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Singing in Original Languages: pros, consDate: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 15:56:23 -0500
From: John Howell To: choraltalk@lists.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Choral Texts in Foreign Languages >Dear Colleagues: > >I have an unusual situation this year with my sophomores in our 150 voice >Concert Choir grades 10-12. There is no single answer and no simple answer to this question, which is why I always bring it up in my Choral Lit class to make students think about it. It's also on my mind at the moment because my Early Music Ensemble has been asked to get together to share a concert with an ensemble at a small college, and the director informed me that her singers refuse to sing in foreign languages! I'm not sure how that is going to work out. Pro-foreign language: The composer started with the text, and set that text to music in a way that enhances and supports the text. In other words, the SOUND of the text is part of the music, along with the text-painting and word emphases the composer worked out. Con-foreign language: The composer also started with the desire to communicate the meaning and emotion of the text, using the musical setting to enhance it. In other words, the MEANING of the text is part of the music as well. The answer that works for me is that the decision is a functional one. When we present music as an exhibition of art (which is what a concert performance is), we should come as close as possible to what the composer intended AS ART. When we present music in a functional setting (part of a church service, wedding, funeral, pep rally), we should emphasize communication and use the language of the audience/congregation. When Susie and I were married we had a Bach wedding cantata, and it was sung in English because the meaning was important to the occasion and to our families. (It was a terrible, Victorian, twinky translation, but it was understandable!) When we perform Bach cantatas in concert, it is always in the original German. Music is intrinsically an international language. It's a small window through which we can get glimpses of other times and other places. That's called education. John John & Susie Howell (mailto:John.Howell@vt.edu) Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html ///////////////////// Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 08:44:57 -0700 (MST) From: "James D. Feiszli" To: choraltalk@lists.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Choral Texts in Foreign Languages On Thu, 10 Dec 1998, Brumbachs wrote: > Dear Colleagues: > > it." (the translations are printed in the program) I replied to her that > "no choir worth their salt sings only in English." There are only two Bad answer. "Just because everyone else does it" will never carry any weight. Foreign languages are used because: a) One can work on vocal tone with the Romance languages (I'm including Latin here) because there are fewer different vowel sounds and students have no pre-conceived notions of how to form them. They don't assume they already know how to pronounce and therefore you can shape their voices so that they become better singers. b) Just as students study literature in English class that is outside the popular or "easy" literature of the masses, so they must study music that is outside what they would normally experience in order to become educated. It goes without saying that if you have not established a choral situation wherein education is the top priority (rather than simply preparing a group of students for the next performance) these arguments will not be well- received. Choral educators should be educators first and choral directors second. Do parents or students tell the math teachers what problems should be worked in geometry in order to teach that discipine best? Of course not. BUT it is not their fault that the music profession has allowed them to view us as less professional than these other disciplines. When we cannot justify what we do on an educational/philosophical basis, we deserve what we get. Ask an English teacher why they read Shakespeare in sophomore English instead of Tom Clancy. ////////////////////// Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 13:27:14 +0000 From: msdcc@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Mimi Daitz) To: choralist@lists.Colorado.EDU Subject: long file--singing in translation Choralisters: My apologies for the delay in posting the responses concerning singing in English translation vs. singing in the original language. The huge, antiquated CUNYVM system made the process more complicated than it would be elsewhere. Before I quote the responses (20 for the original language, 1 for English trans., 3 for some of each) I will confess my own predeliction is strongly in favor of original languages--for reasons that are expressed by others below. The City College Chorus has sung in French, German, Latin, Spanish, Estonian, and Twi (one of the languages spoken in Ghana), probably with greater homogeneity of sound than when we sing in English. I asked for your opinions in the hope that they would strengthen my position in an on-going dis- cussion with some publishers and composers. Thanks very much for your