Tag Archives: YKChan

子夜四時歌* (唐) 李白

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Ziye’s Ballads of the Four Seasons*    Li Bai (701-762)

Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国译

* Note: 亦作”子夜吳歌”。Also known as “Ziye’s Song of Wu”.

“子夜” (Midnight) was the name of a woman in the Jin 晉 Dynasty (265 – 420), who allegedly started this ballad style of poem in southern China.

春歌
秦地羅敷女              采桑綠水邊
素手青條上              紅妝白日鮮
蠶飢妾欲去              五馬莫留連

Spring Song             

Maiden Luofu in the land of Qin,
Picks mulberry leaves by the river.
Her pale arms stretched across the green bough,
In bright sunlight her red dress shimmers.
Silkworms famished I’d like to go,
Ought not to loiter here your five-horse carriage.

夏歌
镜湖三百里         菡萏发荷花
五月西施采         人看隘若耶1
回舟不待月         归去越王家

Summer Song
Mirror Lake stretches far and wide,

Teeming with lotus blossoms nigh.
In the fifth moon when Xi Shi the beauty picks the flowers,
Onlookers amass in Yuoye1 for such a spectacular.
Before moonrise her boat returns,
To the royal house as heads turn.

___________________

1 Xi Shi’s hometown

秋歌
长安一片月          万户捣衣声
秋风吹不尽          总是玉关情
何日平胡虏          良人罢远征

Autumn Song
The moon shines bright over Chang An City;
Household laundry bats are stirring the night.
Autumn breezes forever blow and blow,
Always carry my heart to Gate Jadeite.
When will all the Tartars be conquered,
To let my dear husband quit this distant fight?

冬歌

明朝驿使发          一夜絮征袍
素手抽针冷          那堪把剪刀
裁缝寄远道          几日到临洮

Winter Song      

Next morn the courier is setting off;
My warrior’s gown has to be sewn tonight.
Slender hands pulling a chilly needle;
Those scissors can hardly be held tight.
To send the tailored garment far away,
When will it reach Lintao and be alright?

Taranto, tarantula and tarantella 塔兰图蜘蛛舞曲 by YK Chan

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 Is tarantella the dance music for avoiding death from tarantism caused by a tarantula bite?

Lycosa tarantula

 

A myth goes like this:  When you are bitten by the tarantula wolf spider (Lycosa tarantula) you will succumb to the hysterical condition of tarantism, and need to dance to the tarantella―a type of agitated, manic and fast-rhythm (usually at 6/8 time) music―to counter the poison by sweating and avoid death.

 

Here is how it looks like, traditionally, enacted from the bite to the dance with some innuendo of youthful sexual flirtation:

http://my.lifeinitaly.com/threads/4926-SEXY-GIRL-DANCING-quot-TARANTELLA-quot-%28Italian-traditional-dance%29

Another depiction of a barefoot dancer can be viewed in the first part of this clip:

Tarantella in ballet form

http://www.youtube.com/v/481A2k4IgUo&hl=it&fs=1

Both the spider and the music are attributed to the Italian region of Taranto, at the heel of the “Italian boot” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Taranto), although the dance form is Greek in origin.  The spider bite may be painful but it usually is not fatal to humans.  If not for curative purpose, tarantella music may be graceful instead of frantic for dancing couples, as seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvlP4KrIzls

Tarantella couple dance

 

I prefer to associate tarantella with frenzy and excitement as it conveys a sense of passion and not reason.  Human emotion could be an outlet for relieving the fatigued reasoning faculty, thus refreshing it.

Although I enjoy watching a graceful or energetic dance that enhances the accompanying music, the music itself is the inducing factor of emotion.  The human voice is also an instrument, which can be tuned and trained for expressive vocalization.  You would appreciate what it means to compare voice with instrument when you listen to this tongue-twisting and exciting song of Rossini’s La Danza (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Danza) in tarantella napoletana time.  Here, the tenor Rolando Villazón sings this song flawlessly with the strong pulsating and arousing rhythm.  Listening to it, you may feel being swept off your feet and carried away by a whirlwind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuaHlOt3SgE

 

Kreutzer Sonata

The last movement (Presto) of Beethoven’s Kreutzer violin sonata

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata_No._9_%28Beethoven%29)

also comes to mind since it is in rondo form as a 6/8-tarantella.  The virtuosi Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich perform it engagingly thus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOIVF4ICcnA&feature=related

 

