Eight Songs for Samuel Pepys

Light, Grave and Sacred

Cesare Morelli

Editor: Edited by Dionysios Kyropoulos

for bass and guitar

Ref. no Mor 1 (in 'cantatas')           sample page      cover page      To order: ☞     

  • 1. Beauty retire
  • 2. Du bruit et des facheux
  • 3. Amanti fuggite
  • 4. The world’s a Bubble
  • 5. It is decreed
  • 6. To be or not to be
  • 7. The Benediction
  • 8. The words of the Preacher

The eight songs in the present anthology come from the MS 2591 held in the Pepys Library, at Magdalene College, Cambridge. The manuscript is titled Songs & other Compositions Light, Grave, & Sacred, for a Single Voice. Adjusted to the particular Compass of mine; With a Thorough-Base on ye Ghitarr by Cesare Morelli and is bound with the inscription ‘MVSIC 1693’ on the cover: this appears to be the binding date of the book, for the compositions date from around 1680, with Morelli permanently leaving England in 1682.

Nos. 1-3 are Light, 4-5 are Grave, and 7 and 8 are Sacred.