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] In 1974, Pears singled out Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo as one of the greatest works Britten had given him.