Oggi vi devo raccontare una storia. In un intorno di Natale 2024, sono arrivato a vedere delle poesie di Saffo su Lyricstranslate. Uno stato disastroso, un sacco di titoli inglesi e di testi sbagliati, traduzioni trattate da poesie di Saffo… e tra queste ce n'era una della Gongyla in Greco moderno. A tutt'oggi non ho idea di chi l'abbia fatta. Quella fu migrata e trattata come la traduzione che era. Piccolo problema: fu accoppiata alla canzone di Khatzidakis, che fa le sue brave ripetizioni. Come allinearla?
Impossibile, conclusi. Rigira le cose in un modo che la rende inallineabile: taglia via cose, aggiunge, riordina. Sarebbe carino, mi dissi, se diventasse una canzone, in modo da trattarla come tale e rimuovere il problema alla radice… e fu così che, giovedì 9/1/25, mi misi a musicarla io, alle 21:38-21:52. Cominciai alle 21:38 con una specie di scansione metrica:
uu-uu-u
uu-uu-u
uu-uu-u
u-uu-
uu-uu-u
u-uu-... Κούκλα (go to high mediante here, and suspend the music for a while)
-u-u-u-u
(u)-u-u-u-u
-u-u-u-u
Ale 21:39 avevo la prima riga e quella "high mediante". 21:40, ultima riga. E alle 21:41 tradussi quella in Italiano. 21:44, le penultime due righe. 21:46, seconda riga. 21:50 altre due righe, 21:52 altre due. A questo punto completai la traduzione alle 21:53-21:59, e alle 22:01 feci una modifichetta alla musica, decidendo di chiudere con un La invece che un Do#. Ma in realtà non ne sono sicuro.
In effetti ci vorrebbe un riempicolonna di fianco all'Italiano. Vedremo.
E invece non vediamo, perché non serve riempire quel coso, basta fare tre colonne con Greco, traslitterazione, Italiano. Inoltre ho fatto una seconda voce per cantarci l'Italiano. Dunque, 29/3/25 23:37 in un unico messaggio scrivo fino a Bella, il resto è delle 23:38, salvo che la fine era D D F# D E D->E EEEE EEEEE ed è stata cambiata alle 23:40. Ecco lo spartito a due voci:
Presto caricherò un video che contiene un'esecuzione a due voci. Purtroppo però la seconda voce è leggermente diversa, perché non ne ho tenuto conto nel fare gli accordi della prima. Precisamente, il 24/5/25 alle 3:50:31 «di latte tua indossi» prende le note C F E D EE EE in luogo di C E D C EE EE come da spartito, e alle 3:50:00 diventa C F C F DD DD.
Vediamo!
Σε φωνάζω Γογγύλα,
Έλα πάλι κοντά μου·
Τον λευκό σου σα γάλα
Χιτώνα αν φοράς…
Μόνο νά 'ξερες πόθους
Που σε τριγυρίζουν,
Κούκλα!
Και πώς χαίρω που δεν είμαι
Εγώ, μα ίδια η Αφροδίτη
Ή, που τώρα σε μαλλώνει!
Se fōnázō, Goggýla,
Éla páli kontá moy:
Ton lef̆kó soy sa gála
Khitṓna an forás…
Móno ná 'xeres póthoys
Poy se trigyrízoyn,
Koýkla!
Kä pōs khä́rō poy den ë́mä
Egṓ, ma ídia i̱ Afrodíti̱
Í̱, poy tṓra se mallṓnë!
Io ti chiamo, Gonghìla,
Torna ancora a me presso:
Se la tunica bianca,
Di latte, tua indossi…
Sol sapessi le brame
Che a te van d'intorno,
Bella!
Quanta gioia ho io perché non
Son io, ma la Ciprigna stessa
Che or ti va rimproverando!