responses. Mimi S. Daitz (Music Dept., City College/CUNY) msdcc@cunyvm.cuny.edu >From Bob de Frece, U. of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (Bob.de.Frece@UAlberta.CA): I hold the attitude that music should be performed in the original language. I feel particularly strongly about this as regards folk songs. The rhythm of folk songs is related to the rhythm of the text. Some translations, in an effort to give accurate meaning, end up putting the stress on the wrong syllable and the results are sometimes laughable. Any choral director who is familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet can use an IPA transliteration to teach the text of a piece in a language other than English. With my own choirs, I have performed pieces in Swedish, Spanish, German, French, Itialian, Zulu, Slovak and Russian. I teach at a large university where a number of languages are taught. Professors in other Departments have been very helpful in writing IPA transliterations. They also give me a word-for-word translation so we can express the text just as we would in English. It's always affirming when one of these professors tells me after the concert, "I understood every word." IPA is not hard to learn and there is a number of manuals published by Schirmer Books that are very helpful. I think you can tell that I am solidly in the "Sing it in the original language" camp. >From Joseph H. Janisch, Columbus, OH (janisch.2@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu): As a rule I don't schedule works in a different language for worship serv- ices. However in my new congregation it doesn't seem to be a problem. Therefore, I suggest you take the temperature of the congregation and react accordingly. >From Bob Eaton, Mass. (eaton@meol.mass.edu): My High School Choirs sing in many languages. The major requirment for most of us is that the language, if not a classic language such Italian, German, etc. have a good transliteration or pronuncitation guide so that we can enjoy the sound of the language in our singing rather than spending hours trying to figure out what it is supposed to sound like. Have sung in Chinese, Korean, Russian but the guides are essential or we can't spend the time. >From Martha Sullivan, Cambridge, MA (Voices96@aol.com): I think it is a good idea to publish music bilingually. Some groups will want to go to the trouble of learning the Estonian; those that are really con- scientious will want to find an expert on the language, but if none is avail- able, they might prefer to sing the piece in English rather than mangle the original by trying to learn it only with a written guide to pronounciation. Other of the languages you mentioned, such as Hungarian or Russian, I con- sider to be hopeless for choral programs *unless* you have someone who is fairly proficient in the language available to coach the choir on several occasions. You just can't get some of the nuances without hearing the language spoken. But when you do have the luxury of a good coach, the orginal language is much better for performance, IMHO, since the composer has generally crafted the music to have a close relationship to the original text. The Rachmaninoff All- Night Vigil (aka Vespers), for example, shakes the bones so much more when sung in Old Church Slavonic, with all those deeply open O sounds... Another idea, if you want to publish some editions of works in Estonian, would be to make available for purchase an accompanying tape with a native speaker saying the text. That is for the truly conscientious (or obsessive- compulsive) choir director! >From Harriet R. Simons, SUNY at Buffalo (simons@acsu.Buffalo.edu): You know my answer--do the music in Estonian or Latvian or whatever. I must admit that I don't do Czech pieces in Czech or Swedish ones. I don't know why. But Estonian is especially good and the choir got [Tormis' "Raua needmine"] pretty well....Now I am working on a Latvian score--in Latvian. Of course living in a big city, I can always find somebody who is native to help with pronunciation. >From Susan Mueller (SGEMueller@aol.com): [I conduct a chorus] of about 70 in a smaller Southwestern town. We sing in both English and foreign language, but I have to be very judicious. Last year we did the Stravinsky Mass (in Latin) and most of the Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil (in Russian) on one concert, so this year we're doing a lot of English! The chorus really struggled with the Russian (even with the help of Musica Russica tapes), but these are mostly "amateur" singers, and the work was quite long. >From Michael Molloy, D.W. Poppy Secondary School, Langley, British Columbia, Canada (mmolloy@cln.etc.bc.ca): I am a high school choral director who loves to perform works in other lan- guages. In fact, one the most exciting performances my chamber choir gave last year was for the national conference of the Canadian Association of Second Lan- guage Teachers in which we sang in English, French, German, Latin, Japanese, Spanish, and Haida (a native Language). It is my belief in North America today that multi-culturalism is very important, and exposing students to other lan- guages and other cultures helps to promote understanding and reduce racism. The staple of our repertoire is still English and