Sarah Brightman -- La luna

Sarah Brightman - La luna

Scende la notte, tranquillità
Piano il buio respira
Solo la luna veglierà
Con argento ci coprirà
Dal grande cielo splenderà
Solo la luna veglierà

La luna della notte
Dolcemente ci proteggerà
La luna della notte
Dolcemente ci proteggerà

Scende la notte, e lei è la
Su tutto'l cielo lei regna
Con gentilezza lei guarderà
Illuminando la sera
Con gentilezza lei guarderà
Illuminando la sera

La luna della notte
Dolcemente ci proteggerà
La luna della notte
Dolcemente ci proteggerà

Luna non veglierà
Fuggirà
Luna scomparirà

music: Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904), adapted by Frank Peterson
lyrics: Chiara Ferraù

From: La Luna (2000)
and from: La Luna: non-European version (2000), on which Sarah sings it a little less operatically.
And from: Classics (2001)
as well as Classics - European release (2006)
and from: Live from Las Vegas (2004)
and Amalfi: Sarah Brightman love songs (2010).

Source of the lyrics: the CD-booklet. On this page furthermore:

translation into English
note on concert versions
some background info on the origin of the song

Translation into English

The booklet of the La Luna CD also gives the translation (with two minor corrections):

The moon
The night falls, silence
The darkness breathes quietly
Just the moon will be awake
It will cover us in silver
It will shine from the great sky
Just the moon will be awake

The moon of the night
Will sweetly protect us
The moon of the night
Will sweetly protect us

The night falls, and it is there
It reigns over the whole sky
It will watch us with kindness
Illuminating the evening
It will watch us with kindness
Illuminating the evening

The moon of the night
Will sweetly protect us
The moon of the night
Will sweetly protect us

The moon will not be awake
It will flee
The moon will vanish

Note on concert versions of the song

In both the La Luna concert and the Harem concert there are an additional two lines sung right before the final three lines:

Buio va, già giorno si fa

Notte sussurra addio

Which roughly translates to:

Darkness goes, already day is made

Night whispers goodbye

[Thanks to Sheena for this addition.}

Some background info on the origin of the song

Chung Kan Li wrote me that this song originates from the aria "Mesicku Na Nebi Hlubokem" in Dvorák's (Czech) opera Rusalka (1900).
Christian Wallenborg added that although the Czech title translates as The Song of the Moon, the song is "not a literally true version of the original. While Sarah seems to address the moon in a slightly more spiritual way, Dvorák's aria from the fairy tale Rusalka has a siren or water woman of some kind (I cannot quite remember) sing to the moon so that she will tell the prince the siren, who is stuck in the lake, that the she loves him."

Jaroslav Bojanovský added some more interesting background information, as well as the lyrics of the original Czech version:

The opera in 3 acts Rusalka is from 1900 and the libretto is written by Jaroslav Kvapil. The opera is very beautiful but sad and rather dark.
Rusalka is a forest/water nymph who falls in love with the Prince. He loves her too and wants to marry her. But she is a nymph while he is a human being. Rusalka wants to gain the human soul and she visits the Witch and cries for help. But the Witch has left her with a difficult fate -- she must remain mute while in the world of humans. Rusalka follows his Prince to his castle. But the Prince falls in love with a charming foreign Princess and Rusalka, the bride-to-be, realizes the threat to her happiness. The Prince turns his back on her. She cannot return to her friends in the lake and is threatened with an eternal curse -- to be a seductress who entices people into the lake. The Prince starts searching Rusalka again and he comes to the lake. Rusalka takes him into her arms and with a kiss draws the life out of him. The Prince, in Rusalka's embrance, blissfully dies.
The aria O, moon high up in the deep sky appears in the Act One of the opera and is of course sung by Rusalka. I like Sarah's version quite a lot, especially the re-recorded version from the CD's US release. However, I was rather disappointed by the new lyrics. While the original lyrics are very deep and emotional, the new one is rather indifferent. You may make the comparation yourself, here is the original lyrics:

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