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The First LGF Obama-Jindal Poll

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Cato the Elder2/24/2009 9:44:23 pm PST

And now something to soothe the inflamed lizards:

The most beautiful Italian madrigal ever composed, by Claudio Montiverdi, sung by a soprano and a countertenor. (Can you tell which is which?) And the visual part doesn’t suck, either.

Youtube Video

They sing of Spring.

Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti
l’aer fa grato e’il pi discioglie a l’onde
e, mormoranda tra le verdi fronde,
fa danzar al bel suon su’l prato i fiori.

Inghirlandato il crin Fillide e Clori
note temprando lor care e gioconde
e da monti e da valli ime e profonde
raddoppian l’armonia gli antri canori.
Sorge pi vaga in ciel l’aurora, e’l sole,
sparge pi luci d’or; pi puro argento
fregia di Teti il bel ceruleo manto.

Sol io, per selve abbandonate e sole,
l’ardor di due belli occhi e’l mio tormento,
come vuol mia ventura, hor piango hor canto.

I found a truly lousy translation on the web and rewrote it (no line left untouched!):

Zephyr returns, and with gentle breath
Makes sweet the air and sweeps the grass in waves,
And soughing through green branches
The flowering field makes dance to his clean note.

Wreathed is the hair of Phyllis and Chloe,
And notes alight with love and joy
From mountains high and valleys deep
In sounding caves echo in tune.
Dawn soars glad in the sky and the sun
Flings rays of gold and purest silver,
Like signs on the azure cloak of Thetis.

But I, in woods alone and lost,
The love of two sweet eyes my scourge,
As my Fate wills it - I now weep, now sing.

Salvete et bonam noctem, lacerti.

—Cato Maior