Siam navi all'onde algenti

L'Olimpiade
by Andrea Bernasconi
Andrea Bernasconi - Olimpiade - German title page of the libretto - München 1764
English	The Olimpiad
Genre	Opera
Libretto	Pietro Metastasio
Premiere
Date	January 20, 1764
Location	München, Hoftheater

"Siam navi all'onde algenti" is an aria from the opera L'Olimpiade (Engl.: The Olympiad) by Andrea Bernasconi. The author of the libretto is Pietro Metastasio.

The libretto indicates Sebastiano Emiliani as the singer of the role of Aminta.

The sojetto was immensely popular; the first composer who set Metastasio's words to music was Caldara's in 1733; Vivaldi followed shortly after, in 1734. His is undoubtedly the most popular, especially since the Siam navi all'onde algenti has famously and spectacularly been sung by Cecilia Bartoli.

Bernasconi's L'Olimpiade was written and performed in 1764. It is easy to hear that the times have changed since Vivaldi while some things always remain the same.

Bernasconi's Siam navi all'onde algenti appears on the following album:

Year	Album	Ensemble
2023	Forgotten Arias (Album)	Le Concert de la Loge

Libretto

Siam navi all'onde algenti

(We are ships on swelling waves)

from  L'Olimpiade
Andrea Bernasconi (music),  Pietro Metastasio (words)

(Aminta (Amyntas))

‎

Italian

Insana gioventù! Qualora esposta ti veggo tanto agl'impeti d'amore, di mia vecchiezza io mi consolo e rido. Dolce è il mirar dal lido chi sta per naufragar; non che ne alletti il danno altrui ma sol perché l'aspetto d'un mal che non si soffre è dolce oggetto. Ma che? L'età canuta non ha le sue tempeste? Ah! Che purtroppo ha le sue proprie; e dal timor dell'altre sciolta non è. Son le follie diverse ma folle è ognuno; e a suo piacer n'aggira l'odio o l'amor, la cupidigia o l'ira.   Siam navi all'onde algenti lasciate in abbandono; impetuosi venti i nostri affetti sono; ogni diletto è scoglio; tutta la vita è mar.   Ben, qual nocchiero, in noi veglia ragion; ma poi pur dall'ondoso orgoglio si lascia trasportar. (Parte) source: Progetto Metastasio, L'Olimpiade, 1757

English literal translation

Foolish youth! When I see thee exposed so much to the impulses of love, I console myself with my old age and laugh. Sweet is the sight from the shore Of one who is about to be shipwrecked; not that the harm of others' delights, but only because the sight Of a misfortune that is not suffered is sweet. But what? The grey-haired age has not its storms? Ah! it alas Has its own; and from the fear of others It is not freed. The follies are various But everyone is mad; and at their leisure, they turn to hate or love, greed or wrath. We are ships on the icy waves Left to abandonment; a raging storm are our affections; every pleasure is a reef; all life is the sea. Well, as a helmsman, in us Reason watches; but then Yet by the wave-like pride Lets itself be carried away. Translation: FR

English poetic translation

I see that love makes thee delirious* - but we are all the slaves of some passion - everyone is ruled by love or hate, by anger or desire We're vessels left to wander wide Amidst a rough and stormy tide Our furious passions that prevail Are dang'rous winds that swell the sail; Our life's the sea on which we steer And pleasure is the rock we fear. source: Libretto from the Cimarosa version, London 1788 B-Part missing *) Both, the poetic English and the German version have abbreviated the recitativo.

German poetic translation

Unverständige Jugend, wie wirst du von dessen stürmenden Leidenschaften hingerissen, mein ruhiges Alter siehet deine Thorheit mit Mitleiden an. Aber wie? Hat das graue Alter nicht auch seine stürmischen Tage? O Ja, der Haß, die Liebe, die Begierde, und der Zorn treiben es gleichfalls zu Widerwärtigkeiten* und Sorgen. Den Schiffen gleichen wir, In wildem Meer verlassen, Wenn heftige Winde hier, Das morsche Ruder fassen Dem Meer ist das Leben gleich An Klippen durch Begierden reich. Wir sind zwar Schiffer die erfahren, Doch reißen** uns die Stürme hin, Die über Geist, Vernunft und Sinn Zu mächtig starke*** Meister waren. (Gehet ab.) *) Original: "Wiederwärtigkeiten" **) Original: "reisen" ***) Original: "starcke"Source: Libretto, Munich, 1764

Sources

Beginning of "Siam navi all'onde algenti," manuscript, ca. 1764

• Free Score at the IMSLP:

Work Title L'Olimpiade

Alternative Title Dramma per musica in tre atti

Composer Bernasconi, Andrea

I-Catalogue Number IAB 11

Movements/Sections 3 Acts

First Performance 1764-01-20 in Munich, Hoftheater

Librettist Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)

Language Italian

Composer Time Period Baroque

Piece Style Baroque

Instrumentation voices, chorus, orchestra

Bernasconi, Andrea. "L'Olimpiade". IMSLP. Archived from the original on November 1, 2024. Retrieved November 1, 2024.

• Libretto in German

L' Olimpiade: dramma per musica da rappresentarsi nel nuovo Teatro di Corte

per comandi di s.a.s.E. Massimiliano Giuseppe Duca dell'Alta, e Bassa Baviera ...

nel carnevale dell'anno MDCCLXIV

= Die Olimpischen Spiele : ein musicalisches Schau-Spiel,

welches aus höchstem Befehl Sr. Churfürstl. Durchleucht in Bayern &c. &c.

auf den Churfürstlichen neuen Theater in der Carnevals-Zeit Anno 1764. ist aufgeführet worden

Bernasconi, Andrea (1709). L' Olimpiade: dramma per musica da rappresentarsi nel nuovo Teatro di Corte. Monaco : Thuille, 1764. Archived from the original on November 1, 2024. Retrieved November 1, 2024.

• Libretto in English

L'Olimpiade. A serious opera in two acts [altered from P. A. D. B. Metastasio],

as performed at the King's Theatre, etc. Ital. & Eng

(Cimarosa)

Bernasconi, Andrea (1788). L'Olimpiade. A serious opera in two acts. British Library: Monaco : Stevenson. Archived from the original on November 1, 2024. Retrieved November 1, 2024.

Further reading

• "L'Olimpiade". Wikipedia. Archived from the original on November 1, 2024. Retrieved November 1, 2024.