"L'adieu du cavalier" is a song for voice and piano written by Germaine Tailleferre

Germaine Tailleferre

Germaine Tailleferre was a French composer and the only female member of the famous composers' group Les Six.-Biography:...

 in 1963 on a poem of the same title by Guillaume Apollinaire

Guillaume Apollinaire

Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....

. The work was published in 2003 by the French publishers Musik Fabrik.

The work was commissioned by the American soprano and patron of the arts Alice Swanson Esty for Esty's memorial concert for Francis Poulenc in 1964 at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

, at which she also premièred other songs by Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...

, Ned Rorem

Ned Rorem

Ned Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...

, Henri Dutilleux

Henri Dutilleux

Henri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own...

and others written for the occasion.

This short song takes about two and half minutes to perform.