MMDB

Mille merzé, Amor, che tratto m'hai

ballata by Egidius de Francia

Sources

Florence: Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Palatino 87 (Squarcialupi Codex), fol. 173v (2/1);
London: British Library, Additional 29987, fol. 13 (2/1).

Facsimiles

1. The Manuscript London, British Museum Add. 29987, facsimile edition by Gilbert Reaney, [n.p.]: American Institute of Musicology, 1965. Musicological Studies and Documents 13, (Lo).
2. Il Codice Squarcialupi edited by F. Alberto GALLO, Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1992.

Editions

1. Der Squarcialupi-Codex Pal. 87 der Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana zu Florenz, edited by Johannes Wolf and H. Albrecht, Lippstadt: Kistner and Siegel, 1955, p. 319.
2. The Music of Fourteenth Century Italy, edited by Nino Pirrotta, [n.p.]: American Institute of Musicology, 1964. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 8/V, p. 31.
3. Italian Secular Music: Bartolino da Padova, Egidius de Francia, Giulielmus de Francia, Don Paolo da Firenze, edited by W. Thomas Marrocco, Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1975. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century IX, p. 96 (Lbl29987).
4. GOZZI, Marco. [London, British Library 29987: Transcription and Commentary], 2 vols., dissertation, Cremona, Scuola di paleografica musicale, University of Pavia: 1984-1985.
5. GARFORTH, Constance C. The Lo Manuscript: A Trecento Collection, Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University: 1983.

Text Editions

CORSI, Giuseppe. Poesie musicali del Trecento, Bologna: Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1970, p. 89.

Text

Mille merzede, Amore, che trato m'ai
di pene in allegreza messo m'ai.

Tu m'a' di molta pena e doglia trato
e per pie[tà] mi [da'] vita amorosa,
ond'io son senpre a te sugetto e ratto
afarti con disio festa giosa:
però mia vita non ti sia ma' ascosa,
anzi fia teco e tua ovunque vai

Translation

A thousand thanks, Love, who have taken me
out of pain, and placed me in joy.

You have taken me out of much pain and sorrow
and given me out of mercy a loving life,
so that I am always your liegeman,
ready and desirous to welcome you joyfully.
Therefore may my life never be hidden from you:
on the contrary, may it be yours and with you wherever you may go.

Text revision and translation © Giovanni Carsaniga