Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Pe ’l mar di lapislàzuli - (2025)
Gabriele D’Annunzio
for medium voice and piano
Oh come splendide di sole passano
le vele a coppia lunge e si perdono,
diomedée fuggenti
pe ’l mar di lapislàzuli!
Come ne’ limpidi tuoi occhi nàufraga
l’amore a l’alito salso de l’aure,
o bruna maggiaiola
da le forme scultorie!
Giù a ’l pian le giovini messi in verdissima
tempesta ondeggiano, li ulivi accennano:
e il piano un altro mare
di murmuri e di brividi.
Verdi e cerulei flutti!… Deh fermati,
libera figlia de ’l colle, oreade
nova, di maggiorane
redimita le tempie!
Non baci io chieggoti: a me ne l’anima
i desiderii de l’arte ridono
sereni. A me sereni
detti Asclepiade i numeri,
e la tua classica forma ne l’agile
sua strofe palpiti come ne ’l pario
bassorilievo antico
una indocile menade.5 pages, circa 3' 30"
Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863 - 1938)
Oh how splendid the sun passes
the sails in pairs, long and lost...
Fugitive goddess Medea,
in the sea of lapis lazuli!
How in your clear eyes love is shipwrecked
by the salty breath of the breeze,
oh dark things of May,
with sculptural forms!
Down on the plain the young women in the greenest
storm wave, the olive trees nod:
and on the plain another sea
of murmurs and shivers.
Green and cerulean waves!… Oh stop,
free daughter of the hill, Oreade
nova, of marjoram,
redeem the temples!
I do not ask you for kisses: in my soul
the desires of art smile
serenely. To me serene
said Asclepiade the numbers,
and your classic form in its agile verses
throbs like in the Parian
an ancient bas-relief
an unruly maenad.
Canto Novo ( Editio princeps, 1882 )
The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
