"Motettu de tristura" (Sardinian language; "sad ditty") is a traditional Sardinian folk song composed by an anonymous author and rewritten by Luciano Berio for voice (mezzo-soprano), flute, clarinet, harp, percussion, viola and cello.
Setting and arrangements
The music and words of the piece, known as Tristu passirillanti (Sad nightingale), were collected by Berio in the village of Guasila (Province of South Sardinia). The text in Campidanese sardinian is composed of two stanzas of five septenary lines each.
Luciano Berio set it for soprano and ensemble as part of his Folk Songs in 1964: the song cycle was composed for, and recorded by, Cathy Berberian.
Lyrics and meaning of the song
It is the desperate song of a woman who, overcome with grief over the loss of her lover, perhaps because he is dead, turns to a nightingale, and asks him why he advised her to cry for her lover. She is probably convinced that it is completely useless; in fact in the following verses he asks him to sing this song to him after she is dead.
Other recordings
2005, Osvaldo Golijov in the CD Ayre, with Dawn Upshaw & The Andalucian Dogs, Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg