The Madman | With grand gestures, he went off into the night

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

L’insensé

Language: French (Français) after the Chinese (中文)

Our translations: ENG

Avec de grands gestes, il s'éloigna dans la nuit.
Il avait l'air de cueillir des étoiles.

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, page 129.

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "L’insensé" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

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

by Therèse Brenet (b. 1935), "L’insensé", 2006, copyright © 2008 [ baritone, flute and piano ], from Poème de Jade, no. 2, Editions de la Fabrique Musique [sung text not yet checked]
by Eugeniusz Knapik (b. 1951), "L’insensé", 1973 [ soprano and orchestra ], from La flûte de jade, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Madman", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-15
Line count: 2
Word count: 16

The Madman

Language: English after the French (Français)

With grand gestures, he went off into the night.
He looked as if he were gathering stars.

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), "L’insensé"
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-15
Line count: 2
Word count: 17