4a.
Me quoque subtrahit illa sopori
invigilareque cogit amori.
4b.
Tela Cupidinis aurea gesto,
igne cremantia corda molesto.
5a.
Quod michi datur,
expaveo,
quodque negatur,
hoc aveo
mente severa.
5b.
Que michi cedit,
hanc caveo;
que non obedit,
huic faveo
sumque re vera
6.
Infelix, seu peream
seu relever per eam.
que cupit, hanc fugio,
que fugit, hanc cupio;
plus renuo debitum,
plus feror in vetitum;
plus licet illibitum,
plus libet illicitum.
7a.
O metuenda
Dione decreta!
o fugienda
venena secreta,
fraude verenda
doloque repleta,
7b.
Docta furoris
in estu punire,
quos dat amoris
amara subire,
plena livoris
urentis et ire!
8a.
Hinc michi metus
abundat,
hinc ora fletus
inundat,
8b.
Hinc michi pallor
in ore
est, quia fallor
amore.
English Translation:
1.
Phoebus in his golden car
Lights the firmament,
And with rosy glows imparts
His shaftings down to men
Cybele in elegance arrayed
With her flowering face
To Bacchus gives a fresh bouquet
While Phoebus beams with grace.
2.
With the help of winds that blend
All throughout the grove,
Little birds their beauties lend
As they chant of love
Philomel now renews her blame
Of Tereus for wrongs,
Joining the blackbird in refrains
Adapted for their songs
3.
Now Dione’s
Chorus joyously
Zealously answers
Their various chants.
And now Dione
In jest and in agony
Lightens, then tightens
Her worshipers’ hearts.
4.
Me too she pulls
Away from my sleep.
Me too she rules:
“Now vigil keep!”
Cupid’s golden shaft
I’m forced to bear;
Ire-filled fires
Through my body tear!
5.
Whatever I’m plied
I recant.
For what I’m denied
I will pant
In a mind severely swayed.
When a thing is ceded me,
I waver:
Yet whoever won’t heed me
I favor:
About me you can truly say:
6.
I’m faithful: I’ll go to my grave
For her, or else or her I’m saved.
If she wants me, I’m all through
If she taunts me, I pursue.
The more I’ve rejected the lawful,
The more I deflect toward the awful.
The more the inspiced one’s allowed me,
The more the unlicensed one cows me.
7.
O Dione’s
Baleful decrees!
Poison to flee
Working inwardly,
Fearsome lechery,
Full of treachery.
Mistress of might,
Whose torture’s a fright,
Your serfs you requite
With bitterness’ bite,
Full of all slights
And fiery spite!
8.
And so in me a fear is swelling,
And down my cheeks
The tears come welling.
And so my face
Looks frayed and pale
It is: in love I’ve been
Betrayed, I fail.
A “crack ensemble” (New Yorker) with “a taste for the dramatic” (New York Times), breathing life into classical music by carefully and lovingly curating rarely-heard works from every chapter of music history and reveling in how it all fits together.
"A vibrant and colorful reading" (NYTimes) by Cantata Profana of Matthew Welch's mesmerizing compositions, live at NY's iconic downtown venue The Stone. Cantata Profana
Violinist Johnny Gandelsman commissioned work from a wide variety of composers for this complex and diverse portrait of the U.S. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 5, 2022