Quan més parpellejo, millor hi veuen els meus ulls | Quan més parpellejo, millor hi veuen els meus ulls

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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Translation © by Salvador Pila

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best...

Language: English

Our translations: CAT ITA

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow's form form happy show
To the clear [day]¹ with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so?
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay?
  All days are nights to see till I see thee,
  And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• B. Britten

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Britten: "days"

Text Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 43 [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 Edward Applebaum (b. 1937), "When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see", 1975, published 1982 [ soprano, alto, baritone, SSSAAABarBarBar chorus, and chamber orchestra ], from Cantata Concertante: "When dreams do show thee me", no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by David Bowerman (b. 1936), "When most I wink" [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
by Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941), "When most I wink", 1901 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see", op. 60 no. 8, from Nocturne for tenor solo, seven obligato instruments and string orchestra, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Bernard van Dieren (1887 - 1936), "Sonnet XLIII", 1916 [ baritone and orchestra ], from Diaphony (Diafonia), no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XLIII", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Carlos Claudio Spies (1925 - 2020), "When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see", 1976-7, first performed 1978 [ satb quartet and piano ], from Five Sonnet-Settings, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Lex Zwaap (1919 - 1988), as Lex van Delden, "When most I wink", op. 72 (Drie sonnetten van Shakespeare) no. 1 (1961) [ contralto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (1787 - 1874) ; composed by Henri-Pierre Poupard, as Henri Sauguet.
- Go to the text.

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

FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 43, first published 1857

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 123

Quan més parpellejo, millor hi veuen els meus ulls

Language: Catalan (Català) after the English

Quan més parpellejo, millor hi veuen els meus ulls,
car tot el dia ells veuen coses sense interès;
però quan dormo, en somnis et miren a tu,
i misteriosament lluminosos, s’il·luminen en la foscor.
Tu, que la teva ombra desentenebra totes les ombres,
com d’esplèndid es mostraria el contorn de la teva ombra,
a la claror del dia, amb la teva llum molt més clara, 
si ella ja és tan brillant per als ulls que no hi veuen? 
Jo dic, quina benedicció per als meus ulls seria
poder contemplar-te a la vívida llum del dia,
quan en la morta nit, la teva ombra imperfecta,
a través del son profund, roman en un ulls orbs?
Tots els dies són nits per a mi fins que no et veig,
i les nits, dies lluminosos quan se m’apareixes en somnis.

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2016 by Salvador Pila, (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 English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 43
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-03-29
Line count: 14
Word count: 137