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S'un casto amor, s'una pietà superna, S'una fortuna infra dua amanti equale, S'un'aspra sorte all'un dell'altro cale, S'un spirto, s'un voler duo cor governa; S'un'anima in duo corpi è fatta etterna, Ambo levando al cielo e con pari ale; S'amor c'un colpo e d'un dorato strale Le viscer di duo petti arda e discerna; S'amar l'un l'altro, e nessun se medesmo, D'un gusto e d'un diletto, a tal mercede, C'a un fin voglia l'uno e l'altro porre; Se mille e mille non sarien centesmo A tal nodo d'amore, a tanta fede; E sol l'isdegno il può rompere e sciorre.
Text Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 59 [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Sonetto XXXII", op. 22 no. 6 (1940), published 1943 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet XXXII", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Love's expostulation", 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 XXXII", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sophie Hasenclever) , "An Tommaso Cavalieri", from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Sonetas XXXII", 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
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: 99
If there is a chaste love, a heavenly pity, an equal fortune between two lovers, a bitter fate shared by both, and if a single spirit and one will governs two hearts; if one soul in two bodies is made eternal, raising both to heaven on the same wings; if love with one blow and one golden arrow can burn and pierce two hearts to the core; if each loves the other rather than himself, with a pleasure and delight so rewarding, that to the same end they both strive; if thousands upon thousands are not worth a hundredth part of such a loving bond of such a faith; then shall anger alone break and dissolve it?
Text 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.
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 59
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 118