So, between blog and channel, Sappho has brought me a bunch of work. In particular, the videos have required a lot of things that are musics or, technically, poetry, since they are metered. I want to gather all that stuff here, for archival purposes, and to avoid losing stuff to scattering across files. There are other things that belong here and are not Sappho-related, whence the more generic title
This is me musicating a translation of the Gongyla poem found online which is impossible to match with the original, so I wanted to have it as a standalone song on LT. I made it two-voiced so one voice sings in Greek and one in Italian. I give you the score, then the usual history spoiler.
Meter of mystery Gongyla translation:
uu-uu-u
uu-uu-u
uu-uu-u
u-uu-
uu-uu-u
u-uu-... Κούκλα (go to high mediante here, and suspend the music for a while)
-u-u-u-u
(u)-u-u-u-u
-u-u-u-u
9/1/25 21:38.
Σε φωνάζω Γογγύλα could be E E F E E F E, and then high mediante is a C#
21:39.
A A DD AA G#G# BB C#... C#...
Ή που τώρα σε μαλλώβει
21:40.
Che or ti va rimproverando -> Chi or...
21:41.
E E E F# F# G# G# A
Και πώς χαίρω που δεν είμαι
g# A A A B B C# C#D AA
Εγώ, μα ίδια η Αφροδίτη
21:44.
C B A G# B AAA EEE
Έλα πάλι κοντά μου
21:46.
C D E D E A E
Τον λευκό σου σα γάλα
A C^ B^ A BBB
Χιτώνα αν φοράς
21:50.
All high
D E C A F D B
Μόνο νά 'ξερες πόθους
G EEEE F E DDDE BBBB
Που σε τριγυρίζουν,
21:52.
A A DD AA G#G# BB C#... A...
Ή που τώρα σε μαλλώβει
22:01.
E R FF E E FF EE
Σε φωνάζω Γογγύλα
E D C B D CCCC AAAA
Έλα πάλι κοντά μου
A A G# A B C A C E D C EEEEE
Το λευκό σου σα γάλα χιτώνα αν φοράς
B C A E C B G D CCCC D C EEE EEE
Μόνο νά 'ξερρς πόθους που σε τριγυρίζουν
EE EEE
Κούκλα
29/3/25 23:37.
C# C# C# D D E D C# B C# C# C# D D E EF# DDD
Και πώς χαίρω που δεν είμαι εγώ μα ίδια η Αφροδίτη
D D F# D E D->E EEEE EEEEE
Ή,που τώρα σε μαλώνει
23:38.
Tune for "About the Cicada"
AA/CC F GA FE FG FF DC AA FF ABb CC A GG/AA
Tenge pneumona woino, to gar astron peritelletai,
17/11/23 19:14.
ABb CC G GG
peritelletai
19:15.
[msg start]
GG ABb AA GA FF
α δ' ώρα χαλέπα
11:31
12/7/24 11:44 BUT ACTUALLY 11:33 msg.
Sent 11:33
11:44 BUT ACTUALLY 11:34.
This msg 11:34
11:44 BUT ACTUALLY 11:34.
Tune for "Dearest offspring of Uranus and Gaia"
Here we start with a score containing the three versions of this, then the history has the messages containing those versions.
CC A GG ABb AA C F EE G FF C
Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ορράνω τε
2:24 sent 2:25
19/7/24 9:21 BUT ACTUALLY 2:25.
[msg start]
C A GG Bb AA F
γένος Ορράνω τε
2:26.
C F EE Bb AA F
γένος Ορράνω τε
2:27 sent 2:28
9:21 BUT ACTUALLY 2:28 msg.
Tune for "Don't move the gravel"
AG ABb AA DC A
Μη κινη χεραδας
16/9/24 18:44.
Tune for the opening of Ovid's Metamorphoses
FF C Bb GG A Bb FF
In nova fert animus
27/9/24 13:52 23:05.
FF C Bb GG A G FF
In nova fert animus
31/12/24 12:50, not msg.
Tune for "The father says «We shall give»"
ABb A F DC A Bb AA
Dosomen esi pater
5/10/24 15:59.
