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Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo
Translations © by Carl Johengen
Song Cycle by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)
View original-language texts alone: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo
Sì come nella penna e nell'inchiostro È l'alto e 'l basso e 'l mediocre stile, E ne' marmi l'immagin ricca e vile, Secondo che 'l sa trar l'ingegno nostro; Così, signor mie car, nel petto vostro, Quante l'orgoglio, è forse ogni atto umile: Ma io sol quel c'a me proprio è e simile Ne traggo, come fuor nel viso mostro. Chi semina sospir, lacrime e doglie, (L'umor dal ciel terreste, schietto e solo, A vari semi vario si converte), Però pianto e dolor ne miete e coglie; Chi mira alta beltà con sì gran duolo, Dubbie speranze, e pene acerbe e certe.
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 84
Go to the single-text view
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet XVI", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Love and art", from The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet XVI", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Sonetas XVI", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Just as in pen and ink there is a high, low, and medium style, and in marble are images rich and vile, according to the art with which we fashion it, so, my dear lord, in your heart, along with pride, are perhaps some humble thoughts: but I draw thence only what is proper for myself in accordance with what my features show. Who sows sighs, tears and lamentations (dew from heaven on earth, pure and simple, converts itself differently to varied seeds) will reap and gather tears and sorrow; he who gazes upon exalted beauty with such pain will have doubtful hopes and bitter, certain sorrows.
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Carl Johengen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 84
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 107
A che più debb'io mai l'intensa voglia Sfogar con pianti o con parole meste, Se di tal sorte 'l ciel, che l'alma veste, Tard' o per tempo, alcun mai non ne spoglia? A che 'l cor lass' a più [morir]1 m'invoglia, S'altri pur dee morir? Dunque per queste Luci l'ore del fin fian men moleste; Ch'ogn' altro ben val men ch'ogni mia doglia. Però se 'l colpo, ch'io ne rub' e 'nvolo, Schifar non poss'; almen, s'è destinato, Ch entrerà 'nfra la dolcezza e 'l duolo? Se vint' e pres' i' debb'esser beato, Maraviglia non è se nud' e solo, Resto prigion d'un Cavalier armato.
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 98
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet XXXI", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "To Tommaso de' Cavalieri: Love's lordship", from The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "What point is there in still giving vent to my intense longing", written 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet XXXI", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 K. Sorabji: "languir"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
To what purpose do I express my intense desire with tears and sorrowful words when heaven, which clothes my soul, neither sooner or later relieves me of it? To what purpose does my weary heart long to die, when all must die? So to these eyes my last hour will be less painful, all my joy being less than all my pains. If I cannot avoid the blow, even seek them; since it is destined, who will stand between sweetness and sorrow? If I must be conquered in order to be happy, no wonder then that I, unarmed and alone, remain the prisoner of an armed Cavalier?
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Carl Johengen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 98
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 108
Veggio co' be' [vostr'occhi]1 un dolce lume che co' mie ciechi già veder non posso; porto co' vostri piedi un pondo addosso, che de' mie zoppi non è già costume. Volo con le vostr'ale senza piume; col [vostro ingegno]2 al ciel sempre son mosso; dal [vostro arbitrio]3 son pallido e rosso, freddo al sol, caldo alle più fredde brume. Nel voler vostro è sol la voglia mia, i miei pensier nel vostro cor si fanno, nel vostro fiato son le mie parole. Come luna da sé sol par ch'io sia, ché gli occhi nostri in ciel veder non sanno se non quel tanto che n'accende il sole.
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 89
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet XXX", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "To Tommaso de' Cavalieri: Love the light-giver", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet XXX", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Hermann Friedrich Grimm) , "An Tommaso Cavalieri", from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (José Miguel Llata) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Britten: "vostri occhi"
2 Britten: "vostr'ingegno"
3 Britten: "vostr'arbitrio"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
I see through your lovely eyes a sweet light which through my blind ones I yet cannot see; I carry with your feet a burden which with my lame ones I cannot; I fly with your wings, having none of my own; with your spirit toward heaven I am always moving; by your will I turn pale or blush, cold in the sun, warm in the coldest weather. Within your will alone is my will, my thoughts within your bosom are born, in your breath are my words. I am like the moon, alone, which our eyes cannot see in the heavens except that it is illumined by the sun.
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Carl Johengen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 89
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 111
Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai Ch'i [veni]1 per goderti più da presso; E sai ch'i' so, che tu sa' c'i' son desso: A che più indugio a salutarci omai? Se vera è la speranza che mi dai, Se vero è 'l [buon]2 desio che m'è concesso, Rompasi il mur fra l'uno e l'altro messo; Chè doppia forza hann' i celati guai. S'i' amo sol di te, signor mie caro, Quel che di te più ami, non ti sdegni; Che l'un dell'altro spirto s'innamora, Quel che nel tuo bel volto bramo e 'mparo, E mal compres' è degli umani ingegni, Chi 'l vuol [veder]3, convien che prima mora.
