by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)
Translation by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Veggio co' be' vostr'occhi un dolce lume
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Veggio co' be' [vostr'occhi]1 un dolce lume che co' mie ciechi già veder non posso; porto co' vostri piedi un pondo addosso, che de' mie zoppi non è già costume. Volo con le vostr'ale senza piume; col [vostro ingegno]2 al ciel sempre son mosso; dal [vostro arbitrio]3 son pallido e rosso, freddo al sol, caldo alle più fredde brume. Nel voler vostro è sol la voglia mia, i miei pensier nel vostro cor si fanno, nel vostro fiato son le mie parole. Come luna da sé sol par ch'io sia, ché gli occhi nostri in ciel veder non sanno se non quel tanto che n'accende il sole.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Britten: "vostri occhi"
2 Britten: "vostr'ingegno"
3 Britten: "vostr'arbitrio"
Text Authorship:
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 89 [author's text checked 1 time 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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Sonetto XXX", op. 22 no. 3 (1940), published 1943 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jeanne Leleu (1898 - 1979), "Veggio co' be' vostr' occhi un dolce lume", 1924, published 1925 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Sonnets de Michel-Ange Buonarroti, no. 2, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel, also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Michel Augustin Varcollier (1795 - 1883) , appears in Poésies de Michel-Ange Buonarroti, peintre, sculpteur et architecte florentin, Paris, Éd. Hesse et Cie., first published 1826 ; composed by Jeanne Leleu.
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- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) , no title, appears in Michelangelo-Übertragungen ; composed by Christoph Alexander Garbe, Willy Kehrer, Harald Lie, Anton Schoendlinger.
- Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Leopold Staff (1878 - 1957) ; composed by Romuald Twardowski.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet XXX", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "To Tommaso de' Cavalieri: Love the light-giver", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet XXX", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Hermann Friedrich Grimm) , "An Tommaso Cavalieri", from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (José Miguel Llata) , copyright © 2020, (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: 14
Word count: 111
Mit deinen Augen seh ich süßes Licht
Language: German (Deutsch) after the Italian (Italiano)
Mit deinen Augen seh ich süßes Licht, das ich mit meinen blinden nicht mehr schaue, und, das ich, lahm, zu tragen mich getraue, mit deinen Füßen trag ich dies Gewicht. Dem Federlosen giebt dein Flügel halt, dein Geist weiß mich zum Himmel zu entfachen, du hast die Macht, mich rot und blaß zu machen, im Froste heiß und in der Sonne kalt. In deinem Willen ist mein Wille drin, mein Denken wird in deiner Brust bereitet, in meine Worte weht dein Atem ein. Es scheint, daß ich dem Monde ähnlich bin, den unser Auge oben nur begleitet, soweit die Sonne ihn versieht mit Schein.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Übertragungen, Leipzig : Insel-Verlag, 1927, p.230
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Michelangelo-Übertragungen [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), no title, appears in Rime, no. 89
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Christoph Alexander Garbe (b. 1977), "Mit deinen Augen", published 1999 [ low voice and piano ], Selbstverlag [sung text not yet checked]
- by Willy Kehrer (1902 - 1976), "Mit deinen Augen", op. 1119 no. 1 (1946) [ baritone and piano ], from Michelangelo-Zyklus, no. 1, Thüringen : Willy-Kehrer-Archiv Schmölln [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harald Lie (1902 - 1942), "Mit deinen Augen", op. 9 (Zwei Sonetten von Michelangelo) no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Anton Schoendlinger (1919 - 1983), "Mit deinen Augen seh' ich süßes Licht", 1980 [ tenor, viola, flute and harpsichord ], from Fünf Sonette; Michelangelo Buonarroti; Deutsche Nachdichtung von Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-09-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 104