L’Eraclito Amoroso (aka The Strozzi Tango) cover image

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L’Eraclito Amoroso (aka The Strozzi Tango)

Publisher: LAH Publications

Catalogue Number: LAH 63

Year: 2020

For: SATB with String Quartet

Duration: 5:40

L’Eraclito Amoroso was commissioned by Canzona – Kathleen Allan, Artistic Director – and premiered in Winnipeg on March 1st, 2020. The program for this concert centred on music of the Italian Baroque, but more specifically, music by FEMALE composers of the Italian Baroque! Kathleen Allan had the fantastic idea to commission several Canadian female composers to select a piece by a female Italian Baroque composer and reimagine it for SATB choir, either a cappella, or with any of the instruments available from string quartet + harpsichord. I selected L’Eraclito Amoroso by one of my favourite female baroque composers, Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677), and arranged it for SATB with string quartet.

My first introduction to this piece was this beautiful performance by Ensemble Prothimia:

In creating my own “reimagining” of this work, I decided that a passionate tango-style would be the way to go to capture the passion and drama of the original song and of the text. It starts with a dramatic slow introduction followed by a slow lament, that then leads into a fiery tango that builds to the end.

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View perusal score

Listen to a performance by the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble
Conductor - Benedict Sheehan

Text:

Udite amanti la cagione, oh Dio!
Ch'a lagrimar mi porta:
Nell’adorato e bello idolo mio,
Che si fido credei, la fede è morta.

Vaghezza ho sol di piangere,
Mi pasco sol di lagrime,
Il duolo è mia delizia
E son miei gioie i gemiti.

Ogni martire aggradami,
Ogni dolor dilettami,
I singulti mi sanano,
I sospir mi consolano.

oh Dio!
Nell’adorato e bello idolo mio,
Che si fido credei, la fede è morta.

[text from the original Strozzi song not included in this arrangement:

Ma se la fede negami
Quell’ incostante e perfido,
Almen fede serbatemi
Sino alla morte, O lagrime!

Ogni tristezza assalgami,
Ogni cordoglio eternisi,
Tanto ogni male affligami
Che m’uccida e sotterrimi.]

Translation:

Listen, lovers, the reason, oh heavens!
that leads me to weep.
Oh heavens! in my cherished and beautiful beloved,
that I thought so faithful, faith is dead.

My only pleasure is weeping,
I only revel in my tears.
Grief is my delight,
and wailing is my joy.

Every torture enchants me,
every pain pleases me.
Sobbing heals me,
sighing comforts me.

Oh heavens!
in my cherished and beautiful beloved,
that I thought so faithful, faith is dead.

[not included in this arrangement]

But, if this inconstant and treacherous lover
denies me his faith,
at least, o tears,
be faithful to me until death.

May every sadness assail me,
every mourning last forever.
So much sorrow afflicts me,
that it kills me, and buries me.