I go forth, sailing on a cruel sea | I go forth, sailing on a cruel sea

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

Translation © by Andrew Schneider

Vo solcando un mar crudele

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

Vo solcando un mar crudele
Senza vele e senza sarte:
Freme l’onda, il ciel s’imbruna,
Cresce il vento e manca l’arte;
E il voler della fortuna
Son costretto a seguitar.

Infelice! in questo stato
Son da tutti abbandonato;
Meco sola è l’innocenza
Che mi porta a naufragar.

Text Authorship:

by Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (1698 - 1782), as Pietro Metastasio, written 1730, appears in Artaserse [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 Leonardo Vinci (1690 - 1730), "Vo solcando un mar crudele", HelN 78 no. 11 (1730), first performed 1730 [ soprano and strings ], from opera Artaserse, no. 11 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Andrew Schneider) , "I go forth, sailing on a cruel sea", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2018-03-30
Line count: 10
Word count: 47

I go forth, sailing on a cruel sea

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

I go forth, sailing on a cruel sea,
without sails, without shrouds.
The waves roar, the sky grows dark:
the wind grows, and skill fails me;
And I am constrained to follow
the will of Fortune.

Unhappy me! In this state,
Everyone abandons me;
Innocence alone remains with me, 
and she drives me to shipwreck.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2018 by Andrew Schneider, (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, written 1730, appears in Artaserse
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-03-31
Line count: 10
Word count: 55