Alessandro Parisotti* (?) (1853-1913):
[(formerly attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)]
Se tu m?ami, se sospiri
(first published in 1885)
Text: Paolo Antonio Polli
Recorded (Schirmer Medium High) Key: G Minor
Original (1885) Key: F Minor
Teach-Track begins: m. 1
Accompaniment Track begins: m. 1
Pianist: Daniel Michalak
* John Glenn Paton (ed.), in his edition of 26 Italian Songs and Arias (Alfred Publishing, Van Nuys, CA, 1991), points out that this aria first appeared in Vol. 1 of Parisotti?s 1885 edition of Arie Antiche, and that ?no scholar today accepts it as [a] genuine? work of Pergolesi. It is the only work in Parisotti?s collection that has no basis in any known early manuscript, leading Paton to conclude that Parisotti most likely composed it himself as an elegant forgery.
Notes © 1999 by Daniel O. Michalak
Se tu m'ami, se tu sospiri sol per me,
If you me-love, if you sigh only for me,
gentil pastor,
kind shepherd,
ho dolor dei tuoi martiri,
I-have sorrow [of]-(for)-[the] your suffering[s],
ho diletto del tuo amor.
I-have pleasure [of-the] (in) your love.
Ma se pensi che soletto io ti debba riamar,
But if-you-think that alone I you must love-(in-return),
pastorello, sei soggetto
little-shepherd, you-are subject
facilmente a t'ingannar.
easily to [yourself-deceive] (being deceived).
Bella rosa porporina oggi Silvia scegliera;
Beautiful rose red today Silvia will-choose,
con la scusa della spina
with the excuse of-the thorn
doman poi la sprezzera.
tomorrow then it she-will-despise.
Ma degli uomini il consiglio
But of-[the] men the advice
io per me non seguiro.
I for myself not will-follow.
Non perche mi piace il giglio
Not because to-me pleases the lily
gli altri fiori sprezzero.
the other flowers will-I-despise.