Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht | Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht

by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)

Translation by Walter Heinrich Robert-Tornow (1852 - 1895)

Non so se s'è la desïata luce

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Non so se s'è la desïata luce
Del suo primo fattor, che l' alma sente;
O se dalla memoria della gente
Alcun'altra beltà nel cor traluce;

O se fama o se sogno alcun produce
Agli occhi manifesto, al cor presente;
Di sè lasciando un non so che cocente,
Ch'è forse or quel ch'a pianger mi conduce;

Quel ch'i' sento e ch'i' cerco: e chi mi guidi
Meco non è; nè so ben veder dove
Trovar mel possa, e par c' altri mel mostri.

Questo, signor¹, m'avvien, po' ch'i' vi vidi;
C'un dolce amaro, un sí e no mi muove:
Certo saranno stati gli occhi vostri.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ This is thought to be Tommase de' Cavalieri.

Text Authorship:

by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 76 [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 Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "Non so se s'è la desïata luce", KSS 36 no. 2 (1923), published 2005, first performed 1980 [ voice and orchestra ], from Cinque sonetti di Michelagniolo Buonarroti, no. 2, Bath, The Sorabji Archive; critical edition [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Walter Heinrich Robert-Tornow (1852 - 1895) ; composed by Hugo Wolf.
- Go to the text.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) , no title, appears in Michelangelo-Übertragungen ; composed by Anton Schoendlinger.
- Go to the text.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Love's Loadstone", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "I do not know if it is the longed-for light", written 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Sophie Hasenclever) , from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 105

Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht

Language: German (Deutsch) after the Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG FRE LIT SPA

Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht
Von Gott, der sie erschuf? Ist es der Strahl
Von andrer Schönheit aus dem Jammertal,
Der in mein Herz Erinnrung weckend bricht?

Ist es ein Klang, ein Traumgesicht,
Das Aug und Herz mir füllt mit einem Mal
In unbegreiflich glüh'nder Qual,
Die mich zu Tränen bringt? Ich weiß es nicht.

Was ich ersehne, fühle, was mich lenkt,
Ist nicht in mir: sag mir, wie ich's erwerbe?
Mir zeigt es wohl nur eines Andren Huld;

Darein bin ich, seit ich dich sah, versenkt.
Mich treibt ein Ja und Nein, ein Süß und Herbe -
Daran sind, [Herrin]¹, deine Augen Schuld.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ in the original text by Michelangelo, this is a male (signor)

Text Authorship:

by Walter Heinrich Robert-Tornow (1852 - 1895) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 76
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht", 1897, from Drei Lieder nach Gedichten von Michelangelo, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this page: Torsten Roeder

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 104