Vaga luna, che inargenti

The bel canto composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) dedicated his arietta "Vaga luna, che inargenti" to Giluetta Pezzi, an Italian writer. The work is based on an anonymous text and was first published in 1838 by Casa Ricordi with two other songs by Bellini, "Il fervido desiderio" and "Dolente immagine di Fille mia." Ricordi later included "Vaga luna" in a larger collection of Bellini's songs published in 1935 to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the composer's death. "Vaga luna" is a love poem in which the writer yearns to be reunited with his beloved. He repeatedly asks the moon, the "only witness to [his] ardent desire," to "tell her" of the depth and sincerity of his feelings, and of his hopes that the future will bring them together. This arrangement preserves Bellini's original piano part and places the melody prominently in the top tenor voice. The lower voices provide supporting harmonies informed by the accompaniment, moving largely in parallel motion, but with their own counter-melodic value. The arrangement is also available in a version for SSA voices.