Oft, In The Chilly Night

Traduzione italiana / Italian translation / Traduction italienne / Italiankielinen käännös:
Riccardo Venturi, 17-11-2023 20:19

John Pierpont (April 6, 1785 – August 27, 1866) was an American poet, who was also successively a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and Unitarian*  minister. 

Unitarianism (from Latin unitas 'unity, oneness') is a Nontrinitarian branch of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the unitary nature of God as the singular and unique creator of the universe,believe that Jesus Christ was inspired by God in his moral teachings and that He is the Savior of humankind, but he is not comparable or equal to God himself.
Wikipedia

“Oft in the Chilly Night “ di John Pierpont è una rielaborazione del poema di Thomas Moore * del 1819 “Oft in the Silly Night “ pubblicato nella sua prima edizione di National Airs.
Arrangiamento musicale, di un aria scozzese, di Sir John Stevenson.

Note da : James Joyce Music › .
Oft in the Stilly Night | Thomas Moore - Sir John Stevenson.


*Thomas Moore (Dublino, 28 maggio 1779 – Sloperton, 25 febbraio 1852) è stato un poeta, commediografo e attore teatrale irlandese, ricordato soprattutto per la sua ballata popolare The Minstrel Boy, per la poesia The Last Rose of Summer e per la raccolta delle sue melodie.
( Wikipedia )

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Il seguente video YouTube **( con sottotitoli ) presenta inizialmente l'interpretazione della prima strofa del poema di Thomas Moore “Oft in the Silly Night “ e a 1:54 l'interpretazione di " Oft In The Chilly Night" di John Pierpont .

** Oft In The Chilly Night - from The Anti-Slavery Harp – 1849 - 4:37
Caricato : laerwyck

Trascrizione dei sottotitoli del video sopracitato.
( potrebbero esserci errori )


Thomas Moore ( 1779 to 1852 ) , often considered Ireland's poet ,wrote poems, songs ,plays, essays ,political satires. He was sharply critical of the United States regarding slavery as you can see down below this screen in an excerpt from one of his poems that's copied there .

In 1819 his song “Oft in the stilly night “was published in the first issue of his National Airs .Sentimental and nostalgic ,it laments days gone by and fallen friends . The first verse goes off :

“ Oft, in the stilly night,

Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,

Fond memory brings the light

Of other days around me;

The smiles, the tears,

Of boyhood’s years,

The words of love then spoken;

The eyes that shone,

Now dimm’d and gone,

The cheerful hearts now broken!

Thus, in the stilly night,

Ere slumber’s chain hath bound me,

Sad memory brings the light

Of other days around me “ .



Forty years later “Often the chilly night “ appeared in William Browns Anti-Slavery Harper . It redirected the sadness in more songs from contemplating loved ones lost to embracing the slaves woeful condition.



“ Oft in the chilly night,

Ere slumber's chain has bound me,

When all her silvery light

The moon is pouring round me,

Beneath its ray I kneel and pray

That God would give some token

That Slavery's chains on Southern plains,

Shall all ere long be broken;

Yes, in the chilly night,

Though slavery's chain has bound me,

Kneel I, and feel the might

Of God's right arm around me.


When at the driver's call,

In cold or sultry weather,

We slaves, both great and small,

Turn out to toil together,

I feel like one from whom the sun

Of hope has long departed;

And morning's light, and weary night,

Still find me broken-hearted;

Thus, when the chilly breath

Of night is sighing round me,

Kneel I, and wish that death

In his cold chain had bound me “ .