by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
When to the sessions of sweet silent...
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste: Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe, And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight: Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, Which I new pay as if not paid before. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 30 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Sonnet XXX - "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought"", 2002 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from Five Sonnets, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet XXX - When to the sessions", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 4 (1944-7) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Sonnet XXX", 2001 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by David Leo Diamond (1915 - 2005), "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought", 1964, published 1967 [ high voice and piano ], from We Two, no. 9, New York : Southern [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Bernard van Dieren (1887 - 1936), "Sonnet XXX", 1916 [ baritone and orchestra ], from Diaphony (Diafonia), no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought", 2000, first performed 2001 [ baritone and piano ], from Love's Pilgrimage -- 5 songs for Baritone and Piano, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alan Hovhaness (1911 - 2000), "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought", op. 31 no. 2 (1939), published 1942? [ voice and piano ], from 2 Shakespeare Sonnets, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought", 1873-82, published 1887 [ voice and piano ], from Four Sonnets of Shakespeare, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XXX", 1864-5 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Japanese (日本語), a translation by Tsubouchi Shōyō (1859 - 1935) ; composed by Elliot Weisgarber.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Samuil Yakovlevich Marschak (1887 - 1964) , no title, appears in Шекспир Уильям - сонеты (Shekspir Uil'jam - sonety) = Sonnets of William Shakespeare, no. 30 ; composed by Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 30, first published 1857
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Quando dolci pensieri in silenzioso convegno", copyright © 2008, (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: 14
Word count: 116