Happy Valentine's Week
Young, often first love, can be all consuming and can leave strong imprints on the heart and mind. Hear four tales of infatuation.
Tale #1
Pace non trovo, et non ò da far Guerra translated into English:
I find no peace and have no arms for war
and I fear, and I hope; and I burn, and I am ice;
and I fly above the sky, and I lay on the floor;
and I hold nothing, and I seize the whole world.
Someone has me in a prison, which she neither opens to me nor shuts
nor keeps me to herself nor loosens the noose;
and Love does not kill me, and does not free me,
and wishes me not to live, but does not relieve my pain.
I see without eyes, and have no tongue, but scream:
and I long to perish, yet I beg for aid:
and hold myself in hate, but love someone else.
I feed on sadness, I laugh crying;
death and life displease me equally:
and I am in this state, Mistress, because of you.
-Petrarch
At an Easter mass in 1327, Francesco Petrarch saw a beautiful lady for the first time. She is believed to have been Laura de Noves (1310–1348), the wife of Count Hugues de Sade (ancestor of the Marquis de Sade). Petrarch never met her, but he would go on to write hundreds of poems about his “Laura”.
Portrait of Laura de Noves
Tale #2
In late October 1827, when Franz Liszt was barely sixteen years old, he started giving piano lessons to several young ladies of privilege including Caroline Saint-Cricq, herself only seventeen. By early 1828, young Franz had fallen madly in love with her, but shortly thereafter Caroline’s mother died, and her father prohibited the romance from continuing.
Sometime around 1839 (ten years after his romance with Caroline was forced to end), Liszt discovered Petrarch’s Pace non trovo, et non ò da far Guerra. He set it to music for tenor voice and piano and it was probably first performed by tenor Adolphe Nouritt with Liszt at the piano.
Listen to Luciano Pavarotti sing Pace non trovo. John Wustman is at the piano.
In 1846, Liszt rearranged the song for solo piano based on the same musical material and entitled it Sonetta 104 del Petrarca. Clearly the marks left by Liszt's romance to Caroline Saint-Cricq were still embedded on his memory.
Listen to Sonetta 104 del Petrarca played by the great Russian pianist, Vladimir Horowitz.
Portrait of Caroline Saint-Cricq
Tale #3
I, John Doe, had just begun my senior year at MGM Studio School in Los Angeles having recently moved there from Atlanta. My father was a grounds keeper for Gary Cooper, and he had arranged through Mr. Cooper for me to attend the “special” school. I vividly remember the first time I saw her as she entered our Spanish class. She was svelte and elegant. Her black hair perfectly shaped her exquisite face, and her violet eyes mirrored sophistication and intelligence. I simply could not allow my own eyes to wander from her, and that first Spanish lesson was a wash. I was smitten by her presence.
Throughout our senior year, my infatuation with her did not wane. Everyone chatted about her screen personality, but from afar she seemed shy, like myself. I only spoke to her three times: once when she entered Spanish class when I had arrived early and we were the only two people in the room; once at the water fountain as I finished a sip and looked up to see her beside me waiting to get a drink; and finally at the graduation ceremony when she passed by me and I inadvertently knocked my graduation hat onto the floor. She reached down retrieving the cap, handed it to me, looked into my eyes and smiled. I stammered “Thanks” and she waltzed off unaware of my passion. That was the final time that I saw her in the flesh.
The next year, while following news of her movie career, I chose to study Classics at USC. I’ll never forget May 6, 1950 when I read a news report that Elizabeth had married Hilton Hotel heir, “Nicky” Hilton. I was distraught, but devastated when on the same day I was introduced to Petrarch’s Pace non trovo, et non ò da far Guerra in an Italian literature class. The poem shot an arrow through my heart and her countenance was permanently etched on my memory.
Tale #4
One fateful day during the Autumn of 1975, I was swiftly leaving the music building on the campus of the University of Tennessee when I first encountered the one who captured my heart. Our eyes met and after I had taken a few more steps, I turned back to take another look at that beautiful lady, but alas, she had already left the foyer. As I walked on to my destination, I told myself that I must try to find out the identity of the lady with those beautiful brown eyes. Over 47 years later, Petrarch’s Pace non trovo, et non ò da far Guerra remains stuck in my psyche.
Indeed, throughout history, young love has been all consuming for many, and has left strong imprints on hearts and minds. Oh, how wonderful to be human!
CPW
Happy Valentine’s Day you two! You’re so lucky to have found each other!