Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.130 October 8, 1994 1) Introduction (Soreh Benor) 2) Respect for Yiddish (Harvey Spiro) 3) Ravel's Chants Hebraiques (Harold L. Orbach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 Oct 1994 14:52:38 -0400 (EDT) From: seb28@columbia.edu Subject: Introduction Sholem Aleichem! I'm Sarah (or Soreh) Benor from Columbia University (originally Washington, DC). Since my internship this summer at the National Yiddish Book Center, I've gotten _very_ interested in Yiddish and Yiddish culture. I just started a Klezmer band (I play violin), and I'm planning a Columbia Yiddishkeit festival for December. I'm looking forward to meeting other Yiddish-lovers over Mendele and learning more about the state of Yiddishkeit! Soreh Benor 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Oct 7 10:45:10 1994 From: hjs@nrc.gov Subject: Respect for Yiddish, continued An example of how Yiddish is often treated shabbily by Jews may be found in the recent tararum in Mendele (edition 4.118 et seq.) regarding a Yiddish proverb cited by an MIT professor in a book on language acquisition. Several of our more knowledgeable Mendelniks have tried to tease out of the proverb ("Az der bubbe vot gehat baytzim vot zie geven mein zayde") clues to the author's Yiddish dialect. My guess is that the author, however neutral his intentions, presented a poorly-remembered or simply ungrammatical Yiddish sentence, and did not deem Yiddish enough of a "real" language to dignify with a verification of correctness. I contend that, if the author had had a French speaking nanny, and he wished to repeat one of her expressions, he would not have presented it as "parlay voo fransay." Indeed, if that nanny had spoken a language with a non-Roman alphabet, like Chinese, with several dialects and several "accepted" Romanizations, I would have expected a linguistics professor to take the trouble to consult an expert to help him transcribe the sentence properly. Many people assume that the Yiddish they heard from parents and grandparents was, by definition, acceptable and grammatically "correct." As with any other language, native speakers of Yiddish do not automatically speak grammatically correct sentences all the time. Usages that seem adequate in conversations among uneducated speakers of English would be considered sloppy and substandard in the college classroom, or among educated speakers; Yiddish is no different. Although it may be traumatic for some to acknowledge that their parents spoke substandard Yiddish, it should not be surprising. Yiddish has several dialects and a "standard language" imposed relatively recently, and a substantial body of literature. The same can be said of Norwegian, Italian, Chinese and Arabic. Some people, who would not think to question the legitimacy of the latter languages, unthinkingly dismiss Yiddish as a jargon or subset of German where "anything goes." I can ignore such comments if they are from the historical period of the Kulturkampf between Yiddish and Hebrew, or when they come from sources traditionally hostile to Jews. It saddens me when I hear them echoed by fellow Jews today. Harvey Spiro 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 Oct 94 01:10 CDT From: hlorbach@ksuvm Subject: Ravel's Chants Hebraiques Daniella HarPaz [4:126] asks about Ravel's Chants Hebraiques. I have a copy of the reissued original recording (with Ravel at the piano) by Madeleine Grey. It is part of the Angel "Chants d'Auvergne" [Great Recordings (1965/6)] the English version of a French repressing of the 1932 original. Angel COLC-152: "Madeleine Grey -- Songs of Auvergne." Grey's voice is quite exceptional and the style majestic. The accompanying booklet -- Ah! days of large LP's with boxes, jackets... -- gives the English and a transliteration in Daytsh/Yiddish: Mejer'ke Mejer'ke main Suhn, Mayerke, my son, Zi weiss du, var wenem du stehst? do you know before whom you are standing? --Lifne Melech Malchei hambochim, --Before the King of Kings my Tatunju, father, Mejer'ke main Suhn, Mayerke, my son, Wos ze westu bai Ihm bet'n? what are you asking of him? --Bonej, chajei M'sunei, Tatunju. --Children, life and food, my father [As sung, the first line is repeated twice (i.e., total of three times) with an "Ay" (Oy?) before `Mejer'ke' the third time. The second line is repeated once and the Hebrew response (third line) repeated once also. For the second stanza, the first two lines are repeated as in the first but the final line is repeated twice.] L'Enigme eternelle (The Eternal Problem) Fraegt die Velt die alte Casche The world asks the old question Tra la la la la la la Tra la ... Entfert men Tra la la la la One replies Tra la la la Un as men will kennen sagen and if one cannot reply Tra la la la la la la Tra la ... Fraegt die Velt die alte Casche the world asks the old question Tra la la la la la la Tra la ... [As sung, "L'Enigme eternelle" has the second line repeated once, and the `Tra la la la la' of the third line repeated once. The final line is repeated twice. (my 'ae' for 'a' with umlaut in the text)] Ravel's musical arrangment as he plays the piano is made for this form. I don't find anything like the line in "Mejer'ke" mentioned. Perhaps there was a text change in another version? Madeleine Grey was the favorite singer of Ravel and all three of the Chants Hebraiques were originally given by her and she alone had performance rights for many years, so I take it the text of the original is definitive for Ravel's musical setting. The booklet with my record also adds the information that "Mejer'ke" is taken from a Hebrew recitative whilst "L'enigma eternelle" was a Yiddish poem which he added to his musical setting for the Kaddish, the first and longest of the three "Chants Hebraiques." It also notes that "Mejer'ke" was one of four contributions by Ravel to a 1910 contest by the Moscow Maison du Lied that asked for "settings of songs taken from the folklores of different countries." Despite the daytsh/yiddish transliteration in the record booklet, the Chants are definitely sung in Yiddish, but what dialect vays ich nit. The Hebrew part is in Hebrew, but as I do not know Hebrew I would guess the attempt is to use the Sephardic pronunication. Others with musical backgrounds may have more knowledge about these three unique compositions of Ravel, and why and how he became interested in Jewish themes. The other music of his on the record are his Madagascan songs, the Chansons Madecasses. A quick perusal of a 1992 CD catalog finds no listing for the Chansons Hebraiques or Madecasses, but there is an Angel CD of Songs of Auvergne -- no information on performer; perhaps this is the Madeleine Grey version with the Chansons Hebraiques? Harold L. Orbach ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.130 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu