Claudio Monteverdi 1567-1643
The text of “Tu se’ morta” is:
You are
dead, dead my darling
And I live; You have left me,
You have left me forever,
Never to return and I
remain-
No, no, if verses have any power,
No, no, if verses have any power,
I shall go boldly to the deepest abysses,
And have
melted the heart
of the queen of shadows,
Will bring you with me to see the
stars,
Or if cruel fate deny me this,
I will remain with you in the company of death,
Farewell earth, farewell sky,
Farewell earth, farewell sky,
and sun, farewell.
“Tu se’ morta” is a recitative from the opera “Orfeo”. A recitative
is a combination of singing and talking that characters in an opera use to
explain what is happening and how they feel.
Orfeo is the story of the Greek
tragedy Orpheus who could music so beautifully that he could make the animals
cry. His lover, Eurydice is bitten by a poisonous snake and she dies. Because
he is so sad, Orpheus stops playing music. So the gods make a deal that he can
go to the underworld and lead her out of Hell, but he must not look back at her,
or will she sink back into Hell.
Near
the end of the journey, Orpheus begins to worry that Eurydice has fallen behind
and he forgets and looks back at her. As she sinks back into Hell, he is
overcome with sadness knowing that his lack of faith put her back into Hell
forever.
Musically, “Tu se’ morta” is a solo accompanied by continuo
(harpsichord and viola da gamba) which is homophonic texture. The mood of the
piece is expressed by the soloist and the minor key of the music accompanying
the soloist.
Word painting is used by placing key words on the highest or
lowest notes. For example “death” is on the lowest note and “star” is on the
highest note, highest notes showing excitement and sadness and the lowest
pitches showing death and depression.
"Tu se' morta" from Orfeo 1607. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ll_u870PG8