Tolstoy’s novella, The Kreutzer Sonata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kreutzer_Sonata), is said to have been inspired by Beethoven’s sonata.  Its story in turn inspired the 1901 painting by René François Xavier Prinet and Leoš Janáček‘s first string quartet (1923), both entitled or subtitled Kreutzer Sonata.  But, that is another story, another piece of art and music

Dvořák’s Humoresque –by YK Chan

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ABSTRACT

It likely invokes a state of calmness and tranquility to induce sparkles of delight and pensiveness…

Antonín Dvořák’s Humoresque No. 7 in G-flat major is often heard as a popular violin miniature or encore piece.  I remember the very first time I listened to it was from a 10”-vinyl disc (comprising violin gems) that brother YH bought during his high school years when I was in grade school.  This simple and pleasant melody immediately struck my heartstrings.  Since then I had been imagining taking up the violin some day so that I could play it.  As an adult, I finally learned the  Shin’ichi Suzuki simplified arrangement

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MTyhj3gyI0&NR=1&feature=fvwp]

but played it, as expected, without conveying humor.

 

Humoresques are fanciful romantic pieces that depict a humorous mood.  Dvořák originally wrote eight of them in 1894 as a cycle of piano ditties, which were published as his opus 101

[http://imslp.org/wiki/8_Humoresques,_Op.101_%28Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k,_Anton%C3%ADn_Leopold%29].

The popular tune arranged for the violin is the seventh designated poco lento e grazioso–a little slow and gracious

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmAZoexenx8].

 

Fritz Kreisler popularized it further with his own fancy arrangement and played it with much sentiment [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiiAUECbIaw].  Hilary Hahn, the young American violinist, however, admires Mischa Elman’s rendition

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31uJT2IKsR0&feature=related].  Elman played it methodically and slowly with such a precision that exemplified the even bowing division technique, yet adding colors to it.  On the other hand, the violin virtuoso Maxim Vengerov interprets it speedily like a child skipping rope

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_JoPEX3pxc].

 

One of my teachers introduced me to yet another interpretation, one by Josef Hassid, who died tragically and prematurely.  He recorded Kreisler’s version but played it with unique articulation and subdued melancholic passion

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpMiNez6RR4].

 

Dvořák’s Humoresque No. 7 has been transcribed for various instruments and ensembles.  Even a song version was used as a joke on the Amtrak train and in a children’s animation.  It is not surprising that its original piano version is unknown to or forgotten by some listeners, while its violin and piano versions remain in the popular repertoire.  Many violinists, from the very young to the old, have played it.  Listeners respond to it in more than a humorous mood as provoked by the artist’s interpretation and delivery.  It likely invokes a state of calmness and tranquility to induce sparkles of delight and pensiveness.  I recently came across a performance by Rachel Barton Pine, playing Maud Powell’s adaptation of Kreisler’s arrangement

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9AUhoQZOrw].  You may choose your favorite interpretation from all available versions.

International Tulip Festival

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七绝: 自然规律–加京国际郁金香节有感    陈耀国

根球去秋我先种

 

香花迎春当怒放

 

五月承随四月来

 

君仍近临我心芳

 

 

 

Tulip bulbs I buried last fall 

Now spring to life they’re up

Sure as May follows April 

Just as sure my heart they rub

Thanks are due to Yu Fong-ying for his English rendition, which I couldn’t do better.–YK

Wujue (五绝) in English

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Yu Fong-ying 余晃英 (WYK1961) recently started me to think about getting Chinese verse forms adapted for the English language as some worthy contribution to cross-cultural fertilization. Both the sonnet and the haiku have been successfully adapted into English from Italy and Japan, respectively.  Maybe some Chinese verse forms too can be similarly adapted.

I picked Li Bai’s best known 4-line poem 夜思 as a first attempt at this adaptation.  Over the Easter long weekend, with Fong-ying’s collaboration, we arrived at the version below to start the ball rolling for anyone who is interested in taking up this challenge.  It does not have to be a translation.  It can be a composition in the form of a 4-line pentasyllabic verse, 五绝 (wujue), preferrably in monosyllables and with the rhyme scheme of abcb, but any 4-line pentasyllabic verse will do.   A 4-line septasyllabic verse, 七绝 (qijue),  is fine too.  Also see Fong-ying’s wujue English composition “This Place I Roam” below.  –YK Chan (WYK1965)


夜思 李白                      Nocturnal Thoughts         Li Bai
(五绝)                         (Wujue : A four-line pentasyllabic verse)   Tr. by YK Chan & FY Yu
床前明月光,                     Bed side, Bright Moon shines;
疑是地上霜.                     Ground frost comes so fine?
举头望明月,                     Up at Moon I look;
低头思故乡.                     Down, for home I pine.

