Strozzi:
 La Notte, che tu vedi in sì dolci atti
 dormir, fu da un angelo scolpita
 in questo sasso, e perchè dorme ha vita:
 Destala, se nol credi, e parleratti.

Michelangelo:
 Caro m' è 'l sonno, e più l'esser di sasso,
 mentre che 'l danno e la vergogna dura:
 Non veder, non sentir, m' è gran ventura;
 però non mi destar, deh! parla basso.

Note: the first stanza is by G. Strozzi; the second stanza is Michelangelo's reply.

Composition:

Set to music by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), no title, op. 145 no. 9, from Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, no. 9, also set in Russian (Русский)

Text Authorship:

• by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)
• by Giovan Battista Strozzi (1504 - 1571)

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Nuit", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Sophie Hasenclever) , no title, from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
• LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , subtitle: "Štai ta naktis, kur miega taip ramiai", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Caroline Diehl

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 64