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When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd
The rich-proud cost of outworn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-raz'd,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
When I have seen the hungry ocean gain
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
And the firm soil win of the watery main,
Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;
When I have seen such interchange of state,
Or state itself confounded, to decay;
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate --
That Time will come and take my love away.
This thought is as a death which cannot choose
But weep to have, that which it fears to lose.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 64 [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 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet LXIV - When I have seen", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 10 (1944-7) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Adriana Hölszky (b. 1953), "Sonnett", 1983, first performed 1983 [ soprano, alto and 2 guitars ], Wiesbaden : Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Sonnet LXIV", 2002 [ medium voice, violin, cello, and piano ], from Aftermath, no. 5, Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet LXIV", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Marianne von Schrutka ; composed by Mathilde Kralik.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 64, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 111
Quando ho visto la mano del tempo deturpare il ricco e superbo sfarzo di un'età ormai morta e sepolta; Quando ho visto le più alte torri crollare, e bronzi eterni schiavi della mortale forza; Quando ho visto l'oceano ingordo inghiottire prendendone vantaggio, il regno della riva, e questa guadagno in perdita e perdita in guadagno poi mutare; Quando ho visto simili mutamenti di stato, e ogni stato stesso che torna, confuso, a decadere; Questa rovina, a riflettere mi ha insegnato che il Tempo verrà e rapirà il mio amore. Questo pensiero è come una morte che può soltanto, per tema di perdere ciò che si ha, muovere al pianto.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2025 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (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:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 64
This text was added to the website: 2025-07-17
Line count: 13
Word count: 109