by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
How like a winter hath my absence been
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
How like a winter hath my absence been From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! What old December's bareness everywhere! And yet this time remov'd was summer's time, The teeming autumn, big with rich increase, Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime, Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease: Yet this abundant issue seem'd to me But hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit; For summer and his pleasures wait on thee, And thou away, the very birds are mute; Or if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 97 [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 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet XCVII - How like the winter", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 15 (1944-7) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roxanna Panufnik (b. 1968), "How like a Winter", 2016, first performed 2016 [ soprano, cello and piano ], from Summer to Winter, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roxanna Panufnik (b. 1968), "Winter's Near", 2008, first performed 2008 [ tenor, french horn and piano ], from The Generation of Love, Peters Edition [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XCVII", 1864-5 [ medium voice or high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ludmilla Ulehla (b. 1923), "How like a winter hath my absence been" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Elizabeth Walton Vercoe (b. 1941), "How like a winter", 1994 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Varieties of Amorous Experience, no. 3, confirmed with composer's website [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Maciej Słomczyński (1922 - 1998) ; composed by Tadeusz Baird.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 97, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "E' stata la mia assenza simile a freddo inverno", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
This text was added to the website: 2005-08-06
Line count: 14
Word count: 107
Quel hiver a été pour moi ton absence
Language: French (Français) after the English
Quel hiver a été pour moi ton absence, ô toi, joie de l'année fugitive ! quels froids glacés j'ai sentis ! quels sombres jours j'ai vus ! partout quel désert gris de décembre ! Et pourtant le temps de notre séparation était le plein été ; c'était l'époque où l'automne féconde, chargée de riches moissons, portait dans son sein le gage d'amour du printemps, comme une veuve restée grosse après son mari mort. Mais moi je ne voyais dans cet abondant enfantement qu'une génération orpheline et des fruits sans parents ; car c'est près de toi qu'est l'été avec ses plaisirs, et, toi absent, les oiseaux même sont muets, Ou, s'ils chantent, c'est d'un ton si triste que les feuilles pâlissent, craignant que l'hiver ne soit proche.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 97, first published 1857 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 97
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: 2010-08-18
Line count: 14
Word count: 121