Das Geheimnis (Romani, set by (Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai, Giuseppe Verdi)) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

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by Felice Romani (1788 - 1865)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Se tranquillo a te d'accanto

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Available translation(s): CAT FRE GER

Se tranquillo a te d'accanto,
  Donna mia, talun mi vede,
  O felice appien mi crede,
  O guarito dall'amor:

Ma non tu, che sai pur quanto
  Combattuto e oppresso ho il cor.

Come lago, che stagnante
  Par che dorma, e appena mova,
  Ma tempeste in fondo cova
  Sconosciute al vïator,

[Muta]² calma ho nel sembiante,
  Ho scompiglio [in]² fondo al cor.

Se un sospiro, se un lamento
  Il timore a me contende,
  Dell'amore che m' accende
  Non scemò l' intenso ardor;

Come lampa in monumento,
  Non veduto avvampa in cor.

E vivrà benchè represso,
  Benchè privo di conforto;
  E vivrebbe, ancor che morto
  Lo volesse il tuo rigor:

Chè alimento da sè stesso
  Prende amore in nobil cor.

O. Nicolai sets stanzas 1-2

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Liriche del Cavaliere Felice Romani, Torino, Tipografia dei Fratelli Favale, 1841, pages 269-270.

Note: modern spelling changes "mova" to "muova"
¹ Verdi: "Ma tal"
² Verdi: "ho in"

Authorship

by Felice Romani (1788 - 1865), "Il mistero" [author's text checked 1 time 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 (Carl) Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (1810 - 1849), "Romanze: Il mistero", op. 24 no. 2, stanzas 1-2 [voice and piano], confirmed with a CD booklet [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901), "Il mistero", 1845 [voice and piano], from 6 Romanze, no. 5, 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 CAT FRE ; composed by Giuseppe Verdi.

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

Researcher for this text: Robert Grady

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 117

Das Geheimnis

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

Falls mich jemand, meine Liebe, 
neben dir gelassen sieht,
wähnt er mich im Liebesglücke
oder ganz geheilt von ihr.

Doch du nicht, die weiß, dass dennoch
mir unschlüssig und beklommen ist das Herz.

Wie ein See, der scheinbar stille,
beinah reglos, schlafend wirkt,
doch in Tiefen Stürme brütet,
die dem Wand’rer unbekannt,

ist mir, der nach außen ruhig,
Wirrnis tief ins Herz gebrannt.

Sei’s ein Seufzen, sei’s ein Klagen,
das die Furcht mir strittig macht,
Von der Lieb, die mich entzündet,
gebe ich die Glut nicht ab.

Wie ein Licht in einem Denkmal
brennt sie unsichtbar im Herz.

Und sie lebt, wiewohl verhalten,
wiewohl gänzlich unbestärkt,
lebte auch noch nach dem Tode,
so es deine Strenge wollt’,

denn in einem edlen Herzen
nährt sich Liebe aus sich selbst.

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 Felice Romani (1788 - 1865), "Il mistero"

This text was added to the website: 2015-10-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 128