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by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564) and by Giovan Battista Strozzi (1504 - 1571)
Translation by Sophie Hasenclever (1824 - 1892)

La Notte, che tu vedi in sì dolci atti
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  CAT FRE LIT
Strozzi:
 La Notte, che tu vedi in sì dolci atti
 dormir, fu da un angelo scolpita
 in questo sasso, e perchè dorme ha vita:
 Destala, se nol credi, e parleratti.

Michelangelo:
 Caro m' è 'l sonno, e più l'esser di sasso,
 mentre che 'l danno e la vergogna dura:
 Non veder, non sentir, m' è gran ventura;
 però non mi destar, deh! parla basso.

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: the first stanza is by G. Strozzi; the second stanza is Michelangelo's reply.

Text Authorship:

  • by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
  • by Giovan Battista Strozzi (1504 - 1571) [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 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "La Notte, che tu vedi in sì dolci atti", op. 145 no. 9, from Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, no. 9, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909) , "Night", appears in Poems and Ballads, Third Series, first published 1889 ; composed by John Reginald Lang-Hyde, Douglas MacDonald Stewart.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Abram Markovich Efros (1888 - 1954) ; composed by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Nuit", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Sophie Hasenclever) , no title, from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , subtitle: "Štai ta naktis, kur miega taip ramiai", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Caroline Diehl

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 64

Die Nacht, die wir in tiefem Schlummer...
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the Italian (Italiano) 
Auf die "Nacht" des Buonarroti von Giovanni Strozzi.
 "Die Nacht, die wir in tiefem Schlummer sehen,
 Ein Engel schuf sie hier aus diesem Stein,
 Und weil sie schläft, muss sie lebendig sein,
 Geh, wecke sie, sie wird dir Rede stehen."

Entgegnung Michelangelos
 "Schlaf ist mein Glück; so lange Schmach und Kummer
 Auf Erden dauern, besser Stein zu bleiben,
 Nicht sehn, nicht hören bei so schnödem Treiben.
 Sprich leise drum und stör' nicht meinen Schlummer."

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Sophie Hasenclever (1824 - 1892), no title, from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564) and by Giovan Battista Strozzi (1504 - 1571)
    • 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):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-08-12
Line count: 10
Word count: 74

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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

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