Wujue: This Place I Roam             五绝: 此地堪浪游
By YU Fong-ying                       余晃英作     陈耀国译

Red the maple leaves                  枫叶红北国
White hilltops like dome            穹顶白岭头|
Homeland now it is                     新乡兹落户
This new place I roam                 此地堪浪游

« Salut! Demeure chaste et pure» 纯美的香宅, 你好!

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Tenor aria from Faust (1859, revised 1869), a French grand opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré’s play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe‘s Faust, Part 1.

Aria setup: In Act 3, Dr. Faust (tenor), an aging scholar who bought youth from Méphistophélès’ with his own service to the devil, Mephistophele, sings a cavatina (Salut, demeure chaste et pure) about nature’s wonderful creation of his love, Marguerite.

Sung by:

Nicholai Gedda – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m_Jas-OEFE&feature=related

Alfredo Kraus – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDHZUcvvr4M

Giacomo Aragall – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI6NYORa9-U

Giuseppe Di Stefano – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOktnGD8G_0&NR=1&feature=fvwp

 

Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国译

Quel trouble inconnu me pénètre?                          是什么莫名其妙的烦恼渗透了我?
Je sens l’amour s’emparer de mon être!                    我觉得被爱情控制了! 
Ô Marguerite, à tes pieds me voici!                        噢, 玛嘉烈, 我就在这儿拜你石榴裙下! 
 
Salut! demeure chaste et pure,                             纯美的香宅, 你好! 
Salut! demeure chaste et pure,                             纯美的香宅, 你好!  
Où se devine la présence                                   存在这里的是 
d’une âme innocent et divine!                              一颗天真和神圣的灵魂!
Que de richesse en cette pauvreté!                       这里的贫乏是多么富裕!
En ce réduit, que de félicité!                             这里的缺乏是多么愉快! 
Que de richesse,                                           多么丰裕, 
Que de richesse en cette pauvreté!                       这里的贫乏是多么丰裕!
 
Ô nature, C’est là                                         噢, 大自然, 那就在这里 
que tu la fis si belle!                                   那是你把她造得这般漂亮! 
C’est là que cet enfant                                    这个孩子就在这里 
A dormi sous ton aile,                                     睡在你翼下,
A grandi sous tes yeux.                                    在你眼底成长.
Là que de ton haleine                                      在这里你的气息 
Enveloppant son âme                                        包裹她的灵魂,
Tu fis avec l’amour épanouir la femme                      用你的爱把这妞苞放 
En cet ange des cieux!                                     成来自天堂的天使! 
C’est là!  Oui, c’est là!                                  那就成了! 是的, 就是那样! 
Salut! demeure chaste et pure,                             纯美的香宅, 你好! 
Salut! demeure chaste et pure,           纯美的香宅, 你好! 
Où se devine la présence                                   存在这里的是 
d’une âme innocente et divine!                             一个天真和神圣的灵魂! 
Salut, salut, demeure chaste et pure, etc.                 纯美的香宅, 你好,… 

Au fond du temple saint 在聖殿深處

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Baritone and tenor duet from Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers 採珠漁人), a French opera in three acts by Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. 

Duet setup: In the opening scene somewhere on the coast of Sri Lanka, Zungra (baritone) has just been elected leader of the fishers.  Singing with his reconnected friend Nadir (tenor), they recall their long-ago quarrel over an attractive priestess, Leila, in the temple of Brahma.  Believing they are now cured of their old infatuation, they swear their everlasting friendship.

Renditions by:

Jussi Björling (Nadir) & Robert Merrill (Zurga) 1950 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ekaMQP_Fwc

Nicolai Gedda (Nadir) & Ernest Blanc (Zurga) 1961 –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj_vTRVdUCI

 

ZURGA
C’était le soir!
Dans l’air par la brise attiédi,
Les brahmines au front inondé de lumière,
Appelaient lentement la foule à la prière!

NADIR
Au fond du temple saint
Paré de fleurs et d’or,
Une femme apparaît!


ZURGA
Une femme apparaît!


NADIR
Je crois la voir encore!


ZURGA
Je crois la voir encore!

NADIR
La foule prosternée
La regarde, etonnée,
Et murmure tous bas:
Voyez, c’est la déesse!
Qui dans l’ombre se dresse
Et vers nous tend les bras!

