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J'avais mis toute mon âme dans une chanson que j'ai chanté aux hommes, et ils ont ri ! j'ai pris mon luth, je suis allé m'asseoir au sommet d'une montagne et j'ai [chanté, pour les Dieux,]1 la chanson que les hommes n'avaient pas comprise. Le soleil se couchait. Au rhythme de ma chanson, les Dieux ont dansé sur les nuages rouges qui flottaient dans le ciel.
Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade, poésies chinoises, Paris, L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1920, pages 130-131.
1 Wertheim: "chanté"Text Authorship:
- by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La danse des Dieux" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762) [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 Henk Badings (1907 - 1987), "La danse des dieux", 1973 [ mixed chorus ], from Cinq poèmes chinois, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by G. Basilewsky , "La danse des dieux", op. 18 no. 3 [ voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes chinois, no. 3, Bruxelles : L' Art belge [sung text not yet checked]
- by Therèse Brenet (b. 1935), "La danse des dieux", copyright © 2008 [ baritone, flute and piano ], from Poème de Jade, no. 5, Editions de la Fabrique Musique [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rosalie Marie Wertheim (1888 - 1949), "La danse des dieux", 1939 [ soprano, flute and harp or piano ], from Trois Chansons pour soprano, flûte et harpe, no. 1, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by (Stephanie) Hélène Swarth (1859 - 1941) , "De dans der goden", subtitle: "Li-Tai-Po", appears in De Chineesche fluit ; composed by Tera de Marez-Oyens, Simon Pluister.
- Also set in English, a translation by Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 - 1946) ; composed by Frederick Septimus Kelly.
- Also set in English, a translation by Stuart Merrill (1863 - 1915) ; composed by Arthur Farwell, Margaret Ruthven Lang.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Bethge (1876 - 1946) , "Der Tanz der Götter" ; composed by Neithard Bethke, Maria Herz, Lise Maria Mayer, Anatol Provaznik.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Alfred Henschke (1890 - 1928) ; composed by Volkmar Andreae, Helmut Barbe, Kurt Brüggemann.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Heilmann (1859 - 1930) ; composed by Adolf Schreiber.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Dance of the Gods", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2017-12-24
Line count: 10
Word count: 66
I had poured my entire soul into a song which I sang for men, and they laughed! I took up my lute, and went and sat down on a mountaintop and [sang, for the Gods,]1 the song that men had not understood. The sun was setting. To the rhythm of my song, the Gods danced upon the red clouds that were floating in the sky.
1 Wertheim: "sang"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La danse des Dieux"
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762) [text unavailable]
This text was added to the website: 2026-04-14
Line count: 10
Word count: 66