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]

1. XVI: "Si come nella penna e nell'inchiostro" ("Just as in pen and ink")
2. XXXI: "A che più debb'io mai l'intensa voglia" ("To what purpose do I express my intense desire")
3. XXX: "Veggio co' bei vostri occhi un dolce lume" ("I see through your lovely eyes a sweet light")
4. LV: "Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai" ("You know that I know, my lord, that you know")
5. XXXVIII: "Rendete agli occhi miei, o fonte o fiume" ("Give back to my eyes, o fountains and rivers")
6. XXXII: "S'un casto amor, s'una pietà superna" ("If there is a chaste love, a heavenly pity")
7. 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