La perla
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Our translations: ENG FRE
Sono del mare bianca la figlia,
son di conchiglia
pegno d'amor.
Nella nativa carcere oscura
vivo sicura
senza dolor.
Madre amorosa mi chiude in seno,
fronte sì piena
di voluttà.
Aura non beo, luce non veggo,
eppur non chieggo
più libertà.
Ahi! se per forza dal fondo mio
tolta son io,
tratta lassù,
a lume giungo, l'aer respiro,
ma già sospiro
per schiavitù!
In vil mercato passo venduta
e rivenduta
col nuovo sol,
chi non si cura di mia bellezza,
chi l'accarezza,
chi sua la vuol.
Finché per ultimo forse in un serto
di spin conserta
io brillerò,
e come lagrima pendula al ciglio,
il duol d'esiglio
accuserò.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• F. Liszt View text with all available footnotes
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Garrett Medlock) , "The pearl", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La perle", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2011-05-01
Line count: 30
Word count: 110
The pearl
Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)
I am the white daughter of the sea,
I am the shell’s
token of love.
In my dark native prison
I live safely
without pain.
A loving mother encloses me in her breast,
Her face so full
of delight.
I do not feel the breeze, I do not see the light,
but still I do not ask for
more freedom.
Ah! if by force from my sea-bottom
I am taken,
brought up above,
I receive the light, I breathe the air,
but still I sigh
for captivity!
In a base market I pass, sold
and resold
with the new day,
someone who does not care for my beauty,
another who caresses it,
another who wants it for their own.
Until at last, perhaps, in a halo
woven of thorns,
I will shine,
and like a tear hanging from the eye,
the pain of exile
I will take upon myself.
View text with all available footnotes
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2019 by Garrett Medlock, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2019-05-08
Line count: 30
Word count: 151
