From a spirit that ignites me

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio

Translation © by Laura Prichard

D'un genio che m'accende

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

D'un genio che m'accende,
Tu vuoi ragion da me?
Non ha ragione amore,
O, se ragione intende,
Subito amor non è.

Un amoroso foco
Non può spiegarsi mai.
Dì che lo sente poco
Chi ne ragiona assai,
Chi ti sa dir perchè.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Tutte le opere di Pietro Metastasio, Firenze, Tipografia Borghi e compagni 1832, page 123.

The text appears in Semiramide, atto III, scena VII, Aria di Tamiri.

Text Authorship:

by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio, no title, written 1729, appears in Semiramide [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 Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848), "D'un genio, che m'accende" [voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Vincenzo Righini (1756 - 1812), "D' un genio, m' accende", op. 7 no. 6, published [c1805/6] [voice and piano], from Sammlung deutscher und italienischer Gesänge mit Begleitung des Pianoforte, Heft V, no. 5, from Dodici Ariette, no. 6, Leipzig: Bei C. F. Peters (Bureau de Musique.) ; German incipit: "Du fragst von meiner Liebe" [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-05-01
Line count: 10
Word count: 42

From a spirit that ignites me

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

From a spirit that ignites me,
you expect reason from me?
Love has no reason,
or, if one listens to reason,
suddenly it’s not love.

An amorous flame
can never be explained:
but that one feels it a bit,
[that] one argues about it a lot,
who can say why.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2015 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio, no title, written 1729, appears in Semiramide
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 10
Word count: 50