by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation by Roberto Ascoli ( flourished 1891-1930 )
Arethusa
Language: English
Arethusa arose From her couch of snows In the Acroceraunian mountains, -- From cloud and from crag, With many a jag, Shepherding her bright fountains. She leapt down the rocks, With her rainbow locks Streaming among the streams; -- Her steps paved with green The downward ravine Which slopes to the western gleams; And gliding and springing She went, ever singing, In murmurs as soft as sleep; The Earth seemed to love her, And Heaven smiled above her, As she lingered towards the deep. Then Alpheus bold, On his glacier cold, With his trident the mountains strook; And opened a chasm In the rocks--with the spasm All Erymanthus shook. And the black south wind It unsealed behind The urns of the silent snow, And earthquake and thunder Did rend in sunder The bars of the springs below. And the beard and the hair Of the River-god were Seen through the torrent's sweep, As he followed the light Of the fleet nymph's flight To the brink of the Dorian deep. 'Oh, save me! Oh, guide me! And bid the deep hide me, For he grasps me now by the hair!' The loud Ocean heard, To its blue depth stirred, And divided at her prayer; And under the water The Earth's white daughter Fled like a sunny beam; Behind her descended Her billows, unblended With the brackish Dorian stream: -- Like a gloomy stain On the emerald main Alpheus rushed behind, -- As an eagle pursuing A dove to its ruin Down the streams of the cloudy wind. Under the bowers Where the Ocean Powers Sit on their pearled thrones; Through the coral woods Of the weltering floods, Over heaps of unvalued stones; Through the dim beams Which amid the streams Weave a network of coloured light; And under the caves, Where the shadowy waves Are as green as the forest's night: -- Outspeeding the shark, And the sword-fish dark, Under the Ocean's foam, And up through the rifts Of the mountain clifts They passed to their Dorian home. And now from their fountains In Enna's mountains, Down one vale where the morning basks, Like friends once parted Grown single-hearted, They ply their watery tasks. At sunrise they leap From their cradles steep In the cave of the shelving hill; At noontide they flow Through the woods below And the meadows of asphodel; And at night they sleep In the rocking deep Beneath the Ortygian shore; -- Like spirits that lie In the azure sky When they love but live no more.
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Arethusa", written 1820, first published 1824 [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 Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Arethusa", published 1927 [ 6-part women's chorus a cappella ], no. h. 12276 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Franz Carl Bornschein (1879 - 1948), "Arethusa", published 1926 [ soprano, SSA chorus, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ellen Dickson (1819 - 1878), as Dolores, "Arethusa", published 1861 [ voice and piano ], London [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Roberto Ascoli ( flourished 1891-1930 ) , "Aretusa" ; composed by Ottorino Respighi.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Arethusa"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2005-01-30
Line count: 90
Word count: 415
Aretusa
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English
Sorge Aretusa, lieve, dal suo letto di neve nei tempestosi Acroceranni monti dalla rapida balza e dalla nube s'alza, e al pascolo conduce le sue fonti. Salta le roccie, e ai venti sparge le iridescenti chiome che ai rivi gettano fulgori i passi ornan di verde il pendio che si perde dell'occidente ai tremuli bagliori. E scorrendo e cantando in un murmure blando come il sonno ella fluttua gioconda. E all'abisso si spinge mentre d'amor la cinge la terra e di sorriso il ciel la inonda. Ed ecco dall'algente ghiacciaio col tridente scuote Alfeo le montagne e dall'estrema roccia un varco si schiude sotto l'impeto rude spasima tutto l'Erimanto e trema. Del mezzogiorno il tetro vento, celato dietro l'urne di neve candide e silenti e il terremoto e il tuono squarcian con cupo suono gli argini nel profondo alle sorgenti. "Oh! tu salvami! Guidami, ed all'abisso grida d'occultarmi! Ei la chioma già mi afferra!" L'oceano dalle fonde azzurrità risponde fremendo dalla sua prece si disserra. La candida figliola della terra s'invola sotto l'acqua al sol raggio lucente; le onde sue discese dietro i suoi passi illese restano dalla dorica corrente. Cupa macchia sul mare di smeraldo ecco appare Alfeo che quasi a vol dietro le piomba; come aquila che investa, persa nella tempesta del vento nubiloso una colomba. Sotto gli archi azzurrini, dove i Numi marini stanno in troni di perle; nelle ascose selvette, ove tra l'onde il corallo profonde i rami; sulle pietre radiose; tra i rai cupolucenti, che fan nelle correnti reti di luce colorata in teste; sotto le grotte, dove la fosca onda si muove verde come la notte alle foreste; sotto la sonora spuma del mar; tra i cupi frastagli delle rupi; giunsero alla lor dorica dimora. Oggi, d'Enna tra i monti, dalle native fonti compion delle acque gli agili lavori giù per la valle: amici, disgiunti un dì, felici ora che un solo cuore sono i due cuori. Da lor culle, nel vivo della roccia in declivio, balzano appena l'alba imbianca il cielo; errano a mezzogiorno tra le selve d'intorno tra le praterie dell'asfodelo. E dormon nella notte entro le cave grotte sotto l'Ortigia, che discende giù: spiriti che han riposo nel cielo radioso; amano ancora ma non vivon più.
Text Authorship:
- by Roberto Ascoli ( flourished 1891-1930 ), "Aretusa" [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Arethusa", written 1820, first published 1824
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936), "Aretusa", published 1911 [voice and orchestra], Milan, Ricordi ; also in a German translation by R. S. Hoffmann [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-10-02
Line count: 84
Word count: 375