by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)

Language: English 
Our translations:  CHI
As the moon's soft splendor 
O'er the faint, cold starlight of heaven
  Is thrown,
So thy voice most tender
To the strings without soul has given
  Its own.

The stars will awaken,
Though the moon sleep a full hour later
  Tonight: 
No leaf will be shaken
Whilst the dews of thy melody scatter
  Delight.

Though the sound overpowers,
Sing again, with thy sweet voice revealing
  A tone 
Of some world far from ours,
Where music and moonlight and feeling
  Are one.

Composition:

    Set to music by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867 - 1944), "Ariette", op. 1 (Four Songs) no. 4, published 1885 [ medium voice and piano ], Boston, Arthur P. Schmidt

Text Authorship:

  • by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "An Ariette for Music. To a Lady singing to her Accompaniment on the Guitar", first published 1832

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , title 1: "Arie pro hudbu", title 2: "Paní, jež zpívala při průvodu kytary", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 81