Hello.
The music score and Italian lyrics for "O Bella Margherita" are
available in a volume called "Il primo libro de madrigali a quattro
voci, 1579," by Benedetto Pallavicino (ca. 1551-1601). The volume is
published by the American Institute of Musicology [
http://www.corpusmusicae.com/ ]
"O Bella Margherita" is listed in the volume's description in the
catalog of the California Digital Library [ http://www.dbs.cdlib.org/
]
It's not possible to directly link to that catalog entry, but you can
retrieve it by selecting the Melvyl catalog on
http://www.dbs.cdlib.org/ ; running a title search for "il primo
libro de madrigali a quattro voci"; selecting "long display with
abstracts"; and browsing the entries until you see the 9th and 10th
entries for UC Berkeley and UC Irvine.
If you don't want to go through all that, here is an excerpt from the
entry, showing "O Bella Margherita" in the contents:
MUSIC SCORE
Author: Pallavicino, Benedetto, ca. 1551-1601
Uniform title: Madrigals, voices (4), book 1
Title: Il primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci, 1579 ; Il primo
libro de madrigali a sei voci, 1587 / Benedetto Pallavicino ; edidit,
Peter Flanders
Publisher: Neuhausen-Stuttgart : American Institute of Musicology :
Hänssler-Verlag, 1987
Description: 1 score (xii, 153 p.) ; 35 cm
Series: Corpus mensurabilis musicae ; 89.
Opera omnia / Benedetto Pallavicino ; 5.
Contents: Il primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci. Non ardo e son
nel fuoco ; Fuoco e'il mio cuor -- Stiamo, Amor ; L'erbetta verde --
Quando benigna stella -- Nel bel fiorito maggio ; O bella Margherita
[plus additional madrigals ]
Publisher No.: CMM 89,V American Institute of Musicology
67.895 American Institute of Musicology
Notes: For 4 and 6 voices
Italian words
Editorial and critical notes in English
The American Institute of Musicology still sells this volume. Here is
the entry from their web page:
CMM 89-5 CMM 89 BENEDETTO PALLAVICINO (ca. 1551 1601), Opera omnia,
edited by Peter Flanders and Kathryn Bosi Monteath in 7 volumes. Vol.V
Il primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci, 1579; Il primo libro de
madrigali a sei voci, 1587 3-7751-0726-6 1st ed. xii + 153 pp. 35
cm1987
$84.00
http://www.corpusmusicae.com/cmm_cc85-.htm
To order, contact the Institute using the information on this page:
http://www.corpusmusicae.com/contact.htm
The same volume is available for 80.78 Euros from a German store
called HARRASSOWITZ. Here is the entry from their web page:
Pallavicino
V (HE 67.895): Il primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci, 1579; Il
primo libro de madrigali a sei voci, 1587 EUR 80,78
For more information, visit:
http://www.harrassowitz.de/sp/idx/colco24.html
Search strategy: california digital library, madrigals, bella
margherita, american institute of musicology, pallavicino, "il primo
libro de madrigali"
I hope this helps. |
Request for Answer Clarification by
ogben-ga
on
05 Oct 2002 08:12 PDT
Thank you. This might be a stupid question, but, then again, I'm an
historian, not a musicologist. I have in front of me a copy of a book
published 1608 (though in reality, it's 1648), "Nuova Scelta Di
Sonate...", by Foriano Pico. On page 35, in old notation, there is a
tune (without words here)titled La Bella Margarita. Is this the same.
My problem is that in early 18th century literature, it is referred to
as La rather than O; so is this it or not?
|
Clarification of Answer by
juggler-ga
on
05 Oct 2002 10:57 PDT
Ogben:
"La" is merely an article in Italian. It has no significant meaning.
It's the equivalent of "the" in English. Likewise, "O" has no
significant meaning either. It's merely an opening exclamation like
"Oh" in English. It's quite common in Italian songs (e.g., "O sole
mio...").
The important part is the "Bella Margherita." As a researcher, I'm
strongly inclined to believe that the 1608/1648 version is the same.
It seems virtually impossible that Pallavicino would record an "O
Bella Margherita" madrigal in 1579 and then someone else would come up
with an entirely different "La Bella Margherita" just a few years
later. In all probability, it's merely a variation in title. The
nature of popular songs is such that someone hears the song, and then
writes it down later. The vagaries of human memory are such that minor
changes sneak into the mix all the time. Do some web searches for a
popular English song like "On Top of Old Smokey," and you'll see
little variations in title (Old Smokie, Old Smoky, etc.) and lyrics on
different web pages.
I've checked numerous music libraries and "O Bella Margherita" is the
only song containing "Bella Margherita" from that period (or actually
from any period) for which a score is available.
If you'd like to visit a library that has Pallavicino's volume, rather
than buying it, I might be able to direct you to a library that has
it. Give me a rough idea of your location if that's something you're
interested in.
Thanks.
juggler
|
