by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
Translation by Giacomo Leopardi (1798 - 1837)
Oscuro è il ciel
Language: Italian (Italiano) after the Aeolic Greek
Our translations: SPA
Oscuro è il ciel; Nell'onde la luna già s'asconde E in seno al mar le Plejadi Già discendendo van. È mezzanotte, E l'ora passa frattanto, E sola qui sulle piume Ancora veglio ed attendo in van.
Text Authorship:
- by Giacomo Leopardi (1798 - 1837) [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Aeolic Greek by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE), no title, appears in Fragments, no. 168B
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880 - 1968), "Oscuro è il ciel", from Due canti d'amore, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Henry Thornton Wharton (1846 - 1895) , no title ; composed by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir.
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Ned Rorem.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Charles Chaynes.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Walter Jens (1923 - 2013) , copyright © [an adaptation] ; composed by Aribert Reimann.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803) , no title, appears in Stimmen der Völker in Liedern, in 2. Das zweite Buch. Lieder aus dem Süd, in 5. Fragmente griechischer Lieder. Sappho, no. 2 ; composed by Mathilde von Kralik.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Rudolf Bach (1901 - 1957) ; composed by Hermann Reutter.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , copyright © ; composed by Olga Neuwirth.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Dorothea Hofmann (b. 1961) , copyright © ; composed by Dorothea Hofmann.
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- Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Salvatore Quasimodo (1901 - 1968) [an adaptation] ; composed by Goffredo Petrassi.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov (1866 - 1949) , "Ожидание", appears in Сапфо и Алкей (Sapfo i Alkej) ; composed by Arthur Vincent Lourié.
- Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Gustaf Emil Zilliacus (1878 - 1961) ; composed by Staffan Björklund.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , "Oscuro está el cielo", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 36