One who was lovesick | One who was lovesick

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sometimes misattributed to Ottavio Rinuccini (1562 - 1621)

Translation © by Sven Wifstrand

Sfogava con le stelle

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG FRE GER

Sfogava con le stelle
un'infermo d'Amore
sotto notturno ciel il suo dolore,
e dicea fisso in loro:
O imagini belle del'idol mio ch'adoro
si com'a me mostrate,
mentre cosi splendete,
la sua rara beltate
cosi mostrast'a lei
i vivi ardori miei
la fareste col vostr'aureo sembiante
pietosa si come me fat'amante.

Text Authorship:

sometimes misattributed to Ottavio Rinuccini (1562 - 1621) [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 Giulio Caccini (1546 - 1618), "Sfogava con le stelle", published 1601, from Le nuove musiche, no. 9. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643), "Sfogava con le stelle", published 1603 [ vocal quintet], from Libro IV de madrigali, no. 4, madrigal [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sven Wifstrand) , "One who was lovesick", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Se confiant aux étoiles", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sven Wifstrand

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 51

One who was lovesick

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

One who was lovesick 
cried out his pain 
to the stars in the night
and said looking up to them:
O you beautiful pictures of my loved one
just as you show me
when you are gleaming,
her outstanding beauty
show her also
how I burn for her
and make her with your golden face as merciful to me
as you make me love her.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © by Sven Wifstrand, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Sven Wifstrand. Contact: svensays (AT) gmail (DOT) com
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Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) misattributed to Ottavio Rinuccini (1562 - 1621)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 65