Credete voi ch'i' viva (Luca Marenzio)

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  • (Posted 2023-04-29)  CPDL #73627:        (LilyPond)
Editor: Allen Garvin (submitted 2023-04-29).   Score information: Letter, 3 pages, 67 kB   Copyright: CC BY NC
Edition notes:
  • (Posted 2017-05-23)  CPDL #44664:          (Finale 2014)
Editor: Willem Verkaik (submitted 2017-05-23).   Score information: Letter, 3 pages, 216 kB   Copyright: CPDL
Edition notes:
  • (Posted 2009-01-14)  CPDL #18770:     
Editors: Phillip Grow and R. Satterthwaite (submitted 2009-01-14).   Score information: Letter, 3 pages, 27 kB   Copyright: CPDL
Edition notes:

General Information

Title: Credete voi ch'i' viva
Composer: Luca Marenzio
Lyricist: Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538-1612)

Number of voices: 5vv   Voicing: SSAAB
Genre: SecularMadrigal

Language: Italian
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1599 in Il nono libro de madrigali a cinque voci, no. 12
Description: The high tessitura of the four upper parts, and the Guarini text suggest that this madrigal was written for the Concerto delle Donne; hence SSAAB-voicing.

External websites:

Original text and translations

Italian.png Italian text

Credete voi ch'i' viva
Pascendo il cor famelico e penoso
Del pensiero amoroso?

Ahi, ch'i' ne moro.
Perché vita e ristoro
Ben ho pensando, anima cara, in voi.

Ma quando penso poi ch'i' ne son privo,
Moro del cibo onde mi pasco e vivo.

English.png English translation

Do you believe that I live
Nourishing my hungry and painful heart
With loving thoughts?

Alas, I die of it.
Because life and relief
I get if I think of you, my dear soul.

But then, when I think that I'm without it,
I die from the food of which I feed and live.