El grillo
"El grillo" (The Cricket) was written and composed by Josquin des Prés during the Renaissance. It may have been written for Josquin's singer friend Carlo Grillo (note that his last name also translates to cricket).
El grillo
The Cricket
Traditional Song
Traditional Song
(Italian)
(English)
El grillo è buon cantore
Che tiene longo verso.
Dalle beve grillo canta.
Ma non fa come gli altri uccelli
Come li han cantato un poco,
Van de fatto in altro loco
Sempre el grillo sta pur saldo,
Quando la maggior el caldo
Alhor canta sol per amore.
The cricket is a good singer
Who can hold long notes.
He sings all the time.
But he isn't like the other birds,
Once they've sung a little bit
They go somewhere else,
The cricket stands firm,
When it's very hot out
He sings for the love of it.
Notes
Josquin des Prés was a French composer of the Renaissance. He lived in Italy for a number of years. While there he worked for the Sforza family in Milan and also was a member of the papal choir in Rome. Before he left Italy he composed one of his most famous secular compositions called El grillo (The Cricket). The song is an early madrigal – the style is actually called a frottola. A frottola is a comic song for three or four voices. The lyrics (poem) usually has a rhyme scheme of abba for the reprise and cdcdda or cdcddeea for the stanza.
Comments
You can find a pdf of the original score here.
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Thanks and Acknowledgements
Translation by Lisa.
