by
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
How happy is the little stone
Language: English
Our translations: FRE GER ITA
How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And doesn't care about careers,
And exigencies never fears;
Whose coat of elemental brown
A passing universe put on;
And independent as the sun,
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute decree
In casual simplicity.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Allyson Brown Applebaum (b. 1955), no title, published 1975 [ SA chorus and piano ], from Songs from Emily [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "The little stone", 194-?, published 1952 [ medium voice and piano ], from Quiet Airs, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956), "How happy is the little stone", first performed 2000 [ soprano and piano ], from Too Few the Mornings Be. Eleven Songs for Soprano and Piano, no. 9, Carl Fischer Music [sung text not yet checked]
- by Andrew Hudson , "How happy is the little stone", from Four Poems of Emily Dickinson, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
- by John C. Heiss (b. 1938), "From "If I Shouldn't be Alive" and "How Happy is the Little Stone"", published 1978 [ mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, and piano ], from Songs of Nature
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2009, (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: 10
Word count: 46
Come è felice il ciottolo
Language: Italian (Italiano) after the English
Come è felice il ciottolo
che vaga solitario per la strada,
senza pensiero di carriere
o tema di bisogni;
Vestito di scuro elemento
ha messo su un universo effimero;
e, come il sole indipendente,
ad altri si accompagna o solitario splende,
obbedendo a una legge assoluta
nella semplicità più fortuita.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2009 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2009-12-07
Line count: 10
Word count: 50