Within my breast | Within my breast

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Circa mea pectora

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG ITA SPA

Choose for Diff

Circa mea pectora
multa sunt suspiria
de tua pulchritudine,
que me ledunt misere. Ah !

Mandaliet,
mandaliet,
min geselle
chumet niet.

Tui lucent oculi
sicut solis radii,
sicut splendor fulguris
lucem donat tenebris. Ah !

Mandaliet,
mandaliet,
min geselle
chumet niet.

Vellet deus, vellent dii,
quod mente proposui,
ut eius virginea
reserassem vincula. Ah !

Mandaliet,
mandaliet,
min geselle
chumet niet.

Text Authorship:

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300 [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 Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "Circa mea pectora", 1935-6 [ baritone and chorus ], from Carmina Burana, no. 18 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Ricolmo ho il petto (Baritono e coro)", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , "Mi pecho lleno", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2011-04-24
Line count: 24
Word count: 58

Within my breast

Language: English after the Latin

Choose for Diff

Within my breast 
are many sighs
over your beauty,
which pain me sorely. Ah!

Song of joy,
song of joy,
my beloved 
does not come.

Your eyes shine 
like the rays of the sun,
as a flash of lightning 
illuminates the darkness. Ah!

Song of joy,
song of joy,
my beloved 
does not come.

May God grant, may the gods grant
what I have resolved in my mind,
that I may loose
the fetters of her virginity.

Song of joy,
song of joy,
my beloved 
does not come.

Translator's note: the German refrain "mandaliet" has been interpreted in a wide variety of ways. I rely on the Middle High German dictionaries of Benecke, Müller and Zarncke (1866) and of Matthias Lexer (1878), which translate it as Freudenlied, "song of joy" (Lexer adds Tanzlied, "dance song").

Text Authorship:

Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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:

a text in Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-09-21
Line count: 24
Word count: 88