Le torrent bondit et gronde, le vent hurle dans les pins, les rats fuient à mon approche et vont se cacher sous les vieilles tuilles. Quel monarque, jadis, fit bâtir ce palais dont ne subsistent que des ruines au flanc d'une montagne abrupte? Des flammes bleuâtres courent au ras du sol. On perçoit des gémissements, des râles. Ces Dix Mille voix de la nature forment un sauvage concert qui ajoute au tragique de l'automne. Le maître de ce palais avait de belles danseuses, qui sont aujourd'hui de la poussière froide. Il avait des chars, des guerriers. De tout ce faste, de toute cette gloire, que reste-t-il? Un cheval de marbre, qui gît dans l'herbe. Mon immense tristesse, je voudrais l'épancher dans un poème durable, mais je pleure, et mon pinceau tremble.
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Text Authorship:
- by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Tu Fu (712 - 770) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Armande de Polignac (1876 - 1962), "Le palais ruiné", published 1922 [ medium voice and piano ], from La flûte de jade, no. 8, Genève, Éd. A. Henn, also set in English [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Armande de Polignac.
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-02-19
Line count: 18
Word count: 131
How wildly foams the torrent, the wind howls in the pines. The rats flying from my presence run into their holes under stony caverns. What proud monarch of old dwelt in this palace proud, where but remain some falling ruins that on the mountainside are crumbling? And fairylike fire flickers in ghostly flame. Hear you not the moaning, the cries of anguish? How savagely in nature's concert the Ten Thousandfold voices wail. How they sorrow more dismally than autumn. The master who once dwelt here had dancers many and youthful, and now they are gone and but as whitened ashes. Where are now his war chariots fleet? Of all this glory, of all this royal splendour, what does remain? But one marble stallion, that lies mid ruins. All my grief and my melancholy would I could render with the words of a poet. But my heart fails and my paintbrush trembles.
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Tu Fu (712 - 770) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Armande de Polignac (1876 - 1962), "The ruined palace", published 1922 [ medium voice and piano ], from La flûte de jade, no. 8, Genève, Éd. A. Henn, also set in French (Français) [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-02-19
Line count: 19
Word count: 151