Motettu de tristura

"Motettu de tristura" (Sardinian language; "sad ditty") is a traditional Sardinian folk song composed by an anonymous author and rewritten by Luciano Berio for voice (mezzo-soprano), flute, clarinet, harp, percussion, viola and cello.
Setting and arrangements
The music and words of the piece, known as Tristu passirillanti (Sad nightingale), were collected by Berio in the village of Guasila (Province of South Sardinia).Salvatore Cambosu, Miele amaro, Firenze, Vallecchi, 1954, pp. 176-177 The text in Campidanese sardinian is composed of two stanzas of five septenary lines each.

Luciano Berio set it for soprano and ensemble as part of his Folk Songs in 1964: the song cycle was composed for, and recorded by, Cathy Berberian.

Lyrics and meaning of the song
It is the desperate song of a woman who, overcome with grief over the loss of her lover, perhaps because he is dead, turns to a nightingale, and asks him why he advised her to cry for her lover. She is probably convinced that it is completely useless; in fact in the following verses he asks him to sing this song to him after she is dead.

 Sardinian Literal English TranslationMotettu de tristura

Tristu passirillanti
Comenti m'assimbillas
Tristu passirillanti
E poita mi cunsillas 
A prangi po s’amanti?

Tristu passirillanti
Candu apu a essi interrada
Tristu passirillanti
Fai-mi' custa cantada
Candu apu a essi interradaSad ditty

Sad nightingale,
how you look like me.
Sad nightingale,
because you advise me
to cry for my lover?

Sad nightingale,
When I am buried,
Sad nightingale,
sing me this song
when I'm buried"
 Other recordings
 2005, Osvaldo Golijov in the CD Ayre, with Dawn Upshaw & The Andalucian Dogs, Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

 Covers 
Stella Doufexis
Orna Arania
 Eleonora Noga Alberti with the Conjunto de Música Contemporánea
 Laure Delcampe with the Ensemble 21 

References

Category:Sardinia
Category:Folk songs