Einem Stern | Schöner Stern am Erdenhimmel

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by Andrea Maffei (1798 - 1885)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Ad una stella

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE GER GER SPA

Bell'astro della terra, 
Luce amorosa e bella,
Come desia quest'anima
Oppressa e prigioniera
Le sue catene infrangere,
Libera a te volar!

Gl'ignoti abitatori
Che mi nascondi, o stella,
Cogl'angeli s'abbracciano
Puri fraterni amori,
Fan d'armonie cogl'angeli
La spera tua sonar.

Le colpe e i nostri affanni
Vi sono a lor segreti,
Inavvertiti e placidi 
Scorrono i giorni e gli anni,
Nè mai pensier li novera,
Nè li richiama in duol.

Bell'astro della sera,
Gemma che il cielo allieti,
Come alzerà quest'anima
Oppressa e prigioniera
Dal suo terreno carcere
Al tuo bel raggio il vol!

Note for stanza 2, line 6, word 2: Some publications and online sources have modernized the word "spera" to "sfera". As of June 13 2015, we found 3 out of 4 published books indexed by Google used the spelling "spera".

Text Authorship:

by Andrea Maffei (1798 - 1885) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901), "Ad una stella", 1845 [ voice and piano ], from 6 Romanze, no. 3, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Giuseppe Verdi.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A una estrella", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Betsy Schwarm) , "To a star", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "À une étoile", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "An einem Stern", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Einem Stern", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , "A una estrella", copyright © 2020, (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: 24
Word count: 94

Einem Stern

Language: German (Deutsch) after the Italian (Italiano)

Schöner Stern am Erdenhimmel
liebliches und schönes Licht,
wie verlangt doch diese Seele,
tief beklommen, eingesperrt,
ihre Fesseln abzustreifen,
um befreit zu dir zu fliegen.

Deine unbekannten Wesen, 
Stern, die du vor mir verbirgst:
Mit den Engeln sich umarmend
in geschwisterlicher Liebe,
lassen sie in Harmonien
laut dein Sternenrund erschallen.

Unsre Schuld und unser Kummer
sind euch ein Geheimnis dort;
unauffällig, still und leise
fließt die Zeit in Tag und Jahr;
niemand möchte sie je zählen,
ihrer sich im Schmerz erinnern.

Schöner Stern am Abendhimmel
Edelstein und Himmelsfreud’,
Könnt’ sich diese Seel’ erheben,
tief beklommen, eingesperrt,
aus dem Kerker hier auf Erden
hoch zu deinem Glanz im Flug!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2015 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
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Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Andrea Maffei (1798 - 1885)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-10-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 108