by William Smyth (1765 - 1849)
O soothe me, my lyre
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
O soothe me, my lyre, with thy tones of soft sorrow, O soothe thy sad mistress that sinks in decay, Fainter today, to be fainter tomorrow, I fade like the flow'r and am passing away. Pale is my cheek, - it was fair as they told me - Who in the dance that but lately had been, Who that had seen me, and now should behold me, Would think me the Ellen that there he had seen? Dear was the world - I had youth, I had beauty, But 'tis not for life that I heave this sad sigh - Firm is my soul in its hope and its duty, - But oh! To be lov'd - then untimely to die.
Text Authorship:
- by William Smyth (1765 - 1849) [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 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "O soothe me, my lyre", WoO. 153 (20 Irische Lieder mit Begleitung von Pianoforte, Violine und Violoncello) no. 7, G. 224 no. 7, published 1814/6 [ voice, piano, violin, violoncello ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Georg Pertz) , "O tröste mich, Harfe"
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Pietro Sirena) , "Placami, mia Lira", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2005-01-12
Line count: 12
Word count: 115