by Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel (1834 - 1894)
Translation © by Manuel Capdevila i Font

Sea slumber song
Language: English 
Our translations:  CAT CAT GER ITA
Sea-birds are asleep,
The world forgets to weep,
Sea murmurs her soft slumber-song
On the shadowy sand
Of this elfin land;
"I, the Mother mild, 
Hush thee, O my child,
Forget the voices wild!
Isles in elfin light
Dream, the rocks and caves,
Lull'd by whispering waves,
Veil their marbles bright.
Foam glimmers faintly white
Upon the shelly sand
Of this elfin land;
Sea-sound, like violins,
To slumber woos and wins,
I murmur my soft slumber-song,
Leave woes, and wails, and sins,
Ocean's shadowy might
Breathes good night,
  Good night!"

Confirmed with Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895, Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1895, Bartleby.com, 2003. www.bartleby.com/246/474.html.


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):

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Cançó de bressol del mar", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Manuel Capdevila i Font) , "Cançó de bressol del mar", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Meeresschlummerlied", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Ninna nanna marina", copyright © 2010, (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: 22
Word count: 90

Cançó de bressol del mar
Language: Catalan (Català)  after the English 
Els ocells marins dormen,
el món s’oblida de plorar,
el mar xiuxiueja la seva suau cançó de bressol
en la sorra ombriva
d’aquest país màgic;
“Jo, la dolça mare,
et calmo, oh fill meu,
oblida les veus esquerpes!
Illes de llum màgica
somnien, les roques i les grutes,
bressolades per ones murmuradores,
dissimulen llurs marbres brillants.
L’escuma brilla suaument blanca
sobre la sorra plena de closques
d’aquest país màgic;
el so de la mar, com de violins,
per adormir festeigs i victòries,
murmuro la meva dolça cançó de bressol,
deixa penes, i queixes i pecats.
La força de l’ombrívol oceà pot 
desitjar bona nit,
bona  nit... bona nit...

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2025 by Manuel Capdevila i Font, (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: 

Based on:

 

This text was added to the website: 2025-06-18
Line count: 22
Word count: 108