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 60
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet LV", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Love's entreaty", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "You know that I know, my lord, that you know", written 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet LV", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 K. Sorabji: "vengo"
2 K. Sorabji: "gran"
3 K. Sorabji: "saper"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
You know that I know, my lord, that you know I have come to take pleasure in your presence; and you know that I know that you know I am constant. Why then do we hesitate to greet one another? If it is true, this hope that you give me, if these desires are true which come over me, break down the wall between one and the other; hidden sorrows have twice the force. If I love only in you, my dear lord, that which you love most, do not be angry; let love spring up between our two souls. That which in your noble face I seek is but ill-understood by humankind, and he who wishes to see it must first die.
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Carl Johengen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 60
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 124
Rendete agli occhi [mei]1, o fonte o fiume, L'onde della non vostra e salda vena, Che più v'innalza e cresce, e con più lena Che non è 'l vostro natural costume. E tu, folt'aïr, che 'l celeste lume Tempri a' [trist'occhi]2, de' sospir [mie]1 piena, Rendigli al cor [mie]3 lasso e rasserena Tua scura faccia al [mie]3 visivo acume. Renda la terra i passi alle mie piante, Ch'ancor l'erba germugli che gli è tolta, E 'l suono eco, già sorda a' [mie]1 lamenti; Gli sguardi agli occhi mie [tuo luce]4 sante, Ch'io possa altra bellezza un'altra volta Amar, po' che di me non ti contenti.
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 95
Go to the single-text view
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet XXXVIII", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet XXXVIII", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Sonetas XXXVIII", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Britten: "miei"
2 Britten: "tristi occhi"
3 Britten: "mio"
4 Britten: "tue luci"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Give back to my eyes, o fountains and rivers, the waves of powerful currents that are not yours, which swell you and surge with such force than was ever in your nature. And you, dense air, heaven's light obscuring from my sad eyes, full of sighs, give them back to my weary heart, and lighten your dark features to my sight. Let the earth return to me the traces of my steps, that the grass may grow where it was crushed; give back the sounds, Echo, yet deaf to my laments; their glances back to my eyes, you blessed pupils, that I may sometime love some other beauty since with me you are not satisfied.
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Carl Johengen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 95
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 116
S'un casto amor, s'una pietà superna, S'una fortuna infra dua amanti equale, S'un'aspra sorte all'un dell'altro cale, S'un spirto, s'un voler duo cor governa; S'un'anima in duo corpi è fatta etterna, Ambo levando al cielo e con pari ale; S'amor c'un colpo e d'un dorato strale Le viscer di duo petti arda e discerna; S'amar l'un l'altro, e nessun se medesmo, D'un gusto e d'un diletto, a tal mercede, C'a un fin voglia l'uno e l'altro porre; Se mille e mille non sarien centesmo A tal nodo d'amore, a tanta fede; E sol l'isdegno il può rompere e sciorre.
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 59
Go to the single-text view
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet XXXII", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Love's expostulation", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet XXXII", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sophie Hasenclever) , "An Tommaso Cavalieri", from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Sonetas XXXII", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
If there is a chaste love, a heavenly pity, an equal fortune between two lovers, a bitter fate shared by both, and if a single spirit and one will governs two hearts; if one soul in two bodies is made eternal, raising both to heaven on the same wings; if love with one blow and one golden arrow can burn and pierce two hearts to the core; if each loves the other rather than himself, with a pleasure and delight so rewarding, that to the same end they both strive; if thousands upon thousands are not worth a hundredth part of such a loving bond of such a faith; then shall anger alone break and dissolve it?
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Carl Johengen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 59
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 118
Spirto ben nato, in cui si specchia e vede Nelle tuo belle membra oneste e care Quante natura e 'l ciel tra no' puo' fare, Quand'a null'altra suo bell'opra cede; Spirto leggiadro, in cui si spera e crede Dentro, come di fuor nel viso appare, Amor, pietà, mercè, cose sì rare Che mà furn'in beltà con tanta fede; L'amor mi prende, e la beltà mi lega; La pietà, la mercè con dolci sguardi Ferma speranz'al cor par che ne doni. Qual uso o qual governo al mondo niega, Qual crudeltà per tempo, o qual più tardi, C'a sì bel viso morte non perdoni?
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 41
Go to the single-text view
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet XXIV", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet XXIV", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Sonetas XXIV", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Noble spirit, in whom is reflected, and in whose beautiful limbs, honest and dear, one can see all that nature and heaven can achieve within us, excelling any other work of beauty; graceful spirit, within whom one hopes and believes dwell - as they outwardly appear in your face - love, pity, mercy, things so rare and never found in beauty so truly; love takes me captive, and beauty binds me; pity and mercy with sweet glances fill my heart with strong hope. What law or power in the world, what cruelty of this time or of a time to come, could keep Death from sparing such a lovely face?
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Carl Johengen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 41
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 111