Siette milagros (Francesco Portinaro)

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• (Posted 2023-09-05)  CPDL #75223:     

Editor: Mick Swithinbank (submitted 2023-09-05).   Score information: A4, 7 pages, 74 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: Transposed down a minor third.

General Information

Title: Siete milagros
Composer: Francesco Portinaro
Lyricist:
Number of voices: 5vv   Voicing: SATTB
Genre: Secular, Madrigal

Language: Spanish
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1566 in Il Desiderio libro secondo (ed. Giulio Bonagiunta) (Venice: Scotto), no. 17
Description: Published by Scotto, Venice, 1566. The poem enumerates the seven wonders of the ancient world, but goes on to suggest that all of them are outshone by Ana d'Aragona (most likely the second wife of Vespasiano Gonzaga, with whose family Portinaro had connections - and who was quite possibly the author of this text), explaining why this composer was setting a Spanish text and publishing it in Venice as part of a set of Italian-texted madrigals. The text, somewhat garbled in the source, has been to some extent amended on the basis of this hypothesis.

Original text and translations

Spanish text Siete milagros dexò el art' humana al mundo: las Piramidas gastosas, la torre Pharia y el templo de Diana y las d'Artemisia obras gloriosas, los muros de Semiramis ufana, las Rodia y Olimpia imagines famosas, mas l'octav' Ana d'Aragona veo, os de natur' obr' alt' hermos' y aseo. English translation Human art endowed the world with seven wonders: the extravagant pyramids, the lighthouse (Pharos) [of Alexandria], the temple of Diana and the glorious works of Artemisia [the mausoleum of Halicarnassus], the walls of proud Semiramis [the city walls of Babylon, substituting for the Hanging Gardens], and the renowned statues of Rhodes and Olympia [the Colossus of Rhodes and the statue of Zeus at Olympia]. But you, Ana d'Aragona, I see as the eighth wonder, a work of nature, sublime, beautiful and pure.