À la porte Occidentale de la ville, 
rient des jeunes filles 
onduleuses et légères 
comme de nuages de printemps. 
Mais je dédaigne leur charme. 
Puisque, dans sa robe blanche, 
et sous son voile épais 
mon amie est plus gracieuse. 

À la porte Orientale de la ville, 
rêvent des jeunes filles 
éclatantes et jolies 
comme des fleurs de printemps. 
Mais je dédaigne leurs parfums, 
puisque, dans sa robe blanche 
et sous son volie épais, 
mon amie est plus odorante !

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Note: the original Chinese poem is attributed to Tsao Chang Ling, an 18th century author, but a similar translation by Thalasso attributes its original Chinese poem to an anonymous ancient poet included in the Chi-King.

Composition:

Set to music by Julián Bautista (1901 - 1961), "Mon amie", op. 2 no. 3 (1921) [ voice and piano ], from La flûte de jade, no. 3

Text Authorship:

• by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), appears in La flûte de jade, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1920

Based on:

• a text in Chinese (中文) by Tsao Chang Ling (1719 - 1763) [text unavailable]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-06-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 79