by Andrea Maffei (1798 - 1885)
Translation © by Elisa Rapado

Ad una stella
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG FRE GER GER SPA
Bell'astro della terra, 
Luce amorosa e bella,
Come desia quest'anima
Oppressa e prigioniera
Le sue catene infrangere,
Libera a te volar!

Gl'ignoti abitatori
Che mi nascondi, o stella,
Cogl'angeli s'abbracciano
Puri fraterni amori,
Fan d'armonie cogl'angeli
La spera tua sonar.

Le colpe e i nostri affanni
Vi sono a lor segreti,
Inavvertiti e placidi 
Scorrono i giorni e gli anni,
Nè mai pensier li novera,
Nè li richiama in duol.

Bell'astro della sera,
Gemma che il cielo allieti,
Come alzerà quest'anima
Oppressa e prigioniera
Dal suo terreno carcere
Al tuo bel raggio il vol!

Note for stanza 2, line 6, word 2: Some publications and online sources have modernized the word "spera" to "sfera". As of June 13 2015, we found 3 out of 4 published books indexed by Google used the spelling "spera".

Text Authorship:

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

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A una estrella", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Betsy Schwarm) , "To a star", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "À une étoile", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "An einem Stern", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Einem Stern", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , "A una estrella", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 94

A una estrella
Language: Spanish (Español)  after the Italian (Italiano) 
Bello astro de la tierra
luce amorosa y bella
cómo desea esta alma,
oprimida y prisionera,
sus cadenas romper
y, libre, volar a ti.

Los habitantes ignotos
que me escondes, o estrella, 
con los ángeles se abrazan
de puro amor fraterno
hacen armonías con los ángeles
sonando mientras te esperan.

Las culpas y nuestros afanes
a ellos les son secretas.
Inadvertidos y plácidos
pasan los días y años 
ningún pensamiento les altera
ni les reclama el dolor.

Bello astro de la tarde,
gema que el cielo alienta
cómo elevaría a esta alma
oprimida y prisionera
de su terrena cárcel 
volar a tu bello entorno.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to Spanish (Español) copyright © 2020 by Elisa Rapado, (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:

 

This text was added to the website: 2020-10-10
Line count: 24
Word count: 104