by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564) and by Giovan Battista Strozzi (1504 - 1571)
Translation by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909)
La Notte, che tu vedi in sì dolci atti
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Strozzi: La Notte, che tu vedi in sì dolci atti dormir, fu da un angelo scolpita in questo sasso, e perchè dorme ha vita: Destala, se nol credi, e parleratti. Michelangelo: Caro m' è 'l sonno, e più l'esser di sasso, mentre che 'l danno e la vergogna dura: Non veder, non sentir, m' è gran ventura; però non mi destar, deh! parla basso.
About the headline (FAQ)
Note: the first stanza is by G. Strozzi; the second stanza is Michelangelo's reply.Text Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Giovan Battista Strozzi (1504 - 1571) [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), "La Notte, che tu vedi in sì dolci atti", op. 145 no. 9, from Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, no. 9, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909) , "Night", appears in Poems and Ballads, Third Series, first published 1889 ; composed by John Reginald Lang-Hyde, Douglas MacDonald Stewart.
- 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
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Nuit", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sophie Hasenclever) , no title, from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , subtitle: "Štai ta naktis, kur miega taip ramiai", 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: 10
Word count: 62
Night
Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)
FROM THE ITALIAN OF GIOVANNI STROZZI Night, whom in shape so sweet thou here may'st see Sleeping, was by an Angel sculptured thus In marble, and since she sleeps hath life like us: Thou doubt'st? Awake her: she will speak to thee. FROM THE ITALIAN OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI Sleep likes me well, and better yet to know I am but stone. While shame and grief must be, Good hap is mine, to feel not, nor to see: Take heed, then, lest thou wake me: ah, speak low.
Text Authorship:
- by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909), "Night", appears in Poems and Ballads, Third Series, first published 1889 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564) and by Giovan Battista Strozzi (1504 - 1571)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Reginald Lang-Hyde (1899 - 1990), "Night", 1949 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Douglas MacDonald Stewart (1892 - ?), "Night", published 1944 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-27
Line count: 10
Word count: 75