Tune for "Idyll with Aphrodite"
[msg start]
CBb A->C GG ABb AA C A BbBb G AG FF
Δευρυ μ εκ Κρητας επί τονδε ναυον
2:34
13/12/24 8:33 BUT ACTUALLY 2:34/8:30 msg.
Tune for "Like a child"
AA Bb D CC F A CD C AA A Bb AG FF
Ως δε παϊς πεδα ματερα πεπτερυγωμαι
23:27 rec. now
2/1/25 23:28.
AA F Bb
Πεπτερυ-
23:29.
Tune for "The moon has set" (Hephaestion and Reier-Kovacs versions)
Hephaestion version:
Reier-Kovacs version:
[msg start]
A FF F D EE F DD DD CB CC E D DD
10:10
...EE E EF DD...
11/4/21 10:13 msg.
E D DD A GG F
10:13.
AA DD D C EE D EF DD
10:16.
A GG C E DD
10:17.
G GA FF
10:18.
Και Πλειαδες εισι μεσσαι
CBb DE C D DD F GG F
16:28.
8/1/25 16:28.
Tune for "Gongyla"
CBb C GG CBb AA -> CA C GG...
Νυν φιλα σ' η μαν
31/1/25 9:40.
CA C GG CBb AA F D CC D CC AC
Νυν φιλα σ' η μαν κελομαι: σπολαν σαν,
9:41.
AA C GG A FF D Bb GG C FG FF
Γογγύλα, πεφανθι λαβοισα μαλαν
9:42.
AA C GG C A^G^ F^F^
Γλακτιναν, σε δηυτε
9:43.
CA C GG CBb AA F D CC D CC AC
Νυν φιλα σ' η μαν κελομαι: σπολαν σαν,
AA C GG A FF D Bb GG C FG FF
Γογγύλα, πεφανθι λαβοισα μαλαν
AA C GG C F^D C A^ G^G^ E FD Bb
Γλακτιναν, σε δηυτε πόθος τε αυτο
CC A Bb AG FF
Αμφιποταται
9:46.
Tune for "To Irene"
F AA G Bb AA FF C A FA FF
Ασαροτερας ουδαμα πωΙρα-
31/1/25 9:47.
F AA G Bb AA FF A F CD CC A Bb AA D CBb A -> C CBb A
Ασαροτερας ουδαμα πωΙρανα σεθεν τυχοισαν
9:49.
Titles for Chôka de no Saffō episode 1
Only the third fragment in the episode has a title so far:
Έμοι δ' ετίναξεν Έρως φρένας
C AA F Bb AA G A FF C FF
15/2/25 20:13.
Wa ga kokoro yuru
CC AF CC BbC AA C AA
1/3/25 14:15.
Tune for the Alcaeus fragment on Helen
[msg start]
For the Alcaeus Helen thing, minorify the Sappho 16 tune (\#endeca 1:00):
C Ab G Bb Ab C Ab G E F C
Eb Bb GAb G BbAb G F DbC C Bb G
E Db C Bb Ab F C Ab F C Bb g Db
C Ab Bb AbG F
1:02
7/4/25 7:35 BUT ACTUALLY 1:02 msg.
Make that C Ab G Eb F C
14:01. [That = end of l. 1]
Final incipit for the Arignota fragment
So after finding out Σάρδεσιν was probably not Aeolic, I had to reintegrate the incipit of the fragment. I initially tried to use a form of a supposed πηλορόω or something like that that was supposed to give πηλόροισ' as a participle (it's actually a dative, πηλόροισιν < πήλορος = τηλουρός), then I gave up and went with πῆλ' ἄπεστιν. Here is the story:
Zoccu è ntô munnu a cchiù beđđa cosa?
Ἂ, τὸ κάλλιστόν γ' ἐπὶ γᾶς τί ἐστι;
Orbe quid pulcherrimum? In the world now
What is most beautiful?
Orbe quid pulcherrimum? Ah, -> In the world what
Is
13/5/25 20:08.
Orbe quid pulcherrimum? In the world what's
The prettyest thing?
