Sing all a green willow – Shakespeare’s cut

Anonimo (sec. XVI-XVII): The Willow Song. Duo Mignarda: Donna Stewart, voce; Ron Andrico, liuto.

The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
 Sing willow, willow, willow,
With his hand in his bosom and his head upon his knee,
 O willow, willow, willow shall be my garland.

  Sing all a green willow, willow, willow, willow;
  Aye me, the green willow must be my garland!

He sighed to his singing, and made a great moan:
I am dead to all pleasure, my true love she is gone.

The mute bird sat by him was made tame by his moans,
The true tears fell from him would have melted the stones.

Come all you forsaken and mourn you with me.
Who speaks of a false love, mine’s falser than she.

Let love no more boast her in palace nor bower.
It buds, but it blasteth ere it be a flower.

Though fair and more false, I die with thy wound.
Thou hast lost the truest lover that goes upon the ground.

Let nobody chide her, her scorns I approve.
She was born to be false, and I to die for her love.

Take this for my farewell and latest adieu,
Write this on my tomb, that in love I was true.

Dopo aver ascoltato la versione di Rossini e quella di Verdi, ecco la Canzone del salice « originale », ossia il ballad cantato da Desdemona nella 3^a scena dell’atto IV dell’Otello scespiriano, come ci è stato tramandato da un manoscritto conservato nella British Library (Add. 15117, databile intorno al 1615). È una bella canzone triste, nello stile malinconico che era di moda nell’Inghilterra elisabettiana. Nei primi versi è ben descritta una persona af­flitta da profonda malinconia, in una postura non molto dis­si­mile da quella dell’angelo in una celebre incisione di Dürer (Melencolia I, 1514).
Da sottolineare che il comportamento di Desdemona contrav­viene alle consuetudini teatrali dell’epoca: era infatti consi­de­ra­to disdicevole che un personaggio di rango elevato si producesse in esibizioni canore sulla scena. Ma Desdemona è in preda a una forte agitazione, teme per la propria vita e teme ancora di più che Otello possa considerarla infedele: per questo motivo il suo canto — come del resto quello di Ofelia impazzita (Amleto IV:5) — poteva essere tollerato.
Con la Canzone del salice Shakespeare ha trovato il modo più efficace di rappresentare il turbamento di Desdemona, pervasa da presentimenti di morte ma ancora profondamente innamorata di Otello: nell’armonia, il continuo alternarsi di modo minore e maggiore rende musicalmente il contrasto dei suoi sentimenti, mentre nel testo la ripetizione insistita della parola willow (il salice è da sempre simbolo della tristezza d’amore) dà l’idea del suo intimo tormento.

After listening to The Willow Song set to music by Rossini and by Verdi, here is now the « original » version, i.e. the ballad that Desdemona sings in Shakespeare’s Othello (act 4, scene 3): this piece has come down to us through a manuscript which is preserved in the British Library (Add. 15117, datable around 1615). It’s a beautiful sad song, in the melancholy style that was popular in Elizabethan England. The first stanza well describes a person afflicted by a profound melancholy, in a posture not unlike that took by the angel in a Dürer’s famous engraving (Melencolia I, 1514).
It should be noted that Desdemona’s behavior contravenes the theatrical customs of the time: it was in fact considered unbecoming for a high-ranking character to perform singing on stage. But Desdemona is in the throes of a strong agitation, she is in fear for her own life, and fears even more that Othello might believe her unfaithful: for this reason her singing — like that of Ophelia gone mad (Hamlet, act 4, scene 5) — can be tolerated.
With The Willow Song Shakespeare finds the most effective way of representing Desdemona’s turmoil, pervaded by forebodings of death but still deeply in love with Othello: the continuous alternation of minor and major modes musically renders the contrast of her feelings, while the insistent repetition of the word willow (a tree which has always been a symbol of love sadness) illustrates her inner torment.