Lieder in original language? Or should all Lieder be German?
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:53 pm
Last year I was considering entering a Lieder-contest just for the fun of it (no, you can put the ear plugs away - I would have been the pianist, not the singer.
)
My friend the Schubert baritone was busy and had other commitments, so I thought I might persuade another friend, a professionally-trained Polish soprano, to sing some songs by Chopin. I'm of Polish extraction too, and can speak the language well enough to carry on an intelligent conversation with my parents, so the original text would have been a walk in the park.
But then I read the competition rules and was stopped in my tracks by the following stipulation:
"All Lieder must be performed in the original German."
(No, there was no restriction on which composers' works could be performed. If we had chosen some songs by Dvorak (Czech) or Tchaikovsky (Russian), or chansons by Ravel or Faure (French), the rule was the same: all Lieder must be performed in the original German.)
(The contest was sponsored by a local organization that has as its aim the promotion of the German language and culture.)
Now, I'm a purist, and I insist on Schubert-Lieder being in German (the few times I have heard English or other translations have been truly painful to me), but telling a Polish person that Chopin-Lieder must be performed in the original German is like a red rag to a bull. (Never mind the historical circumstances that led to Chopin and others writing songs in Polish, namely, that Poland was under occupation by other nations, the use of the Polish language was banned and everybody was forced to speak German.)
I'm not one of those people who run around crying "don't mention the war" - I would never have grown to love Schubert-Lieder if I was - but the sad reality is that there are many people to this day that are sensitive to these kinds of issues (probably one reason I could never find anyone to perform Schubert-Lieder with me when I was a child growing up surrounded by Polish people.
)
It is difficult enough to even GET a copy of the Chopin-Lieder in Polish. The CDSM version is in German. There is no way I was going to give that as a Mother's Day gift to my mother (enthusiastic self-taught Polish mezzo-soprano and lifelong fan of Dame Joan Sutherland). I had to order in a copy at great expense from Poland, and that order fell through because they were out of stock.
So there's my random gripe for the day. What are your thoughts? Where is the dividing line between a healthy pride in one's cultural heritage and an unhealthy nationalism? How can we use music to unite rather than divide people and nations?
(I must confess that this topic entered my head at the weekend after hearing a news report about Germany defeating Poland in a game of football - thanks to a goal from a Polish-born player on the German team
)
Aldona
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
My friend the Schubert baritone was busy and had other commitments, so I thought I might persuade another friend, a professionally-trained Polish soprano, to sing some songs by Chopin. I'm of Polish extraction too, and can speak the language well enough to carry on an intelligent conversation with my parents, so the original text would have been a walk in the park.
But then I read the competition rules and was stopped in my tracks by the following stipulation:
"All Lieder must be performed in the original German."
(No, there was no restriction on which composers' works could be performed. If we had chosen some songs by Dvorak (Czech) or Tchaikovsky (Russian), or chansons by Ravel or Faure (French), the rule was the same: all Lieder must be performed in the original German.)
(The contest was sponsored by a local organization that has as its aim the promotion of the German language and culture.)
Now, I'm a purist, and I insist on Schubert-Lieder being in German (the few times I have heard English or other translations have been truly painful to me), but telling a Polish person that Chopin-Lieder must be performed in the original German is like a red rag to a bull. (Never mind the historical circumstances that led to Chopin and others writing songs in Polish, namely, that Poland was under occupation by other nations, the use of the Polish language was banned and everybody was forced to speak German.)
I'm not one of those people who run around crying "don't mention the war" - I would never have grown to love Schubert-Lieder if I was - but the sad reality is that there are many people to this day that are sensitive to these kinds of issues (probably one reason I could never find anyone to perform Schubert-Lieder with me when I was a child growing up surrounded by Polish people.
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
It is difficult enough to even GET a copy of the Chopin-Lieder in Polish. The CDSM version is in German. There is no way I was going to give that as a Mother's Day gift to my mother (enthusiastic self-taught Polish mezzo-soprano and lifelong fan of Dame Joan Sutherland). I had to order in a copy at great expense from Poland, and that order fell through because they were out of stock.
So there's my random gripe for the day. What are your thoughts? Where is the dividing line between a healthy pride in one's cultural heritage and an unhealthy nationalism? How can we use music to unite rather than divide people and nations?
(I must confess that this topic entered my head at the weekend after hearing a news report about Germany defeating Poland in a game of football - thanks to a goal from a Polish-born player on the German team
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
Aldona