ZURGA
Son voile se soulève!
Ô vision! ô rêve!
La foule est à genoux!

ZURGA & NADIR
Oui, c’est elle!
C’est la déesse
plus charmante et plus belle!
Oui, c’est elle!
C’est la déesse
qui descend parmi nous!
Son voile se soulève et la foule est à genoux!

NADIR
Mais à travers la foule
Elle s’ouvre un passage!

ZURGA
Son long voile déjà
Nous cache son visage!

NADIR
Mon regard, hélas!
La cherche en vain!

ZURGA
Elle fuit!

NADIR
Elle fuit!
Mais dans mon âme soudain
Quelle étrange ardeur s’allume!

ZURGA
Quel feu nouveau me consume!

NADIR
Ta main repousse ma main!

ZURGA
Ta main repousse ma main!

NADIR
De nos cœurs l’amour s’empare
Et nous change en ennemis!

ZURGA
Non, que rien ne nous sépare!

NADIR
Non, rien!

ZURGA
Que rien ne nous sépare!

NADIR
Non, rien!

ZURGA
Jurons de rester amis!


NADIR
Jurons de rester amis!


ZURGA
Jurons de rester amis!

ZURGA & NADIR
Oh oui, jurons de rester amis!
Oui, c’est elle! C’est la déesse!
En ce jour qui vient nous unir,
Et fidèle à ma promesse,
Comme un frère je veux te chérir!
C’est elle, c’est la déesse
Qui vient en ce jour nous unir!
Oui, partageons le même sort,
Soyons unis jusqu’à la mort!

Tr. YK Chan 陳耀國譯 

舒爾格
那是在一個晚上！
被輕風冷却的空氣中，

红光滿面的梵天教徒，
缓慢地呼喚羣眾來祈禱！

拿迪爾
在聖殿深處，
有鮮花和金飾的擺設，
一個女人出现了！
舒爾格
一個女人出现了！


拿迪爾
我仍能看見她！


舒爾格
我仍能看見她！

拿迪爾
那伏地的人羣
詫異地望着她，
在氣息中细語：
瞧，她是個女神！
在影子裡迫近
朝向我們张臂。


舒爾格
她的臉紗微開。
真是個景象！真是個幻夢！
人羣都下脆。

舒爾格与拿迪爾
是的，那就是她，
那就是女神，
更迷人也更漂亮！
是的，那就是她，
那就是女神，
下凡在我們之中。
她的臉紗打開，人羣都下脆。

拿迪爾
但她在人羣中
開路通過。

舒爾格
她的長臉纱已
隔着我們隐藏她的面孔！

拿迪爾
哎，我的眼睛！
無法尋着她！

舒爾格
她跑掉啦！

拿迪爾
她跑掉啦！
但是突然把我的灵魂
点着是什么奇怪的火焰！


舒爾格
是什么莫明的火焰佔據了我?


拿迪爾
你的手把我的手推走！

舒爾格
你的手把我的手推走！

拿迪爾
爱情侵进我们的心
把我们变成敌人！

舒爾格
不成,  没有什么可以离间我们！

拿迪爾
不成, 什么都不可以！

舒爾格
什么都不可以可以离间我们！

拿迪爾
什么都不可以！

舒爾格
让我们发誓成永久朋友！


拿迪爾
让我们发誓成永久朋友！


舒爾格
让我们发誓成永久朋友！

舒爾格与拿迪爾
是的, 让我们发誓成永久朋友！
是的, 她是那个女神,
她现在来团结我们。
并且, 我忠诚遵守我的诺言,
我愿你如我的兄弟般珍惜你！
她是那个女神,

她现在来团结我们。
是的, 让我们同享一个命运,
让我们团结至死！

Lascia ch’io pianga “Let me cry” by Giacomo Rossi

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<让我哭泣>

Soprano aria from Rinaldo (HWV 7), an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.The Italian libretto was written by Giacomo Rossi, based on episodes of Torquato Tasso‘s Gerusalemme liberata (“Jerusalem Delivered”). It is a heroic story of battle and love set in the time of the First Crusade (1096–1099).—fr. “Wikipedia”

Aria setup: Almirena (soprano), who is in love with the knight Rinaldo, has been abducted by the sorceress Armida and imprisoned. In a beautiful garden in Armida’s enchanted palace, Almirena laments her captivity (Act II).

