Thoughts on a Quiet Night | At the foot of my bed, moonlight

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by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762)

Translation © by Jasmine Wiese

静夜思

Language: Chinese (中文)

Our translations: ENG

床前明月光，
疑是地上霜。
舉頭望明月，
低頭思故鄉。

Text Authorship:

by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), "静夜思" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Czech (Čeština), a translation by Vojtěch Kühnel (1886 - 1942 ) , "V cizině" ; composed by Bohuslav Martinů.
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Also set in English, a translation by Launcelot Alfred Cranmer-Byng (1872 - 1945) , "Thoughts in a tranquil night", appears in A Lute of Jade, being selections from the classical poets of China, first published 1909 [an adaptation] ; composed by Gena Branscombe.
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Also set in Finnish (Suomi), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Seppo Nummi.
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Also set in French (Français), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Jean-Robert Blanc.
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Also set in French (Français), a translation by François Cheng (b. 1929) , "Pensée nocturne", appears in L'écriture poétique chinoise, first published 1977, copyright © ; composed by Bruno Gousset.
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Also set in French (Français), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Dorel Handman.
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Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Bethge (1876 - 1946) , appears in Die chinesische Flöte [an adaptation] ; composed by Hans Erich Apostel, Eduard Bornschein, Gottfried von Einem, Ernst Křenek, Leonard Pieter Joseph Michielsen, Krzysztof Penderecki, James Martin Simon, Anton von Webern.
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Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Heilmann (1859 - 1930) , "In der Herberge" ; composed by Othmar Schoeck.
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Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Otto Hauser (1876 - 1944) , "In stiller Nacht", first published 1906 ; composed by Josef Eduard Ploner, Martin Spanjaard.
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Also set in Slovenian (Slovenščina), a translation by Oton Župančič (1878 - 1949) ; composed by Anton Lajovic.
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Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Erik Blomberg (1894 - 1965) , "I den tysta natten" ; composed by Anna-Greta Rooth.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Jasmine Wiese) , "Thoughts on a Quiet Night", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Fan Yang

This text was added to the website: 2008-08-02
Line count: 4
Word count: 4

Thoughts on a Quiet Night

Language: English after the Chinese (中文)

At the foot of my bed, moonlight,
Or maybe frost on the ground.
[I] raise my head to the bright moon,
I bow my head, homesick.

Translator's note:
Line 4: Literally: thinking of my hometown

Text Authorship:

Translation from Chinese (中文) to English copyright © 2020 by Jasmine Wiese, (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 Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), "静夜思"
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This text was added to the website: 2020-01-07
Line count: 4
Word count: 26