20:08.
.... what
Thing is the prettiest -> is most pretty?
20:09.
Orbe quid pulcherrimum? In the world now
What is most beautiful?
20:09.
Fr. 2: Ti prèju, Gongyla
Puisia pi Gongyla scritta 'i Saffu
Ψάπφικον ποίημ' ἐπὶ Γογγύλαν ϝὰν
Gongylā super, poem on her prettybr>
Gongyla, pulchrā.
Gongylae carmen, -> poéma, the Gongyla poem
13/5/25 20:00.
Gongylá super, poem on her lovèd->pretty
Gongyla pulchrá.
20:10.
Fr. 3: Ode to a beautiful woman
Ἐς κάλαν γύναικα πόημα Σάπφως
Innu pi na fimmina beđđa 'i Saffu
Pulchram ad femellam, a poem to a
Beautiful woman.
Pulchram ad muljerem->femellam, to a pretty woman
13/5/25 20:02.
Pulchram ad femellam, a poem to a
Beautiful woman.
20:02.
Fr. 4: Kleis
Supra a figghia Cleide παῖδ' ὐπὲρ Κλέϊν ϝὰν
On her daughter Cleis puellā super suāpte Cleide
On her daughter Cleis puellá super suá Cleíde
13/5/25 20:05.
On her daughter Cleis super pvellá suápte Cleide
20:07.
… puellā super suāpte Cleide.
15/5/25 15:57, not msg.
Tune for the Edmonds version of "To die is an ill"
[msg start]
FF GAb FF C Bb AbAb Bb GG F GAb FF
Το θναισκην κάκον οι θεοι γαρ ούτω
12/5/25 17:59
18:00 msg.
FF GAb GG Eb C FF G AbG FF
Κεκρίκαισι θανον κε γαρ u-x
18:01.
Tune for my version of "To die is an ill"
C FF F AbAb CDb CC F^ C BbBb C AbAb
Αποθναισκην κακον οι θεοι
12/5/25 19:23.
AbBb GG F GAb FF FF Ab DbC BbC
Ούτω κεκρίκαισιν γαρ αυ θναι-
AbAb
σκον
19:25.
AbAb F C BbBb CBb CBb->BbAb
σκον κε γαρ αι καλον ην
19;26.
BbAb F GAB FF
ην u-x
19:27.
Tune for "On Kleis"
CC A GG Bb AA C AA || FF D CC G AA Bb AA FF
Εστι μοι καλα παις χρυσιοισιν ανθεμοισιν
13/5/25 17:34.
AA Bb AA D->F CC A DD CC || Bb AA F CC C CD CC
Εμφερην ecc
17:35.
CC A GG Bb AA C AA || FF D CC G AA Bb AA FF
Εστι μοι καλα παις χρυσιοισιν ανθεμοισιν
AA Bb AA D->F CC A DD CC || Bb AA F CC C CD CC
Εμφερην εχοισα μορφαν Κλέϊς μοι αγαπατα
FF D CC D CC A GG Bb AA || FE D CC D CC A
Αντι τας εγω ουδε Λυδίαν παισαν ουδ' ερανναν
17:37.
BbBb GG E G FF G FF
Λεσβον εσλαβοιμι κεν
17:38.
τᾶς
DC
15/5/25 16:36, not msg.
Tune for "Ode to a beautiful woman" aka "Comparing you to blonde Helen"
FF A DC Bb -> AA C FE D -> AA C FD Bb
Ως γαρ αυτ' ε-
13/5/25 17:25.
AA C FD Bb CC A Bb CC D CC A
Ως γαρ αυτ' εναντιον εισιδω σε
17:26.
ABb A GG ABb AA C D AA Bb AG FF
Καιτοι ου φυν' Ερμιονα τοαυτα
17:27.
->G AG FF
17:27.
->G GA FF
17:27.
CD C BbBb FF CC C F DD...
Φαίνεται, ξανθα δ' Ελενα σ' εΐσκην
CBb A Bb AG FF
Ουδεν αεικες
17:29.
