Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo
Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo is a song cycle composed by Benjamin Britten (1913–76) for tenor voice and piano in 1940, and published as his Op. 22.[1] It was written for himself and his life-partner, the tenor Peter Pears (1910–86). The manuscripts of the songs are dated between April and October 1940; but there is some evidence that the cycle had been contemplated, and even begun, as early as 1937.[2]: 158 [3] It consists of settings of seven sonnets, all love songs, by the Italian painter and poet Michelangelo (1475–1564), in the original language:[4]
- XVI: "Si come nella penna e nell'inchiostro" ("Just as in pen and ink")
- XXXI: "A che più debb'io mai l'intensa voglia" ("To what purpose do I express my intense desire")
- XXX: "Veggio co' bei vostri occhi un dolce lume" ("I see through your lovely eyes a sweet light")
- LV: "Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai" ("You know that I know, my lord, that you know")
- XXXVIII: "Rendete agli occhi miei, o fonte o fiume" ("Give back to my eyes, o fountains and rivers")
- XXXII: "S'un casto amor, s'una pietà superna" ("If there is a chaste love, a heavenly pity")
- XXIV: "Spirto ben nato, in cui si specchia e vede" ("Noble spirit, in whom is reflected")
In 1974, Pears singled out Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo as one of the greatest works Britten had given him.[2]: 569
References
[edit]- ^ Evans, Peter (1979). The Music of Benjamin Britten. London, Melbourne and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. pp. 80–84. ISBN 0-460-04350-1.
- ^ a b Carpenter, Humphrey (1992). Benjamin Britten: A Biography. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-14324-5.
- ^ "Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo". Britten-Pears Foundation. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
- ^ "Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
