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by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)

Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE LIT SPA
Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai
Ch'i veni per goderti più da presso;
E sai ch'i' so, che tu sa' c'i' son desso:
A che più indugio a salutarci omai?
Se vera è la speranza che mi dai,
Se vero è 'l buon desio che m'è concesso,
Rompasi il mur fra l'uno e l'altro messo;
Chè doppia forza hann' i celati guai.
S'i' amo sol di te, signor mie caro,
Quel che di te più ami, non ti sdegni;
Che l'un dell'altro spirto s'innamora,
Quel che nel tuo bel volto bramo e 'mparo,
E mal compres' è degli umani ingegni,
Chi 'l vuol veder, convien che prima mora.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   K. Sorabji 

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

  • by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 60 [author's text not yet checked 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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Sonetto LV", op. 22 no. 4 (1940), published 1943 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, no. 4, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai", KSS 36 no. 1 (1923), published 2005, first performed 1980 [ voice and orchestra ], from Cinque sonetti di Michelagniolo Buonarroti, no. 1, 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 Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) , no title, appears in Michelangelo-Übertragungen ; composed by Richard Sturzenegger.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet LV", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Love's entreaty", 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) , "You know that I know, my lord, that you know", written 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet LV", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 115

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