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by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)
Translation Singable translation by Abram Markovich Efros (1888 - 1954)

Quante dirne si de' non si può dire
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  CAT LIT
Quante dirne si de' non si può dire,
chè troppo agli orbi il suo splendor s'accese:
Biasmar si può più 'l popol che 'l offese,
c'al suo men pregio ogni maggior salire.

Questo discese a' merti del fallire,
per l'util nostro, e poi a Dio ascese:
E le porte che 'l ciel non gli contese,
la patria chiuse al suo guisto desire.

Ingrata, dico, e della suo fortuna
a suo danno nutrice; ond' è ben segnio,
c' a' più perfetti abonda di più guai.

Fra mille altre ragion sol ha quest' una:
Se par non ebbe il suo esilio indegnio,
simil uom nè maggior non naqque mai.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 250 [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), "Quante dirne si de' non si può dire", op. 145 no. 7, from Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, no. 7, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • 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
  • ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "On Dante Alighieri", 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) (Ernest Lafond) (Edmond Lafond) , "Rime no. 250", appears in Dante, Pétrarque, Michel-Ange, Tasse, Sonnets choisis, first published 1948
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Hermann Friedrich Grimm) , "Dante", from Michelangelo: Gedichte und Briefe, first published 1907
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , subtitle: "Tarytum gerbiam, bet garbės tos maža", 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: 14
Word count: 107

Kak budto chtim, a vse zhe chest` mala
Language: Russian (Русский)  after the Italian (Italiano) 
Kak budto chtim, a vse zhe chest` mala.
Ego velich`e vzor nash oslepilo.
Chto chern` korit` za nizkoe merilo,
Kogda pusta i nasha poxvala!

On radi nas soshel v obitel` zla;
Gospodne czarstvo lik emu yavilo;
No dver`, chto dazhe nebo ne zakry'lo,
Pred alchushhim otchizna zaperla.

Neblagodarnaya! Sebe na gore
Ty' dlila muki sy'na svoego;
Tak sovershenstvu nizost` mstit ot veka,

Odin primer iz tex, kotory'x - more!
Kak net podlej izgnaniya ego,
Tak mir ne znal i vy'she cheloveka.

About the headline (FAQ)

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Show untransliterated (original) text

Text Authorship:

  • Singable translation by Abram Markovich Efros (1888 - 1954) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 250
    • 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 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Как будто чтим, а все же честь мала", op. 145 no. 7 (1974), from Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, no. 7, also set in Italian (Italiano) [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-10-03
Line count: 14
Word count: 80

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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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