To evening | Perhaps because you are the image, which I so cherish

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by Ugo Foscolo (1778 - 1827)

Translation © by Allen Shearer

Alla sera

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

Forse perché della fatal quiete
Tu sei l'immago, a me sì cara, vieni, 
O sera! E quando ti corteggian liete
Le nubi estive e i zeffiri sereni,

E quando dal nevoso aere inquiete 
Tenebre e lunghe all'universo meni,
Sempre scendi invocata, e le secrete 
Vie del mio cor soavemente tieni.

Vagar mi fai co' miei pensier su l'orme 
Che vanno al nulla eterno; e intanto fugge 
Questo reo tempo, e van con lui le torme 

Delle cure, onde meco egli si strugge;
E mentre io guardo la tua pace, dorme 
Quello spirto guerrier ch'entro mi rugge.

Text Authorship:

by Ugo Foscolo (1778 - 1827) [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 Goffredo Petrassi (1904 - 2003), "Alla sera", from Tre Liriche, no. 2. [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (Allen Shearer) , title 1: "To evening", copyright © 2010, (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: 14
Word count: 96

To evening

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

Perhaps because you are the image, which I so cherish, 
of the silence that is our fate, come, 
O evening! And whether summer clouds 
and serene breezes delicately court you, 

or whether from the frosty air you send 
shadows long and restless to the world, 
you always descend when invoked, and gently 
hold the secret byways of my heart. 

You set me and my thoughts a-wandering 
along the path to the eternal void; and then 
this wretched time flees, and with it 

the throng of woes afflicting it and me;
and while I behold your peacefulness, that warlike 
spirit that rages within me sleeps.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2010 by Allen Shearer, (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.
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Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Ugo Foscolo (1778 - 1827)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 104