Placami, mia Lira | Placami, mia Lira, con i tuoi toni di soffuso dolore

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by William Smyth (1765 - 1849)

Translation © by Pietro Sirena

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

Placami, mia Lira

Language: Italian (Italiano) after the English

 Placami, mia Lira, con i tuoi toni di soffuso dolore,
 placa la tua triste signora che alla decadenza si avvia;
 più debole oggi, né domani migliore,
 come fiore appassisco e, ahimè, vado via.

 Pallida è la mia guancia -- ch'era bella voller giurarmi;
 ma penserebbe colui ch'avea con me danzato,
 e chi mi vide, e ora dovrebbe guardarmi,
 che questa è l'Ellen che aveva ammirato?

 Caro fu il mondo -- fui giovine e bella a vedere;
 ma non ho per la vita questo sospiro triste emesso,
 perché l'anima è ferma, con la sua speme e il dovere.
 Però: esser amata -- e dover morire adesso!

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2005 by Pietro Sirena, (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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in English by William Smyth (1765 - 1849)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 103