Wie sanft du bist | Wie sanft du bist

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by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

O come se' gentile

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG FRE GER

O come [se']¹ gentile,
caro augellino! O quanto
è il mio stato amoroso al tuo simìle!
[Tu prigion, io prigion]²; tu canti, io canto;
tu canti per colei
che t'ha legato, ed io canto per lei.
Ma in questo è differente
la mia sorte dolente:
che giova pur a te l'esser canoro;
vivi cantando, ed io cantando moro.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• C. Monteverdi

About the headline (FAQ)

View text without footnotes
¹ Monteverdi: "sei"
² Monteverdi: "Io prigion, tu prigion"

Text Authorship:

by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612), "Avventuroso augello", appears in Rime, no. 52, first published 1598 [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 Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643), "O come sei gentile, caro augellino", published 1619 [ chorus ], from Libro VII de madrigali, no. 4, madrigal
Score: IMSLP [external link] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in English, adapted by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title ; composed by John Danyel.
- Go to the text.

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-03-26
Line count: 10
Word count: 60

Wie sanft du bist

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

Wie sanft du bist,
liebes Vöglein! O wie
mein verliebt sein deinem gleicht!
Du bist gefangen, ich bin gefangen; du singst, ich singe;
du singst für die eine,
die dich an sich gebunden hat,
und ich singe für sie:
Aber hierin unterscheidet es sich
mein trauriges Los:
Für dich lohnt sich dein Singen;
du lebst singend, und ich sterbe singend.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2008 by Bertram Kottmann, (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.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
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Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612), "Avventuroso augello", appears in Rime, no. 52, first published 1598
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2008-03-26
Line count: 11
Word count: 60