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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.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Britten: "vostri occhi"
2 Britten: "vostr'ingegno"
3 Britten: "vostr'arbitrio"
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 89 [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Sonetto XXX", op. 22 no. 3 (1940), published 1943 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jeanne Leleu (1898 - 1979), "Veggio co' be' vostr' occhi un dolce lume", 1924, published 1925 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Sonnets de Michel-Ange Buonarroti, no. 2, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel, also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Michel Augustin Varcollier (1795 - 1883) , appears in Poésies de Michel-Ange Buonarroti, peintre, sculpteur et architecte florentin, Paris, Éd. Hesse et Cie., first published 1826 ; composed by Jeanne Leleu.
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- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) , no title, appears in Michelangelo-Übertragungen ; composed by Christoph Alexander Garbe, Willy Kehrer, Harald Lie, Anton Schoendlinger.
- Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Leopold Staff (1878 - 1957) ; composed by Romuald Twardowski.
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Other 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
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 108
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
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 111