LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,158)
  • Text Authors (19,574)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,115)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
Translation by Carl von Blankensee

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’, Ἀφρόδιτα
Language: Aeolic Greek 
Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’, Ἀφρόδιτα,
παῖ Дίος δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε,
μή μ’ ἄσαισι μηδ’  ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
πότνια, θῦμον·  

ἀλλὰ  τυίδ’    ἔλθ’ , αἴ  ποτα κἀτέρωτα
τὰς  ἔμας  αὔδας  ἀίοισα πήλοι
ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ  δόμον λίποισα
χρύσιον  ἦλθες

ἄρμ’ ὐπασδεύξαισα· καλοι δέ  σ’ ἆγον
ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
πύκνα δίννεντες  πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνωἴθερος
διὰ  μέσσω.

αἶψα  δ’  ἐξίκοντο·  σὺ  δ’, ὦ  μάκαιρα,
μειδιαίσαισ’  ἀθανάτωι προσώπωι
ἤρε’, ὄττι  δηὖτε  πέπονθα κὤττι
δηὖτε  κάλημμι

κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
μαινόλαι θύμωι.   ῾τίνα  δηὖτε  Πείθω
μαῖσ’  ἄγην ἐς  σὰν φιλότατα, τίς  σ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδικήει;

καὶ  γὰρ αἰ  φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
αἰ δὲ δῶρα  μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ  δώσει,
αἰ δὲ  μὴ  φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει
κωὐκ  ἐΘέλοισα.  ᾽

ἔλΘε μοι καὶ  νῦν,  χαλέπαν  δὲ  λῦσον
ἐκ  μερίμναν, ὄσσα  δὲ  μοι  τέλεσσαι
θῦμος  ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον,  σὺ  δ’  αὔτα
σύμμαχος  ἔσσο.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE) [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 Christos Hatzis (b. 1953), "Invocation to Aphrodite", published 1993, first performed 1995 [ soprano, clarinet, viola, cello, and piano ], from Three Songs on Poems by Sappho, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wilhelm Killmayer (1927 - 2017), "Poikilothron athanat' Afrodita", 1959/60, first performed 1961 [ soprano and small orchestra ], from Sappho - Fünf griechische Lieder, no. 5, Mainz, Schott [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "An Aphrodite", op. 9, Heft 9 no. 4 (1835), published 1840, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by John Plant , "Invocation to Aphrodite", first performed 1995 [ voice, flute, violin, cello and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Helen Maude Francesca Bantock, née von Schweitzer (1868 - 1961) [an adaptation] ; composed by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Margaret Ruthven Lang.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Walter Jens (1923 - 2013) , copyright © [an adaptation] ; composed by Aribert Reimann.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Carl von Blankensee ; composed by Carl Loewe.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Rudolf Bach (1901 - 1957) ; composed by Hermann Reutter.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by N. F. Arbenin ; composed by Anton Yulyevich Simon.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

  • ENG English (Henry Thornton Wharton)
  • ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Ode to Aphrodite", first published 1893
  • ENG English (John Plant) , copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Edwin Marion Cox) , first published 1924
  • ENG English (Ambrose Philips) , "A Hymn to Venus", written 1711
  • FRE French (Français) (Pauline Mary Tarn) , "à l’Aphrodita", first published 1903
  • FRE French (Français) (Jocelyne Fleury) , copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2007-12-10
Line count: 28
Word count: 133

An Aphrodite
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the Aeolic Greek 
Golden thronend, ewige Aphrodite,
Kind des Zeus listsinnendes, zu dir fleh ich:
Nicht mit Missmuth, nicht mit Betrübnis
Bänd'ge, Herrin, den sinn mir;
Sondern komm hieher,
wenn du auch sonst wohl
jemals meiner Stimme Ruf
aus der Ferne hörend ihn vernahmst,
und kamest des Vaters goldne Wohnung verlassend,
dein Gespann anschirrend;
dich zog das schöne schnelle Sperlingspaar,
um die schwarze Erde rasch
die Schwingen regend,
vom Himmel mitten her durch den Äther,
daß sie schnell anlangten,
und du, o Sel'ge, milde lächelnd
mit dem verklärten antlitz, fragtest,
was es sei, das ich leide,
weshalb nach dir ich rufe,
und wonach zumeist mit der Liebe Wahnsinn
mir das Herz verlangt,
und um wen in Sehsucht aus
ich warf das Netz, ihr zu fangen:
"Wer ist, Sappho, der Frevler?
Wenn er dich flieht jetzt,
er soll bald dir folgen;
wies er ab die Schenkerin,
er soll schenken;
wenn er nicht dich liebt,
er soll bald dich lieben,
wehrtest du's selber!"
Komm zu mir auch jetzt
Aus den bangen sorgen mich zu lösen,
und was das Herz, das heiße,
sehnsuchtsvoll anspricht,
gieb es all, du selbst sei Streiterin für mich!

Text Authorship:

  • by Carl von Blankensee  [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Aeolic Greek by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "An Aphrodite", op. 9, Heft 9 no. 4 (1835), published 1840, also set in Aeolic Greek [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2006-05-07
Line count: 36
Word count: 187

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris