Narcissi | Faded narcissi floating on the river, if you see at Tien-ouan

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Narcisses

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

Our translations: ENG

Narcisses fanés qui flottez sur la rivière, si vous voyez, à Tien-ouan,
une jeune fille rêveuse sous un cannelier 
qui a fleuri deux fois depuis notre premier baiser,
dites-lui que je respire un œillet pour me rappeler son parfum...

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade ; poésies chinoises, Paris : Piazza, 1926, p.84

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Narcisses", appears in La flûte de jade, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1920 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Tsao Chang Ling (1719 - 1763) [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 Marguerite Canal (1890 - 1978), "Narcisses", 1922, published 1924 [ high voice and piano ], from La flûte de jade, mélodies chinoises, no. 1, Paris, Éditions Musicales d'Art Maxime Jamin [sung text not yet checked]
by Pierre Paubon (1910 - 1995), "Narcisses" [ voice and flute ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Julien-Fernand Vaubourgoin (1880 - 1952), "Narcisses", published 1927 [ voice and piano ], Bordeaux, Paris : Delmouly-Degorge, G. Berger [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Narcissi", 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: 2024-11-13
Line count: 4
Word count: 39

Narcissi

Language: English after the French (Français)

Faded narcissi floating on the river, if you see at Tien-ouan
a maiden daydreaming under a cinnamon tree
that has flowered twice since our first kiss,
tell her that I am smelling a carnation to remind myself of her scent ...

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), "Narcisses", appears in La flûte de jade, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1920
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Tsao Chang Ling (1719 - 1763) [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-24
Line count: 4
Word count: 40