Der Abschied (we miss you...)

The sun departs behind the mountain
In all the valleys, evening descends
With its cooling shadows
O look! Like a silver boat
The moon floats on the blue sky-lake above
I feel the fine wind wafting behind the dark spruce
The brook sings loudly through the darkness
The flowers stand out palely in the twilight
The earth breathes, full of peace and sleep
And all yearning wishes to dream now
Weary men go home
To learn in sleep forgotten happiness and youth
The birds crouch silently in their branches
The world is asleep

It blows coolly in the shadows of my spruce
I stand here and wait for my friend
I wait to bid him a last farewell
I yearn, my friend, at your side
To enjoy the beauty of this evening
Where do you tarry? You leave me alone for so long!
I wander up and down with my lute
On paths swelling with soft grass
O beauty! O eternal love!
Eternal, love-intoxicated world!

夕陽度西嶺  群壑倏已暝  松月生涼夜  風泉滿清聽
僬人歸欲監  煙鳥棲初定  之子期宿來  孤琴候蘿徑

At Parting

The drink of parting
He asked him where he would go, and also why it must be
He spoke, his voice was choked
My friend, on this earth, fortune has not been kind to me!
Where do I go? I will go wander in the mountains
I seek peace for my lonely heart

下馬飲君酒  問君何所之  君言不得意  歸臥南山陲  但去莫復問  候雲無盡時

The Song of the Earth, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan and set to Gustav Mahler's music, is amongst my most beloved ballets. The Farewell (Der Abschied), final movement of the music Das Lied von der Erde, is based on two Chinese poems written in the Tang Dynasty:
1. “At the Mountain-lodge of the Buddhist Priest Ye Waiting in Vain for My Friend Ding” by Meng Haoran
2. “At Parting” by Wang Wei
The poems were first translated into French, and were edited by Hans Bethge (in German) thereafter. The German version was then adapted by Gustav Mahler when he composed the final movement of Das Lied von der Erde in 1908.

Former Royal Ballet Prima Ballerina Darcey Bussell chose this piece as her swansong, her farewell to a dazzling career in the ballet world (she was Principal of the Royal Ballet since age 18). As Judith Mackrell wrote, "It was such an eloquent statement of the fact that dance's power lies so uniquely in the physical present, its beauties impossible to preserve because they rest on what is most vulnerable and perishable - the human body. Bussell knew that her own body was on the cusp of its powers. And she decided to leave before its decline was evident to anyone else."
(*From - Darcey: We miss you already)

17th May 1966: Anthony Dowell and Marcia Haydee in the ballet, 'Song of the Earth'. Music by Gustave Mahler, choreography by Kenneth MacMillan. (Photo by Erich Auerbach/Getty Images)

Rehearsal footage of Darcey's final performance (see also here - Song of the Earth: Introduction and Rehearsals)


My favourite scene from The Sleeping Beauty...

And, one of the Balanchine pieces very dear to my heart...