALIAN
Vergognando talor ch’ancor si taccia,
donna, per me vostra bellezza in rima,
ricorro al tempo ch’i’ vi vidi prima,
tal che null’altra fia mai che mi piaccia.
Ma trovo peso non da le mie braccia,
né ovra da polir colla mia lima:
però l’ingegno che sua forza extima
ne l’operatïon tutto s’agghiaccia.
Piú volte già per dir le labbra apersi,
poi rimase la voce in mezzo ‘l pecto:
ma qual sòn poria mai salir tant’alto?
Piú volte incominciai di scriver versi:
ma la penna et la mano et l’intellecto
rimaser vinti nel primier assalto.
ENGLISH
Ashamed sometimes that your beauty,
lady, is still silent in my verses,
I recall that time when I first saw it,
such that nothing else could ever please me.
But I find the weight too great for my shoulder,
a work not to be polished by my skill:
the more my wit exercises its force
the more its whole action grows cold.
Many times my lips have opened to speak,
but my voice is stilled in my chest:
who is he who could climb so high?
Many times I’ve begun to scribble verses:
but the pen, the hand, and the intellect
fell back defeated at their first attempt.