Amore (2010) · 4 min
An art song on the poem “Amore” by Attilio Bertolucci
soprano, soprano saxophone, accordion
Commissioned by and written for Ensemble L’Arsenale
Program Note
Commissioned and first performed by members of Ensemble L’Arsenale, directed by Filippo Perocco: Livia Rado, soprano; Ilario Morciano, saxophone; Luca Piovesan, accordion; at the Fenway Center, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, on May 2, 2010. Reprised at the Musei d’Estate, Chiostro di Santa Caterina, Treviso, Italy, on August 26, 2010.
Amore by Attilio Bertolucci
La luna coronata di margherite
Ride nei vaghi occhi infermi,
Caprioli d’argento
Scherzano nelle radure del cielo.
I fiori si macchiano di sangue… Oh
lontana, lontana, in questa notte,
Come una nave con le sue vele
Nel mare scuro…
Ma presto verrà il tempo
Arido e melodioso dei papaveri,
E tu sarai tornata
Già donna.
Love (Translated by Carlo L. Golino)
The moon crowned by daisies Smiles
within your weak pretty eyes,
Silver roebucks
Play in the heavens’ glades.
The flowers are stained with blood…
O far, far away, through the night,
Like a ship with its sails
On the dark sea…
But soon the time of poppies,
Dry, melodious will come,
And you will have returned
A woman now.
Bertolucci, Attilio. (2021). In Carlo L. Golino (Ed.), Contemporary Italian Poetry: An Anthology (pp. 98-101). Berkeley: University of California Press.