Latin, but every year I try to find pieces in other languages that are musically valuable and hopefully educational from the muti-cultural perspective. This year, I am doing a Latvian Folksong and am having trouble finding a pronounciation guide. Do you have any ideas? I saw a posting today that might help, but the source is in Latvia and I might have trouble getting it soon. >From JOSCHEIER@aol.com: All of the groups I sing with routinely perform music in languages other than English. Perhaps it's because we specialize in early music. Provided translations are provided, I feel performing music in languages that are foreign to the audience broadens their experience. One thing I hate is to hear an entire audience turn the page during a piece because they are follow- ing along. We always try to print our programs so that no translation requires a page turn. We also encourage folks to read the translations ahead of time. I once saw Benjamin Bagby of Sequentia tell an ancient story (I can't remem- ber if it was Beowulf or one of the Tristan legends) with a medieval harp in the ancient tongue. Because of his incredible commitment to the text and his extrodinary acting ability, I understood everything without once looking down at the program. In fact I don't think there even was a translation. This experience will always stand out in my mind as the epitome of presenting in a foreign language- naturally, comfortable and effectively. Do it! >From Dan Ratelle, San Diego, CA (DanRatelle@aol.com): For performances, and even for Services, I generally favor the original lan- guage for the "feel" which the poetry lends the music, and the growth involved with learning to pronounce a new set of sounds and words. But I have also done many things in English, for the ususal reasons of handy edition, rehearsal time, appropriateness to the occasion, more communication to the audience, etc. >From Jimbo2625@aol.com: I think it's a great idea, not only in secular settings, but also in sacred music. Here in the Tampa Bay area, and all over Florida, we have such cultural diversity, I think people would appreciate hearing even an infrequent work in their own language. For instance, in the parish where I play, we have many who are Latin, Asian, European, etc. I am amazed by the response I get when we do even the simplest number is Spanish, for instance. Hearing things in their own language helps people feel more accepted and more a part of a community. I'm all for it. >From Lisa Caldwell, Georgia Southern University (lcaldwel@gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu): This is a very important subject! The original language should be used in nearly every case I can think of. I even use it in church and provide a transla- tion in the bulletin or verbally before the work is prevented. The syllabic stress is almost never the same in an English tranliteration of a text, which can destroy the original concept and composer's intent musically. In addition, the actual SOUND of a word casts a timbre and pitch shading into the musical line. There has been research on the actual pitch of vowel forma- tions. (ie- [i] is sharp to [a] sung on the same pitch.) These sometimes subtle differences between languages make a very large difference to the overall aspect of a performance. Consonants are of course, incredibly different!!! German and English are highly consonantal languages, whereas Italian is more vowel oriented. The articulation that a composer intends is often to be found in the diction, and if you sing in another language...that is completely lost. Languages also have discernable timbres. Slavic languages are simply darker than most Latin based languages. The spoken pronunciation is toward the back of the mouth, by contrast, a language such as Spanish is a rather bright, frontal language, affecting even the tongue placement of the consonants! This natural timbre of a language has GOT to be in the composer's ear as he/she conceives of the music. It is absolutely essential that we teach our singers to sing in the original language, for the sake of honest performances, for the sake of the music. We have IPA to help us to this end! Once IPA is learned, there is NO barrier! >From David Griggs-Janower, SUNY at Albany (janower@csc.albany.edu): I will certainly purchase music in languages other than English, and it doesn't matter what language, provided that: 1. The alphabet used is the same as English and there is *some* sort of pronun- ciation guide, even though that will never take the place of talking with some- one who knows the language. or 2. If the alphabet is not the same, then a transliteration that I can read is provided as an underlay. 3. Translations included somewhere are extremely helpful. 