Lagrime Amare - Bitter Tears
Lagrime amare all'anima, che langue,
Soccorrete pietose: il dente rio
Già v'impresse d'Inferno il crudel'angue,
E mortifera piaga, ohime, v'aprio.
With pity, bitter tears bring comfort forth
unto my soul that languishes. Alas!
The wicked fang of Hell's most cruel snake
has struck and opened up a deadly wound.
Ben vuol sanarla il Redentore esangue,
Mà indarno sparso il pretioso rio
Sarà per lei di quel beato sangue
Senza il doglioso humor del pianto mio.
Though the Redeemer's wounds pour out His blood,
this wound is one that He would gladly cure,
and yet the river of His precious blood
would flow in vain if sep'rate from my tears.
Su dunque amare lagrime correte
A gl'occhi ogn'hor da questo cor pentito,
Versate pur che di voi sole hò sete,
So, bitter and unlucky tears that run,
at every hour, to eyes from heart contrite,
poured down because I thirst for you alone,
Se tanto il liquor vostro è in Ciel gradito,
Dirò di voi che voi quell'acque sete,
Ch'uscir col sangue da Giesù ferito.
if your outpouring pleases Heaven so,
then I will say you are those waters which
mixed with the blood that flowed from Jesus' side.
The sonnet "Lagrime Amare" was set to music by Domenico Mazzocchi (1592-1665), published in Rome in 1638 on pages 174-178 of Mazzocchi's Dialoghi e Sonetti. Beautiful recordings may be found here and here. Mazzocchi attribution "Del Signor Cardinale Ubadino" seems to refer to Roberto Ubaldini (1581-1635). The fourth part of the sonnet seems to reference John 19:34.
This translation is by Art Eschenlauer, with great assistance from:
•Translation of sections 1, 2, and 4 into modern French
http://www.opera-lille.fr/fichier/o_media/9154/media_fichier_fr_cdm020311.pdf
•Google Translate run on the French translation
•For section 3, an online-searchable edition of Florio (1611) Italian-to-English dictionary
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/florio/search/search.cgi
•Dr. Ornella Lavecchia of the University of Minnesota Department of French and Italian, who reminded me that there were many Italian dialects, which may explain why some of the words don't appear in modern, standard Italian, or appear in different forms.
Line 2 - Florio explains that rio can be an alternative form of rèo meaning "wicked, guilty, or culpable"; perhaps rio was chosen to fit the rhyme scheme!
Line 6 - Florio explains that rio can also mean "river" as in modern Italian.
Line 6 - Florio defines pretióso as "precious, full of value", effectively an alternative spelling as the modern word prezioso, which is the pronunciation that singers have often used on recordings.
Line 9 - Florio translates corréte as "a kind of unluckie Rauen" [perhaps "unlucky Raven"?]. Florio translates Corrièreo as "a courier, a runner, ... a messenger"; furthermore, https://it.wiktionary.org/wiki/correte defines correte [in modern Italian] as the second person plural indicative of correre. I translated lagrime correte as "unlucky tears that run", which seems to fit well enough with the rest of the text, even though the support for adding the word "unlucky" seems weak at best.
Bitter tears, piteously flow
To my languishing soul: the tooth
Of the cruel Hellish serpent bit you
And, alas, has opened a fatal wound.
The bloodless Redeemer indeed wishes to cure it
But the precious river of that blessed Blood
Will be shed in vain for it
Without the sorrowful humour of my weeping.
So, bitter tears, ever run
To the eyes from this repentant heart,
Indeed pour, because I thirst only for you.
Your liquor is so pleasing to Heaven
That I will say that you are the water
Which issued with the blood from wounded Christ.