Pervigilium Veneris
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Pervigilium Veneris, the Vigil of Venus, is a Latin poem, probably written in the 4th century. It is generally thought to have been by the poet Tiberianus, due to strong similarities with the latter’s poem Amnis ibat. It was written professedly in early spring on the eve of a three-nights' festival of Venus (probably April 1–3). The setting seems to be Sicily. The poem describes the annual awakening of the vegetable and animal world through the goddess. It is notable because of its focus on the natural world — something never before seen in Roman poetry — which marks the transition from Roman poetry to Medieval poetry. It consists of ninety-three verses in trochaic septenarius, and is divided into strophes of unequal length by the refrain: Template:Quote
The poem ends with the nightingale’s song, and a poignant expression of personal sorrow: Template:Quote
Musical settings
The poem was set to music by Frederic Austin for chorus and orchestra (first performance, Leeds Festival 1931) and by George Lloyd for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra (1980)
References
- Editio princeps (1577)
Modern editions by
- Franz Bücheler (1859)
- Alexander Riese, in Anthologia Latina (1869)
- E. Bahrens in Unedierte lateinische Gedichte (1877)
- S. G. Owen (with Catullus, 1893).
There are translations into English verse by Thomas Stanley (1651), Thomas Parnell, author of The Hermit, F. L. Lucas (1939; reprinted in his Aphrodite, Cambridge, 1948), and Allen Tate (1947; see his Collected Poems). On the text see John William Mackail in Journal of Philology (1888), Vol. xvii.
