Poetic idea

"Dear, I love you so much that when you stay away, I feel ill. Please be kind to me."

Background

English enthusiasm for Italian opera continued throughout the 17oos, and it continues today. Sixty years after Bononcini composed Griselda for London, Tommaso Giordani com­posed "Caro mio ben" for a concert there. A native of Naples, Giordani lived most of his life in London and published many vocal and instrumen­tal compositions there.

Source

"The Favorite Song as Sung by Sigr. Tenducci at the Pantheon & Mr. Abel's Concerts, Composed by Sigr. Giordani" (London: Preston, 1782?), copy at University of Kansas at Lawrence. For voice (treble clef) and 4-part strings. Key: F.

The accompaniment in this edi­tion is a reduction of the scoring for strings. The staccato markings given here are present in the string parts; one must judge whether they sound well when played on a piano.

The double grace-notes in the accompaniment and those in the voice in m29 and m30 are included in the original publication. The remain­ing ornaments are adapted from a manuscript volume of miscellaneous music that belonged to an unnamed British lady in 1788 or later: Addi­tional 54,331, British Library, Lon­don. The ornaments have no particular authority, but they certainly reflect the amount and kind of orna­mentation that a cultivated listener expected to hear.

Bibliography

John Glenn Paton, "Caro mio ben: Some Early Sources," NATS Bulletin,

128 • 26 Italian Songs and Arias

kgro fiio ben Caro mio ben, Dear, my beloved,

kr~difiialm~n Credimi almen, believe-me at-least,

s~ntsa di te Senza di te without [of] you

lalJgwiJ:Jeil k:)r Languisce iI cor. languishes [the] (my) heart.

il tyo fed~l II tuo fedel [The] your faithful-one

sospiraoj1:j1Qr Sospira ognor. sighs always.

tJ~s:sa krud~l Cessa, crude I , Cease, cruel-one,

t~nto rigQr Tanto rigor! so-much severity.

Nov/Dec. 1981. The familiar edition, edited by

Parisotti in 1890, names the composer as Giuseppe Giordani (no relation to Tommaso). The evidence for Tomma­so as the actual composer is given in the above article.

Tommaso Giordani tom:mflzo d30rdflni

Poet unknown English version by James P. Dunn

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Tommaso Giordani (1730-1806) Edited by John Glenn Paton

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26 Italian Songs and Arias. 129

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my heart languishes. Your faithful one always sighs; cruel one, cease so much punishment.

130 • 26 Italian Son gs and Ar i a s

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2 6 I t a Ii a n Son gsa n dAr i as. 131