Possente spirto (Monteverdi) Kobie van Rensburg

Possente spirto from the opera L’Orfeo (1607)
by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Kobie van Rensburg, tenor
Lautten Compagney Early Music Ensemble
Wolfgang Katschner, conductor
 
ORFEO:
Possente spirto, e formidabil nume,
senza cui far passaggio a l'altra riva
alma da corpo sciolta invan presume,

Non vivo io, no, che poi di vita è priva
mia cara sposa, il cor non è più meco,
e senza cor com'esser può ch'io viva?

A lei volt'ho il cammin per l'aer cieco,
a l'inferno non già, ch'ovunque stassi
tanta bellezza il paradiso ha seco.

Orfeo son io, che d'Euridice i passi
segue per queste tenebrose arene,
ove già mai per uom mortal non vassi.

O de le luci mie luci serene,
s’un vostro sguardo può tornarmi in vita,
ahi, chi niega il conforto a le mie pene?

Sol tu, nobile Dio, puoi darmi aita,
né temer dei, ché sopra un'aurea cetra
sol di corde soavi armo le dita
contra cui rigida alma invan s'impetra.
 
TRANSLATION:
Mighty spirit and fearsome deity,
without whom no soul separated from its body
can presume to gain passage to the other shore,

I am not living: no, for since my dear wife
is deprived of life, my heart no longer remains with me,
and without a heart, how can it be that I am alive?

To her I have made my way through the turbid air,
yet not to Hades, for wherever
such beauty is found has paradise in it.

I am Orpheus, who follow Eurydice's steps
through these murky deserts
where no mortal man has ever trod.

O serene light of my eyes,
if one glance from you can restore me to life,
ah, who would deny me solace in my anguish?

You alone, noble god, can give me aid,
nor need fear, since I arm my fingers only
with sweet strings on a golden lyre,
against which the most obdurate spirit steels itself in vain.

from the CD Il Pianto d'Orfeo available from New Classical Adventure:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=300413

Art in the video:
[0:55] Louis Jacquesson de la Chevreuse (1839-1903)
[1:23] Károly Ferenczy (1862–1917)
[1:29] Giulio Carpioni (1613-1678)
[1:42] Gerard van Honthorst (1592-1656)
[1:47] Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko (1835-1890)
[2:40] John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829–1908)
[3:04] Ary Scheffer (1795–1858).jpg
[3:27] Michel Martin Drolling (1786–1851)
[4:03] Enrico Scuri (1806-1884)
[4:17] Henri Regnault (1843-1871)
[4:34] follower of Heinrich Füger 1751–1818)
[4:59] Gioacchino Giuseppe Serangeli (1768-1852)
[5:25] Egron Lundgren (1815-1875)
[7:03] Emil Neide (1842-1908)
[7:23] Pietro Novelli (1603-1647)
[7:28] Jean-Baptiste Poncet Vassil (1747-1817)
[7:41] Erasmus Quellinus II (1607–1678)
[8:12] Edward Poynter (1836–1919)
[8:35] Antoine Marie Roucoule (1848-1918)
[8:52] Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875)
[9:19] Gaetano Gandolfi (1734-1802)
[9:55] Pierre Amédée Marcel-Beronneau (1869-1937)

Видео Possente spirto (Monteverdi) Kobie van Rensburg канала Jeffrey Stivers