by
Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
Nocturne
Language: French (Français) after the Chinese (中文)
Nonchalante, son luth à la main,
elle roulait le rideau de perles,
afin que l'odeur du printemps inondât sa chambre,
mais elle a vu la lune,
et c'est le chagrin qui est entré.
Le visage dans son bras replié,
elle évoque un jardin bleui de lune,
où elle entendit, jadis, des paroles d'amour.
Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, pages 82-83.
Text Authorship:
Based on:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Marguerite Béclard d'Harcourt (1884 - 1964), "Nocturne ", published 1929 [ medium voice and piano ], from La flûte de jade, no. 3, Paris, Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Delune (1876 - 1940), "Nocturne", 1922, published 1924 [ medium voice, piano, flute ad libitum ], from Le Collier des offrandes, six poèmes lyriques d'après des poésies chinoises, no. 4, Paris, Éditions Hérelle, Fortemps, & Cie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Odette Gartenlaub (1922 - 2014), "Nocturne", 1950 [ high voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Franz Toussaint, no. 3, Éd. Klarthe [sung text not yet checked]
- by Manuel M. Ponce (1883 - 1948), "Nocturne", 1932, first performed 1934 [ voice and piano ], from Cinco poemas chinos, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Grant Hicks
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2010-08-28
Line count: 8
Word count: 53
Casually, with her lute in her hand
Language: English after the French (Français)
Casually, with her lute in her hand,
she rolled up the curtain of pearls
to let the odor of springtime fill her room,
but she saw the moon,
and it was sorrow that entered.
With her face in the crook of her arm,
she recalls a garden blue in the moonlight
where once she heard words of love.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Nocturne" = "Nocturne"
"Nocturne " = "Nocturne"
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.
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Based on:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2026-04-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 58
