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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author and sometimes misattributed to Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620)
Translation © by Antonio Zencovich

What if a day, or a month, or a yeare
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
What if a day, or a month, or a yeare
Crown thy delights with a thousand sweet contentings?
Cannot a chance of a night or an howre
Crosse thy desires with as many sad tormentings?
Fortune, honor, beauty, youth
Are but blossoms dying;
Wanton pleasure, doating love,
Are but shadowes flying.
All our joyes are but toyes,
Idle thoughts deceiving;
None have power of an howre
In their lives bereaving.

Earthes but a point to the world, and a man
Is but a point to the worlds compared centure:
Shall then a point of a point be so vaine
As to triumph in a seely points adventure?
All is hassard that we have,
There is nothing biding;
Dayes of pleasure are like streames
Through faire meadowes gliding.
Weale and woe, time doth goe,
Time is ever turning:
Secret fates guide our states,
Both in mirth and mourning

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Richard Alison’s An Howres Recreation in Musicke, 1606.

Most likely misattributed to Campion, as discussed in A. E. H. Swan's 1907 paper "The Authorship of 'What if a Day,' and Its Various Versions" (Modern Philology, vol. 4, no. 3, Jan. 1907, pp. 397-422). Swan cites the first known appearance of the text in the Scottish Metrical Psalter, published in 1566 (one year before Campion was born), held by the British Museum (add. 33,933, fol. 81b)


Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, first published 1606 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
  • sometimes misattributed to Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620)

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

  • possibly by John Dowland (1562 - 1626), "What if a day, or a month, or a yeare?", P. 79 (1602?) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Antonio Zencovich) , "Cosa vuol dire se un giorno, un mese o anche un anno?", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Antonio Zencovich , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2017-02-09
Line count: 24
Word count: 147

Cosa vuol dire se un giorno, un mese o anche un anno?
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Cosa vuol dire se un giorno, un mese o anche un anno
Coronano i tuoi sogni con mille allegre soddisfazioni?
Credi non possano le conseguenze di una notte o di un’ora
Distruggere le tue speranze con altrettanti tristi tormenti?
Fortuna, onore, bellezza, gioventù
Sono fiori che già stanno appassendo;
Un piacere sfrenato, un folle amore
Ombre fuggevoli.
Tutte le nostre gioie altro non sono che infantili trastulli,
Fatue ubbie mendaci.
Nulla ha il potere di un’ora
Nel far diventare misera una vita.

La terra è un punto dell’universo e un uomo
Un punto di fronte alla vastità del creato.
Come può il punto di un punto essere così fatuo
Da esultare in qualche passaggio dell’odissea dello spirito?
Tutto quanto abbiamo ci viene dato per caso.
Nulla esiste di stabile:
I giorni lieti sono come ruscelli
Che scorrono tra boschetti graziosi,
Ma alla felicità segue il dolore, il tempo non si ferma
E tutto è in continua trasformazione.
Un disegno occulto guida il nostro cammino
Nella gioia come nel pianto.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2017 by Antonio Zencovich, (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 English by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title, first published 1606 and misattributed to Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620)
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2017-02-09
Line count: 24
Word count: 169

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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