by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)
Quanto si gode, lieta e ben contesta
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Quanto si gode, lieta e ben contesta di fior, sopra' crin d'or d'una, grillanda; che l'altro inanzi l'uno all' altro manda, come ch'il primo sia a baciar la testa! Contenta è tutto il giorno quella vesta che serra 'l petto, e poi par che si spanda; e quel c'oro filato si domanda le guanci, e 'l collo di toccar non resta. Ma più lieto quel nastro par che goda, dorato in punta, con sì fatte sempre, che preme e tocca il petto ch'egli allaccia. E la schietta cintura che s'annoda. Mi par dir seco: qui vo' stringier sempre! Or che farebbon dunche le mie braccia?
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 4 [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 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Quanto si gode, lieta e ben contesta", op. 145 no. 2, from Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, no. 2, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) , no title, appears in Michelangelo-Übertragungen ; composed by Willy Kehrer, Anton Schoendlinger.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Abram Markovich Efros (1888 - 1954) ; composed by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "The garland and the girdle", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Quelle joyeuse occupation", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Hermann Friedrich Grimm) , no title, from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , subtitle: "Nėra džiugesnio ir mielesnio darbo", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Caroline Diehl
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 105