Renditions by:

Marilyn Horne (mezzo) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxOZHQEux5c,

Suzie LeBlanc (soprano) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiq0meAPOgs&feature=related, and

Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRHJXDxQJL4&NR=1&feature=fvwp

 

Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国译

Lascia ch’io pianga
mia cruda sorte,
e che sospiri la libertà.
Il duolo infranga queste ritorte
de’ miei martiri sol per pietà.

 让我哭泣吧,
我的恶运,
也让我叹望自由.
看怜悯份上, 愿悲伤弄断这些
给我受苦的锁链.

“Madamina, il catalogo è questo” Lorenzo Da Ponte (1747-1838)

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“親爱的夫人，名冊在这里” (意) 罗兰素.達旁提 譜词

莫扎特歌剧<唐.吉奧凡尼>男低音咏叹調

Bass aria from Don Giovanni (K. 527; complete title: Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni, literally The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni), an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Giovanni)

Aria setup: In Act 1 scene 5 Don Giovanni’s (=Don Juan’s) sidekick, Leporello (bass), sings this Catalogue Aria to boast his master’s conquests to Donna Elvira.

Renditions by:

Ferruccio Furlanetto (bass) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqeyElCHRM8

José van Dam (bass-baritone) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LczenCYK8No

Hermann Prey (baritone) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcoMZSSNqUU

 

Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国译

Madamina, il catalogo è questo
Delle belle che amò il padron mio;
un catalogo egli è che ho fatt’io;
Osservate, leggete con me.

親爱的夫人，名冊在这里。

內有我老闆愛过的可人儿。

它是我编集的。

聽着，跟我唸一下。
In Italia seicento e quaranta;
In Alemagna duecento e trentuna;
Cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna;
Ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre.

意大利有一百四十人；

德国二百卅一亇；

一百亇在法国；土耳其九十一人；

但是在西班牙就已经有千三。

V’han fra queste contadine,
Cameriere, cittadine,
V’han contesse, baronesse,
Marchesine, principesse.
E v’han donne d’ogni grado,
D’ogni forma, d’ogni età.

她們其中有乡村姑娘，

女僕，城市姑娘，

女伯爵，男爵夫人，

女候爵，公主，

各階层的女人，

各色各样，老少皆全。

Nella bionda egli ha l’usanza
Di lodar la gentilezza,
Nella bruna la costanza,
Nella bianca la dolcezza.

对金发女郎他習惯

嘉许她的溫情;

棕发的忠诚；

白发的甜蜜。

Vuol d’inverno la grassotta,
Vuol d’estate la magrotta;
È la grande maestosa,
La piccina è ognor vezzosa.

在冬天他要丰滿的，

在夏天他要消瘦的，

高大的是壯丽的，

細小的总是充滿魅力。

Delle vecchie fa conquista
Pel piacer di porle in lista;
Sua passion predominante
È la giovin principiante.

他誘惑年老的

乐以加上名冊。

他最喜愛的

是少女。

Non si picca — se sia ricca,
Se sia brutta, se sia bella;
Purché porti la gonnella,
Voi sapete quel che fa.

她是否有錢财全无关系，

是醜是美，

只要她是穿裙子的，

你知道他会怎麼办。

Deh, vieni alla finestra “哎, 你到窗前来”

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Don Giovanni's (baritone) serenade from Act 2 of Don Giovanni (K. 527; complete title: Il dissoluto
punito, ossia il Don Giovanni, literally The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni), an opera in two acts
with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

Setup: Don Giovanni serenades Donna Elvira’s maid under her window to seduce her.

Renditions by:

Samuel Remey – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-13t581Fzc

Ruggero Raimondi – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZa1mEVFfhk

Dmitri Hvorostovsky -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2vnjUX_Dns&feature=related

 

Tr. YK Chan 陳耀國译

Deh, vieni alla finestra, o mio tesoro,          哎, 我亲爱的, 你到窗前来;
Deh, vieni a consolar il pianto mio.             哎, 来安慰我的忧伤吧!
Se neghi a me di dar qualche ristoro,            假如你不慰藉我的话,
Davanti agli occhi tuoi morir vogl'io!           我就会在你眼前死去.
Tu ch'hai la bocca dolce più del miele,          你的口唇比蜜糖更甜,
Tu che il zucchero porti in mezzo al core!       你内心就带着糖般甜美.
Non esser, gioia mia, con me crudele!            我之喜爱, 那你就不要这样残忍,
Lasciati almen veder, mio bell'amore!            我的至爱, 我只求你让我一瞥你的美藐!