Un cigno | Mio bianco cigno

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by Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906)

Translation © by Anna Maria Norberg-Schulz

En svane

Language: Norwegian (Bokmål)

Our translations: FRE ITA JPN

Min hvide svane
du stumme, du stille,
hverken slag eller trille
lod sangrøst ane.

Angst beskyttende
alfen, som sover,
altid lyttende
gled du henover.

Men sidste mødet,
da eder og øjne
var lønlige løgne,
ja da, da lød det!

I toners føden
du slutted din bane.
Du sang i døden;
du var dog en svane!

Text Authorship:

by Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906), "En svane", written 1871, appears in Digte [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 Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907), "En svane", op. 25 (Seks digt af Henrik Ibsen) no. 2 (1876), published 1876 [ voice and piano ], Copenhagen, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Henzen (1850 - 1910) , written c1890 ; composed by Edvard Grieg.
- Go to the text.

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

FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Un cygne", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Anna Maria Norberg-Schulz) , "Un cigno", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
JPN Japanese (日本語) (Naoyuki Okada) , "白鳥", copyright © 2025, (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: 16
Word count: 55

Un cigno

Language: Italian (Italiano) after the Norwegian (Bokmål)

Mio bianco cigno
Silenzioso e muto 
che della tua voce in seno nascondi 
il trillo e il canto.
 
Elfo che dall'ansia ripari,
che t'addormi in ascolto 
che fluttui silente
fino all'ultimo convegno

quando la tua apparenza
ti smentisce
e la tua forma 
altisonante suona.

S'arresta il tuo corso
alla nascita dei toni
ché morente gorgheggi
il canto del cigno che muore.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Norwegian (Bokmål) to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2006 by Anna Maria Norberg-Schulz, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Anna Maria Norberg-Schulz. Contact: contact: elinorberg (AT) fastwebnet (DOT) it
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Norwegian (Bokmål) by Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906), "En svane", written 1871, appears in Digte
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2006-06-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 61