4. If I have a choice, I'll purchase music with BOTH the foreign language and English underlay, since I never know what group of mine might use the piece again in a later year (I might do it in Estonian with my best group and English with my student or chruch group), but that's only if I have a choice of editions. If no choice, I'll pur- chase it with no English underlay. >From Milton Olsson, Michigan Tech University (miolsson@mtu.edu): I frequently program works in languages other than English. I find the original language has a striking influence on the sonority and rhythm of the music. >From Jaymar Music, Ltd., Peter Martin (76345.1704@compuserve.com): In our Jon Washburn Choral Series, we publish "The Midrija Bird" for SSATB choir a cappella by Adolf Vedro, English version by Jon Washburn. The pub- lication contains both the Estonian and English texts. >From John Goldsmith (jgold1+@pitt.edu): My choir here at the University of Pittsburgh has sung in Russian, French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, German, Yorobo, Japanese, Slovak, Hungarian, Czech, and more. Most of these pieces did NOT have an English version, but many did have a translation (which is essential). The amazing thing is that of some 55 singers, only five or so can read music, so every note is taught by rote! And we do all a cappella music. So, bunk on the publishers! >From S. Scott Leaman, Palm Bay High School, Melbourne, FL (leaman@pbhs.brevard.k12.fl.us): Assuming that the original language is not English I never sing the English translation. My opinion is that the choral directors job is to as closely as possible convey the ideas of the composer. If he/she did not write the work in English, performing it in English goes against the wishes of the composer. I would rather not even have the english translation underneath as an option, but rather a word for word translation at the beginning along with a pronounciation guide if it is an unfamiliar language. >From Bruce MacIntyre, Brooklyn College, CUNY (BCMBC@CUNYVM.BITNET): I still agree with the publishers. I "feel great" (i.e. positive) about programming choral pieces in another language with my choruses at Brooklyn Col- lege. One must, however, limit the number of foreign-language pieces when the sight-reading abilities of the group are limited. There's only so much time to rehearse in a term, and teaching pronunciation takes time; there's no avoiding that--even with loaned out tapes for the students. With my chamber chorus of very good readers we can do more selections in a foreign language (usually W. European ones) because there's the extra time saved from not having to 'teach every note.' Ideally, along with the original language in a transliteration in the score, I like to have a) an English singing translation also beneath the notes, and b) a real translation at the BOTTOM of each score page or, minimally, in the appendix. The spiral-bound scores from the international songs done at Talinn about 6-8 years ago were quite a model, I thought. They even came with a cassette tape of the spoken and sung sound of the songs in the various languages of the former USSR republics. >From Joel D. Pressman, Beverly Hills High School (jpressm@cello.gina.calstate.edu): While I do music in many languages, I strongly believe that almost no music is written in a foreign language - rather, it is written in the composer's lan- guage (yes, there are exceptions, but let's do the math). If a text is repetitive and simple, I prefer to use the original language. If it crafts a story, I tend to want my audience to experience that story directly, not by reading along in the program, but by hearing us tell it. Of course, many English translations are so crummy that they are embarassing to do, and, since I am in a public school with Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, and Moslem students, I can "get away" with doing more liturgical stuff if we do it in Latin or some other language than English. It makes it less preachy that way. I admit that I choose on a song by song basis, but these are some of the things I consider. Will Dean, The Esoterics (willma@u.washington.edu): We have programmed lots of works in languages other than English. They have been Western European as well as "other." We haven't sung in Estonian (yet), but we have sung in Russian, Hungarian and Czech. If you have a Web browser, and would like to see a listing of all of our programs, it's at: http://weber.u.washington.edu/- willma/esoterics/esoterics.html >From Jim Nord, Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta, Georgia (JamesENord@aol.com): Please do not exclude music for worship. I am sure some of the music you are thinking of was written for use in church. My parish choir nearly always sings music in its original language. They sing Latin, German, French and a little Russian. A translation of the text is always provided and the congregation seems to appreciate our efforts in this area. It is too bad that so may publishers include English translations--maybe this is for lazy conductors or choirs, or perhaps it is the Bible Belt Protestant fear of the Pope's Latin. I am using the Franck "Panis Angelicus" this Sunday. It will be sung in Latin. Even if we wanted to sing in English, the translation has NOTHING to do with the real text. Is it not always best to sing tunes using the vowel sounds intended by the composer? >From Carl Bangs (bangs@cet.com): I think a chorus should sing in a variety of languages to develop a sense of different sounds. The director should be familiar with the language or have expert advice. My community chorale in Deer Park, Washington has sung in Latin, Dutch, German, and French, as well as English. They find my translation usually somewhat amusing which helps morale with what might otherwise be