Brief story | She seemed the dream of a poet

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by Ada Negri (1870 - 1945)

Translation © by Mario Giuseppe Genesi

Storia breve

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

Ella pareva un sogno di poeta;
Vestia sempre di bianco, e avea [sul]¹ viso
La calma d'una sfinge d'Oriente:

Le cadea sino ai fianchi il crin di seta;
Trillava un canto nel suo breve riso,
Era di statua il bel corpo indolente.

Amò, non fu riamata. In fondo al core,
Tranquilla in fronte, custodì la ria
Fiamma di quell'amor senza parole.

Ma quel desio la consumò... Nell'ore
D'un crepuscol d'Ottobre ella moria,
Come verbena quando manca il sole.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• P. Tirindelli

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Tirindelli: "nel"

Text Authorship:

by Ada Negri (1870 - 1945), "Storia breve" [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 Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936), "Storia breve", P. 52 (1904). [mezzo-soprano and piano] [ sung text verified 1 time]
by Pier Adolfo Tirindelli (1858 - 1937), "Storia breve" [ sung text verified 1 time]
by Glauco Velasquez (1883 - 1914), "Storia breve", op. 66 (1912). [voice and piano] [ sung text not verified ]

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

ENG English (Mario Giuseppe Genesi) , "Brief story", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-08-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 78

Brief story

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

She seemed the dream of a poet;
Always dressed in white, and had in her face
The calmness of a Sphinx of the East.

He silky hair reached her waist;
She trilled a song in her lover's brief smile,
Her indolent body seemed a statue.

She fell in love - but was not loved in return.
Deep in her heart, in her mind, she preserved
The vivid flame of her love without saying any words about it.

But she was consumed by desire
In the twilight hour of an October day she died
Like verbena without sunlight.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2017 by Mario Giuseppe Genesi, (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.
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Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Ada Negri (1870 - 1945), "Storia breve"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2017-11-13
Line count: 12
Word count: 96