by
Andrea Maffei (1798 - 1885)
Ad una stella
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Available translation(s): CAT ENG FRE GER GER SPA
Bell'astro della terra,
Luce amorosa e bella,
Come desia quest'anima
Oppressa e prigioniera
Le sue catene infrangere,
Libera a te volar!
Gl'ignoti abitatori
Che mi nascondi, o stella,
Cogl'angeli s'abbracciano
Puri fraterni amori,
Fan d'armonie cogl'angeli
La spera tua sonar.
Le colpe e i nostri affanni
Vi sono a lor segreti,
Inavvertiti e placidi
Scorrono i giorni e gli anni,
Nè mai pensier li novera,
Nè li richiama in duol.
Bell'astro della sera,
Gemma che il cielo allieti,
Come alzerà quest'anima
Oppressa e prigioniera
Dal suo terreno carcere
Al tuo bel raggio il vol!
Note for stanza 2, line 6, word 2: Some publications and online sources have modernized the word "spera" to "sfera". As of June 13 2015, we found 3 out of 4 published books indexed by Google used the spelling "spera".
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A una estrella", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Betsy Schwarm) , "To a star", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "À une étoile", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "An einem Stern", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Einem Stern", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , "A una estrella", 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: 24
Word count: 94
To a star
Language: English  after the Italian (Italiano)
Beautiful star of the earth,
loving and beautiful light,
This oppressed and
imprisoned soul longs
To break its chains,
to fly free!
The unknown ones
you conceal from me, oh star,
Pure, brotherly love
embracing with angels,
In harmony with angels
as your sphere resounds.
There, our faults and fears
are unknown,
Days and years pass calmly,
unnoticed, no thought
Of counting them,
or recalling them in sadness.
Lovely evening star,
gem that cheers the heavens,
Let this oppressed, imprisoned
soul be raised from
Earthly confinement to fly
with your lovely rays!
Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2023 by Betsy Schwarm, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2023-09-20
Line count: 24
Word count: 92