AA C FD Bb CC A Bb CC D CC A
Ως γαρ αυτ' εναντιον εισιδω σε
ABb A GG ABb AA C D AA G GA FF
Καιτοι ου φυν' Ερμιονα τοαυτα
CD C BbBb FF CC C F DD E FF CC
Φαίνεται, ξανθα δ' Ελενα σ' εΐσκην
CBb A Bb AG FF
Ουδεν αεικες
So, today we have a Sappho fragment. We've already seen it here and also here, as well as in the various editions: it's the one about the stars around the moon, LP 34. Alongside the idea described at the sister post of this titled «Le stelle, la luna, e i dialetti italiani», I had the idea of making an episode for every continent, translating this thing to one official language per country of that continent. So let's see what I got for Europe:
At 20:08 «Or che più che mai...», changed to «Or che, piena, lei più che mai la terra / Riempie di luce.», then «... più che mai d'argento / Illumina il mondo.»;
At 21:58 «Or che, piena, argentea, brilla più che / Mai sulla terra», with the later annotation «=>splende»;
Finally at 22:03 «Or che, piena, argentea, più di tutto / Splende sul mondo.»;
English from the post with the German, dated to «the night between 28 and 29/3/21, specifically around 1:25»;
Albanian, dated 8/4/25 14:13-14:37;
French, dated 9/4/25 8:43-8:45;
Hungarian, dated 10/4/25 13:24-15:03, an actual Sapphic stanza;
Spanish, dated 10/4/25 20:39-20:47 with plata suggested 23:37;
Czech, dated 11/4/25 11:04-13:34, an actual Sapphic stanza;
Slovak, dated 24/4/25 16:21-17:20, another actual Sapphic stanza; I hoped to quickly Slovakify the Czech, but no luck, kolem -> okolo just didn't fit the meter, and měsíc becoming mesiac too, and more such changes.
Um den schönen Mond ihr Gesicht verdecken
Und ihr Licht noch wieder die Sterne, wie er
Voll und silberfarben, mit Strahlen Lichtes
Füllet die Erde.
French:
Les étoiles autour de la lune si belle
Cachent une autre fois leurs radieux visages
Maint'nant qu'elle est pleine et d' rayons d'argent em-
plit toute la terre.
Hungarian:
Újra minden csillag a Hold körül most
Rejti fényét míg a csodálatos Hold
Á, telik megtölti ezüsttel ezt a
Földet az égről.
Czech:
Hvězdy opět teď všechny kolem měsíce
Své schovávají světlo, teď kdy, krásný,
Úplněk svět náš zaplnit se stříbr-
ným světlem, ó, svým.
Italian:
Ogni stella attorno alla bella luna
La brillante faccia nasconde ancora,
Or che, piena, argentea, più di tutto
Splende sul mondo.
English:
All around the beautiful moon, the stars
Once again their bright shining faces hide
As it, full and silver, more than them all
Lights up the Earth.
Spanish:
Cada estrella toda su luz esconde
Si la linda luna le está cercana,
Llena, mientras que todo el mundo llena
Con luz de argento(/plata?).
Albanian:
Yjet t' gjith' përreth hënës shum' së bukur
Prap' tani fytyrën të ndritsh'm e fshehin,
Esht' e plot' ajo, edhe Tok'n e mbush me
Rreze t' argjendtë.
Slovak:
Hľa, schovávajú všetok jas teraz svoj
Hviezdy blízko splnu zatiaľ čo, krásny
I streborný, on naplni svet, ó, svo-
jím svetlom jasným.
Presto caricherò un video che contiene un'esecuzione a due voci. Purtroppo però la seconda voce è leggermente diversa, perché non ne ho tenuto conto nel fare gli accordi della prima. Precisamente, il 24/5/25 alle 3:50:31 «di latte tua indossi» prende le note C F E D EE EE in luogo di C E D C EE EE come da spartito, e alle 3:50:00 diventa C F C F DD DD.
