LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,102)
  • Text Authors (19,442)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

Sappho - Fünf griechische Lieder

Song Cycle by Wilhelm Killmayer (1927 - 2017)

1. Älthes, kal epoäsas  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Aeolic Greek 
ἦλθες, †καλ’† ἐπόησας, ἔγω δέ σ’ ἐμαιόμαν,
ὂν δ’ ἔψυξας ἔμαν φρένα καιομέναν πόθῳ. 

Text Authorship:

  • by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE), no title

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. O kala o chariessa kora  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Aeolic Greek 
ὦ κάλα, ὦ χαρίεσσα κόρα

Text Authorship:

  • by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE), no title

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. Fainetai moi kynos  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Aeolic Greek 
Φαίνεταί μοι κῆνοσ ἴͅσοσ θέοισιν
ἔμμεν’ ὤνηρ, ὄττισ ἐνάντιόσ τοι
ἰσδάνει καὶ πλάσιον ἆδυ φωνεί‑
    σασ ὐπακούει

καὶ γελαίσασ ἰμέρσεν, τό μ’ ἦ μὰν
καρδίαν ἐν στήθεσιν ἐπτόαισεν.
ὠσ γὰρ ἔσ σ’ ἴδω βρόχε’ ὤσ με φώνη‑
    σ’ οὐδὲν ἔτ’ εἴκει,

ἀλλ’ ἄκαν μὲν γλῶσσα μ’ ἔαγε, λέπτον
β’ αὔτικα χρῶι πῦρ ὐπαδεδρόμακεν,
ὀππάτεσσι δ’ οὐδὲν ὄρημμ’, ἐπιβρό‑
    μεισι δ’ ἄκουαι,

κὰδ δέ μ’ ἴδρωσ κακχέεται, τρόμοσ βὲ
λαῖσαν ἄγρει, χλωροτέρα βὲ ποίασ
ἔμμι, τεθνάκην δ’ ὀλίγω ’πιδεύησ
    φαίνομ’ ἔμ’ αὔται.

Text Authorship:

  • by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)

See other settings of this text.

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

  • ENG English (Henry Thornton Wharton)
  • FRE French (Français) (Ernest Falconnet) , "À une femme aimée"
  • FRE French (Français) (Pauline Mary Tarn) , "Ode à une Femme aimée", first published 1903
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , copyright ©

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Asteres men amfi kalan selannan  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Aeolic Greek 
Ἄστερες μὲν ἀμφὶ κάλαν σελάνναν
ἂψ ἀπυκρύπτοισι φάεννον εἶδος,
ὄπποτα πλήθοισα μάλιστα λάμπῃ
γᾶν [ἐπὶ πᾶσαν] ... 
  ἀργυρία ...

Text Authorship:

  • by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)

Go to the general single-text view

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

  • ENG English (Willis Barnstone) , copyright ©
  • FRE French (Français) (Ernest Falconnet)
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Holger Christian Teipel-Jahr) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SAN Sanskrit (संस्कृतम्) (Holger Christian Teipel-Jahr) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Note: this is often referred to as Sappho Fragment 4 D.

Note: the transliteration of the incipit used in Killmayer's setting is: "Asteres men amfi kalan selannan"


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5. Poikilothron athanat' Afrodita  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Aeolic Greek 
Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’, Ἀφρόδιτα,
παῖ Дίος δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε,
μή μ’ ἄσαισι μηδ’  ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
πότνια, θῦμον·  

ἀλλὰ  τυίδ’    ἔλθ’ , αἴ  ποτα κἀτέρωτα
τὰς  ἔμας  αὔδας  ἀίοισα πήλοι
ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ  δόμον λίποισα
χρύσιον  ἦλθες

ἄρμ’ ὐπασδεύξαισα· καλοι δέ  σ’ ἆγον
ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
πύκνα δίννεντες  πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνωἴθερος
διὰ  μέσσω.

αἶψα  δ’  ἐξίκοντο·  σὺ  δ’, ὦ  μάκαιρα,
μειδιαίσαισ’  ἀθανάτωι προσώπωι
ἤρε’, ὄττι  δηὖτε  πέπονθα κὤττι
δηὖτε  κάλημμι

κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
μαινόλαι θύμωι.   ῾τίνα  δηὖτε  Πείθω
μαῖσ’  ἄγην ἐς  σὰν φιλότατα, τίς  σ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδικήει;

καὶ  γὰρ αἰ  φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
αἰ δὲ δῶρα  μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ  δώσει,
αἰ δὲ  μὴ  φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει
κωὐκ  ἐΘέλοισα.  ᾽

ἔλΘε μοι καὶ  νῦν,  χαλέπαν  δὲ  λῦσον
ἐκ  μερίμναν, ὄσσα  δὲ  μοι  τέλεσσαι
θῦμος  ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον,  σὺ  δ’  αὔτα
σύμμαχος  ἔσσο.

Text Authorship:

  • by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)

See other settings of this text.

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

  • ENG English (Henry Thornton Wharton)
  • ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Ode to Aphrodite", first published 1893
  • ENG English (John Plant) , copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Edwin Marion Cox) , first published 1924
  • ENG English (Ambrose Philips) , "A Hymn to Venus", written 1711
  • FRE French (Français) (Pauline Mary Tarn) , "à l’Aphrodita", first published 1903
  • FRE French (Français) (Jocelyne Fleury) , copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
Total word count: 250
Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris