Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy. Why lovest thou that which thou receivest not gladly, Or else receivest with pleasure thine annoy? If the true concord of well-tunèd sounds, By unions married, do offend thine ear, They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear. Mark how one string, sweet husband to another, Strikes each in each by mutual ordering, Resembling sire and child and happy mother, Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing. Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one, Sings this to thee: "Thou single wilt prove none."
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Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 8
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot) , no title, appears in Œuvres Complètes de Shakspeare Volume VIII, in Sonnets, no. 8, first published 1863
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 8, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Tu, musica all'orecchio, perché triste la musica ascolti?", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Jeroen Scholten
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 110
Ты - музыка, но звукам музыкальным Ты внемлешь с непонятною тоской. Зачем же любишь то, что так печально, Встречаешь муку радостью такой? Где тайная причина этой муки? Не потому ли грустью ты объят, Что стройно согласованные звуки Упреком одиночеству звучат? Прислушайся, как дружественно струны Вступают в строй и голос подают, - Как будто мать, отец и отрок юный В счастливом единении поют. Нам говорит согласье струн в концерте, Что одинокий путь подобен смерти.
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Note on TransliterationsComposition:
- Set to music by Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky (1904 - 1987), "Ты - музыка", op. 52 no. 7 (1953-5), from Десять сонетов Шекспира (Desjat' sonetov Shekspira) = Ten Sonnets of Shakespeare, no. 7
Text Authorship:
- by Samuil Yakovlevich Marschak (1887 - 1964), no title, appears in Шекспир Уильям - сонеты (Shekspir Uil'jam - sonety) = Sonnets of William Shakespeare, no. 8
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 8
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-04
Line count: 14
Word count: 71