Source : ‘Firenze 1616’; Le Poème Harmonique; dir. Vincent Dumestre; Alpha ‘Ut pictura musica’ 120 (2007).
(text by Gabriello Chiabrera)
This work was first performed at the Uffizi Palace on 9 October 1600, before more than four thousand spectators. Like Euridice, Il Rapimento di Cefalo was presented on the occasion of the proxy wedding between Marie de Médicis and Henri IV. Some choruses in this second dramma per musica of the Florentine festivities were written in collaboration with Stefano Venturi del Nibbio, Pietro Strozzi and Luca Bati, maestro di cappella of the Medici Court and Florence Cathedral. The final scene by Caccini, which features alternating choruses and récits, is the sole surviving fragment.
Ch’a gli’ alberghi del ciel richiama’il core.
Muove si dolce e si soave guerra
Lusinganno i pensier beltà mortale
Ch’a volo un cor non spiegheria mai l’ale
Per sollevarsi peregrin da terra
Se non scendesse a risvegliarlo Amore…
(Ardeur ineffable
Qui attire le cœur vers les hauteurs célestes.
La beauté mortelle, en flattant les pensées,
Provoque une guerre si douce et si suave
Qu’un cœur ne déploierait jamais ses ailes
Pour quitter d’un envol cette terre,
Si l’Amour ne descendait pour le réveiller…
trad. Jean-François Lattarico)