by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)
Translation by John Addington Symonds (1840 - 1893)
Qua si fa elmi di calici e spade
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Qua si fa elmi di calici e spade, e 'l sangue di Cristo si vend' a giumelle, e croce e spine son lance e rotelle; e pur da Cristo pazienza cade! Ma non c'arivi più 'n queste contrade, chè n'andré 'l sangue suo 'nsin alle stelle, poscia che a Roma gli vendon la pelle; e èci d'ogni ben chiuso le strade. S' i' ebbi ma' voglia a posseder tesauro, per ciò che qua opera da me è partita, può quel nel manto che Medusa in Mauro. Ma se alto in cielo è povertà gradita, qual fia di nostro stato il gran restauro, s' un altro segno amorza l'altra vita?
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Text Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 10 [author's text not yet checked 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 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Qua si fa elmi di calici e spade", op. 145 no. 5, from Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, no. 5, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Abram Markovich Efros (1888 - 1954) ; composed by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "On Rome in the Pontificate of Julius II", 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) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , subtitle: "Iš taurių lieja čia kardus ir šalmus", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Caroline Diehl
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 109
On Rome in the Pontificate of Julius II
Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)
Here helms and swords are made of chalices:
The blood of Christ is sold so much the quart:
His cross and thorns are spears and shields; and short
Must be the time ere even his patience cease.
Nay let him come no more to raise the fees
Of this foul sacrilege beyond report!
For Rome still flays and sells him at the court,
Where paths are closed to virtue's fair increase.
Now were fit time for me to scrape a treasure!
Seeing that work and gain are gone; while he
Who wears the robe, is my Medusa still.
God welcomes poverty perchance with pleasure:
But of that better life what hope have we,
When the blessed banner leads to nought but ill?
Text Authorship:
- by John Addington Symonds (1840 - 1893), "On Rome in the Pontificate of Julius II", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 10
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 122