daunting. Patrick O'Shea, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas (poshea@sfasu.edu): This last point [availability of literal trans.] is especially important. However, with a translation in place, I usually prefer to perform choral music in the original language, even if it is one with which I have little famil- iarity. If I can consult a linguist or native speaker, I'm willing to give it a try. As for publishers, we do tend to suffer from a general watering down of the musical literature in print. Somtimes I just throw up my hands (or just throw up) when sifting through a packet of samples from a publisher, looking for the 5% or so of the titles that are respectable. There are plenty of junior high and high school choirs that can approach literature in Italian or Spanish or French (etc. etc.) with no difficulty. Why must publishers continue to insist on a parallel English translation (or worse, a substitution of an English "singing" translation for the original)? In short, unless the composer provided a translation or approved one, I am of the opinion that choral music should be performed in the original language. Perhaps this makes me a "purist," but if you want to perform music with an English text, why not choose from the myriad of works that were originally set in English? >From Judith Zuckerman (judith.zuckerman@wasatchacad.pvt.kl2.ut.us): I love to program music in different languages when possible and have con- ducted works sung in Czech, Old Church Slavonic, Hebrew, Ladino and an assort- ment of European languages. I'm always more interested in having a good *literal* translation and an accurate and complete pronunciation guide than I am in a "singing translation" which may or may not have much to do with the original text. >From Donald F. Burrill, Ontario Inst. for Studies in Education, Toronto (dbur- rill @oise.on.ca): All three of the choirs I sing in quite regularly sing works in their original language: Latin German, French, Hebrew, Greek, that I can think of off- hand. These are generally for concerts; but even my church choir (one of the three) regularly sings works in Latin, German, French, or Hebrew (e.g., the Chichester Psalms) when the works are appropriate for worship. I have sometimes been responsible for preparing printed programs, setting (inter alia) the words sung and their translations. "Singing" translations I have not found useful: my firm policy (and belief) has been that an audience needs to be able to follow both the sounds being sung (thus the words as they appear in the language being sung, possibly transliterated in the case of Greek, Hebrew, or Cyrillic alphabets) AND the meaning of those words (thus a transla- tion that conveys the meaning, as nearly as possible parallel to the word order of the language sung). "Singing" translations are usually relatively free translations of the overall meaning, stanza by stanza if one is lucky, but not word by word; and often with more attention to the metrical aspects than the semantic aspects of the translation. >From Hans Oostendorp (101520.401@compuserve.com): A few titles of our published comtemporary music is written in our language: Dutch. Maybe you can use this list! [I do not include the long, interesting list here since it is not strictly appropriate as an answer to the question. However, you may obtain it from Mr. Oostendorp.] Annie Bank Choral Music Publishers since 1941 Partner Musica Databank P.O. Box 347, 1180 AH Amstelveen, the Netherlands Roger O. Doyle, U. of Portland, OR (doyle@uofport.edu) referred to his article in *The Choral Journal* XXI/2 (1980), pp 5-7, from which I have excerpted some passages which refer to performances of a Schutz motet and the Brahms Requiem in German: Why, then was the motet performed in German? A number of reasons might be suggested: pride, peer influence, a misplaced display of eruditeness, or the unspoken opinion that the "music" was greater than the text.... Advocates of the "original language" most often use the argument that the music and the text are too carefully wedded to alter one element....Yet, musicologists have contributed many articles pointing out mis-accentuation in Bach's recitatives. Even the master's common practice of supplying different texts to the same music questions the validity of the text-music argument. Suely it is obvious that in Bach's sacred music, the message of the text is the important point. Bach used German texts because his congregation spoke the lan- guage.... Unfortunately, American conductors seem to be the most afflicted with the "original language" phobia. Our insistence on singing in a foreign language is all the more lamentable for the fact that our populace is still among the most musically-unsophisticated to be found... The singer has only one unique aspect that the instrumental musician cannot match--a text. If the language is lost on the audience then the uniqueness is largely lost as well.... If we ever hope to keep choral singers active and supportive of other choral groups and if we ever hope to build large audiences for professional and semi- professional choral music then we must drop the snobbish attitude toward singing in English. [There's much more to the article.] |
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