As the moon's soft splendor O'er the faint, cold starlight of heaven Is thrown, So thy voice most tender To the strings without soul has given Its own. The stars will awaken, Though the moon sleep a full hour later Tonight: No leaf will be shaken Whilst the dews of thy melody scatter Delight. Though the sound overpowers, Sing again, with thy sweet voice revealing A tone Of some world far from ours, Where music and moonlight and feeling Are one.
E. Elgar sets stanzas 1, 3
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "An Ariette for Music. To a Lady singing to her Accompaniment on the Guitar", first published 1832 [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 Juriaan Andriessen (1925 - 1996), "Ariette", published 1960 [ tenor and piano ], from 4 English songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "As the moon's soft splendor", 1921 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Shelley, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867 - 1944), "Ariette", op. 1 (Four Songs) no. 4, published 1885 [ medium voice and piano ], Boston, Arthur P. Schmidt [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gilbert Richard Betjemann (1864 - 1896), "As the moon's soft splendour", 1887?, published 1891 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Herman Brearly , "As the moon's soft splendour", published 1922 [ SATB chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912), "As the moon's soft splendor", op. 37 (Six songs) no. 5 (1898), published 1899 [ voice and piano ], Novello [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edward Elgar, Sir (1857 - 1934), "In Moonlight", stanzas 1,3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Set in a modified version by George John Bennett, Richard Bruce Faith, Roger Quilter, Ned Rorem.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , title 1: "Arie pro hudbu", title 2: "Paní, jež zpívala při průvodu kytary", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 81
Jako luny sladký jas
chladnou záři hvězdy cloní
ve závoji,
tak tvůj kouzlaplný hlas
strunám, bez duše jež zvoní,
dává svoji.
Probudí se hvězdný svit,
nechť i měsíc pozděj’ vzplane
v noci dnes,
ani lístek neuzříš se chvít,
co z tvých tonů rosa hojná kane
a ples.
Nechť moc hudby v duši slétá,
pěj, ať hlas tvůj zvuk můž’ objevit
tonů hrou,
zvuk to od nás vzdáleného světa,
v kterém hudba, luny zář a cit
jedno jsou.
Confirmed with SHELLEY, P. B. Výbor lyriky, translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha: J. Otto, 1901, page 175.
Text Authorship:
- by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), title 1: "Arie pro hudbu", title 2: "Paní, jež zpívala při průvodu kytary", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "An Ariette for Music. To a Lady singing to her Accompaniment on the Guitar", first published 1832
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: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-26
Line count: 18
Word count: 77