LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,102)
  • Text Authors (19,442)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
Translation by Ernest Falconnet (1815 - 1891)

Ἄστερες μὲν ἀμφὶ κάλαν σελάνναν
Language: Aeolic Greek 
Our translations:  GER SAN
Ἄστερες μὲν ἀμφὶ κάλαν σελάνναν
ἂψ ἀπυκρύπτοισι φάεννον εἶδος,
ὄπποτα πλήθοισα μάλιστα λάμπῃ
γᾶν [ἐπὶ πᾶσαν] ... 
  ἀργυρία ...

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: this is often referred to as Sappho Fragment 4 D.

Note: the transliteration of the incipit used in Killmayer's setting is: "Asteres men amfi kalan selannan"


Text Authorship:

  • by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE) [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 Wilhelm Killmayer (1927 - 2017), "Asteres", 1993-5, first performed 1995 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Sieben Lieder der Sappho, no. 4, Mainz, Schott [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wilhelm Killmayer (1927 - 2017), "Asteres men amfi kalan selannan", 1958 [ soprano and instrumental ensemble ], from Sappho - Fünf griechische Lieder, no. 3, Mainz, Schott [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wilhelm Killmayer (1927 - 2017), "Asteres men amfi kalan selannan", 1959/60, first performed 1961 [ soprano and small orchestra ], from Sappho - Fünf griechische Lieder, no. 4, Mainz, Schott [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Willis Barnstone (b. 1927) , copyright © ; composed by Cindy McTee.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Sheila Silver.
      • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Raoul Schrott (b. 1964) , appears in Die Erfindung der Poesie, first published 1997, copyright © ; composed by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • ENG English (Willis Barnstone) , copyright ©
  • FRE French (Français) (Ernest Falconnet)
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Holger Christian Teipel-Jahr) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SAN Sanskrit (संस्कृतम्) (Holger Christian Teipel-Jahr) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2012-02-20
Line count: 5
Word count: 17

Les étoiles cachent leurs feux brillants
Language: French (Français)  after the Aeolic Greek 
Les étoiles cachent leurs feux brillants 
dans le voisinage de la lune,
surtout lorsque parfaitement arrondi, 
ce bel astre éclaire la terre...

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Ernest Falconnet (1815 - 1891) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Aeolic Greek by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
    • Go to the text page.

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 page: Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2012-02-23
Line count: 4
Word count: 22

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris