Silent Worship
Encyclopedia
The song "Silent Worship" is a 1928 adaptation by Arthur Somervell
of the aria
"Non lo dirò col labbro" from Handel
's 1728 opera Tolomeo
(Ptolemy). Somervell's English-language adaptation is for voice and piano, and it has remained a popular classic in song recitals and home music-making. Other arrangements of Somervell's translation include solo song accompanied by a modern symphony orchestra, and male choir.
"Silent Worship" is featured in the 1996 film adaptation
of Jane Austen
's novel Emma
. Although Somervell's English translation was done more than a century after Austen's novel, the original Italian aria was recorded in Jane Austen's own handwritten songbooks.
Musically the song is a simple transcription of the original — with the orchestral parts reduced for piano, one or two slight changes in harmony, and the instrumental ending (postlude) omitted. In the 1996 film Emma, the introduction is also shortened.
The text is treated quite differently in the two versions:
Che tanto ardir non ha.
Forse con le faville
Dell'avide pupille,
Per dir come tutt'ardo,
Lo sguardo parlera
Non lo dirò col labbro
Che tanto ardir non ha.
Translation:
I will not say it with my lips
Which have not that courage;
Perhaps the sparks
Of my burning eyes,
Revealing my passion,
My glance will speak.
Go down the garden singing
Blackbird and thrush were silent
To hear the alleys ringing
Oh saw you not My Lady
Out in the garden there
Shaming the rose and lily
For she is twice as fair.
Though I am nothing to her
Though she must rarely look at me
And though I could never woo her
I love her till I die.
Surely you heard My Lady
Go down the garden singing
Silencing all the songbirds
And setting the alleys ringing.
But surely you see My Lady
Out in the garden there
Rivaling the glittering sunshine
With a glory of golden hair.
Arthur Somervell
Sir Arthur Somervell was an English composer, and after Hubert Parry one of the most successful and influential writers of art song in the English music renaissance of the 1890s-1900s....
of the aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
"Non lo dirò col labbro" from Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's 1728 opera Tolomeo
Tolomeo
Tolomeo, re d'Egitto is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel to an Italian text by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's Tolomeo et Alessandro.-Performance history:...
(Ptolemy). Somervell's English-language adaptation is for voice and piano, and it has remained a popular classic in song recitals and home music-making. Other arrangements of Somervell's translation include solo song accompanied by a modern symphony orchestra, and male choir.
"Silent Worship" is featured in the 1996 film adaptation
Emma (1996 film)
Emma is a 1996 period film based on the novel of the same name by Jane Austen. Directed by Douglas McGrath, it stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette, and Ewan McGregor.- Synopsis :...
of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's novel Emma
Emma
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively 'comedy of manners' among...
. Although Somervell's English translation was done more than a century after Austen's novel, the original Italian aria was recorded in Jane Austen's own handwritten songbooks.
Musically the song is a simple transcription of the original — with the orchestral parts reduced for piano, one or two slight changes in harmony, and the instrumental ending (postlude) omitted. In the 1996 film Emma, the introduction is also shortened.
The text is treated quite differently in the two versions:
- In the original Italian baroqueBaroque musicBaroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
aria as set by Handel, the first part of the aria uses a single coupletCoupletA couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
to express a single two-fold thought: "I will not say it with my lips, they do not have the courage". The words are repeated several times, to emphasize the lack of courage. The second part of the aria expresses a complement to the first, its antithesis — twice as many words for half as much music — and therefore not repeated: "Perhaps, with sparks from yearning eyes, my gaze will speak to reveal how I am consumed by flames". The first part of the aria is then repeated, in A-B-ATernary formTernary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form, usually schematicized as A-B-A. The first and third parts are musically identical, or very nearly so, while the second part in some way provides a contrast with them...
da capo ariaDa capo ariaThe da capo aria is a musical form, which was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and oratorio...
form.
- Somervell's English adaptation took the basic thought and recast it to suit the aesthetic of a later era. Somervell expanded a two-line description of a static emotional state into a 16-line narrative, in which only a single line is repeated. Even the da capo — the reprise of the first part at the end — has a new paraphraseParaphraseParaphrase is restatement of a text or passages, using other words. The term "paraphrase" derives via the Latin "paraphrasis" from the Greek , meaning "additional manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis."...
of the first text rather than the simple verbatim repetition which the baroque aria uses.
"Non lo dirò col labbro"
Non lo dirò col labbroChe tanto ardir non ha.
Forse con le faville
Dell'avide pupille,
Per dir come tutt'ardo,
Lo sguardo parlera
Non lo dirò col labbro
Che tanto ardir non ha.
Translation:
I will not say it with my lips
Which have not that courage;
Perhaps the sparks
Of my burning eyes,
Revealing my passion,
My glance will speak.
"Silent Worship"
Did you not hear My LadyGo down the garden singing
Blackbird and thrush were silent
To hear the alleys ringing
Oh saw you not My Lady
Out in the garden there
Shaming the rose and lily
For she is twice as fair.
Though I am nothing to her
Though she must rarely look at me
And though I could never woo her
I love her till I die.
Surely you heard My Lady
Go down the garden singing
Silencing all the songbirds
And setting the alleys ringing.
But surely you see My Lady
Out in the garden there
Rivaling the glittering sunshine
With a glory of golden hair.