Odi di un uom, che muore,
Odi l' estremo suon,
Questo appassito fiore
Ti lascio, Elvira, in don.

Quanto prezioso ei sia
[Saper tu il devi]1 appien;
[Il]2 dì che fosti mia
[Te l' involai]3 dal sen.

Simbolo allor [di affetto]4,
Or pegno di dolor;
Torni a posarti in petto
Questo appassito fior;

E avrai nel cor scolpito,
Se [crudo]5 il cor non è,
Come ti fu rapito,
Come [fu reso]6 a te.

G. Donizetti sets stanzas 1-2

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Confirmed with La formica foglio periodico di amena letteratura diretto da giosuè d'amore, Anno I., Vol 1., Napoli, Stabilimento della Minerva Sebezia, 1843-1845, page 141.

¹ Donizetti, Hiller: "Tu dei saperlo"; Rossini: "Tu lo conosci"
² Donizetti: "Nel"; Rossini: "Dal"
³ Donizetti, Hiller: "Te lo involai"; Rossini: "A te l' involai"
⁴ Donizetti, Hiller: "d'affetto"
⁵ Donizetti: "duro"
⁶ Donizetti: "ritorna"

Text Authorship:

• by Giovanni Antonio Luigi Redaelli (1785 - 1815), "Ad Elvira" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848), "Amore e morte", subtitle: "Arietta", IGD 67 no. 3, A 197, published 1837, stanzas 1-2 [ voice and piano ], from Soirées d'automne à l'Infrascata, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ferdinand von Hiller (1811 - 1885), "Odi du un uom che muore", 1837 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Florence A. Marshall (b. 1843), "Il Poeta moriente", 1867 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1792 - 1868), "L'ultimo ricordo" [ baritone and piano ], from Péchés de vieillesse, Vol I: Album italiano, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Luk Laerenbergh) , "Love and death", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Aminta Iriarte) , "Amor y muerte", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Luk Laerenbergh , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 73

Hear from a dying man,
Hear his last sound;
This wilted flower
I leave you, Elvira, as a gift.

How precious it is
You should fully understand;
On the day you were mine
I stole it from your heart.

Once symbol of love,
Now pledge of sorrow;
Place once more on your heart
This wilted flower.

And you will have engraved in your heart,
If that heart is not hard,
How it once was stolen,
And how it came back to you.