1. how you come across to it:
Discovered it while doing a random search for Debussy's vocal works.
2. why this piece?
Composed both the text and music by Debussy during the First World War, it is possibly the saddest Christmas song ever, depicting the revengeful thoughts of those miserable orphans in war.
Thinking of the hatred it may have generated, the song can be quite chilly. The effect is reinforced by the fact that it is scored for children's chorus.
The text is self-explaining:
We have neither house nor home!
Enemies took all we owned, all gone, even our own little bed!
They burned our school, they even burned the teacher too.
They burned the church and statue of the Savior.
And the old begger that could not move very fast!
We have neither house nor home!
Enemies took all we owned, all gone, even our own little bed!
Papa has gone off to war, Poor Mother dear is in heaven!
she did not foresee all this.
Oh, what shall become of us?
Jesus, O little child, don't go to their house, never go to them again, Punish them all!
Avenge the children of France!
The little Belgians, and the little polish children too!
But if we should forget, please pardon us.
Jesus, Jesus above all we want no toys!
But may we please have once again our daily bread!
For the little Belgians, for the little Serbians, too!
We have neither house nor home!
Enemies took all we owned, all gone, even our own little bed!
They burned our school, they even burned the teacher too.
They burned the church and statue of the Savior.
And the old begger that could not move very fast!
Jesus! hear now our plea, we no longer have our wooden shoes.
Give victory to the children of France!
another English translation is available here:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=4342
3. (and...)
Hope this kind of vindictiveness limits itself to history in the past. Let there be peace on earth.
[12]
27.12.08
14.12.08
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
1. how you come across to it:
I first learned about Wagner and his many operas from a music dictionary (written in Chinese) that I read (and sometimes, studied) as a primary-school boy.
2. why this piece?
I was fortunate enough to have the chance to attend Daniel Barenboim's debut performance at the Metropolitan Opera last week. The cast included Katarina Dalayman (Isolde), Peter Seiffert (Tristan), Michelle DeYoung (Barangaene), and Kwangchul Youn (King Marke).
3. (and...)
This is a great opera with the most trivial plot. The story is there just to provide a framework for a mood brought out by the music, for Wagner's musical study of love. Or, instead of love, should I say the feeling of falling in love? Wagner is able to capture this complex psychological state so well with his music and lyrics. This feeling is not just a maddening desire of another person, but also, a sense of guilt, a feeling of lost (in Act I, the word "verloren" is even set to the first leitmotiv in one of Isolde's lines), a craving desire to escape reality, and an intense blissfulness defying any verbal description.
I have ambivalent feelings toward this opera. To my taste, the sentimentality of the music is excessive, almost decadent, though whenever I listen to the prelude or Liebestod I could only confess my secret enjoyment of the music's hypnotic power. Wagner's music is literally like a love potion that transports his audience to the dream castle of King Ludwig, ruled not by the King, but by fantasy, visions, flickering stars, and shiny moon.
As to the performance I attended, Barenboim's interpretation is overall satisfying. Kwangchul Youn sang an extremely memorable King Marke with nuanced expression and authority. Dalayman's Isolde was also good, though I preferred slightly her Barangaene in her previous Met production with James Levine. Seiffert's Tristan was overall disappointing, though he did manage to showcase his intensity in Act III. Barenboim's tempo at the final Liebestod was not too slow (as compared with, say, Furtwaengler's in the following recording) but it sounded surprisingly calm and peaceful. Perhaps this is really the way to interpret this famous piece: could Isolde still have any agitated passion when she is dying so blissfully?
Kirsten Flagstad singing Liebestod (live), with Furtwaengler conducting:
Waltraud Meier singing Liebestod (live), with Daniel Barenboim conducting at la Scala (2007):
I first learned about Wagner and his many operas from a music dictionary (written in Chinese) that I read (and sometimes, studied) as a primary-school boy.
2. why this piece?
I was fortunate enough to have the chance to attend Daniel Barenboim's debut performance at the Metropolitan Opera last week. The cast included Katarina Dalayman (Isolde), Peter Seiffert (Tristan), Michelle DeYoung (Barangaene), and Kwangchul Youn (King Marke).
3. (and...)
This is a great opera with the most trivial plot. The story is there just to provide a framework for a mood brought out by the music, for Wagner's musical study of love. Or, instead of love, should I say the feeling of falling in love? Wagner is able to capture this complex psychological state so well with his music and lyrics. This feeling is not just a maddening desire of another person, but also, a sense of guilt, a feeling of lost (in Act I, the word "verloren" is even set to the first leitmotiv in one of Isolde's lines), a craving desire to escape reality, and an intense blissfulness defying any verbal description.
I have ambivalent feelings toward this opera. To my taste, the sentimentality of the music is excessive, almost decadent, though whenever I listen to the prelude or Liebestod I could only confess my secret enjoyment of the music's hypnotic power. Wagner's music is literally like a love potion that transports his audience to the dream castle of King Ludwig, ruled not by the King, but by fantasy, visions, flickering stars, and shiny moon.
As to the performance I attended, Barenboim's interpretation is overall satisfying. Kwangchul Youn sang an extremely memorable King Marke with nuanced expression and authority. Dalayman's Isolde was also good, though I preferred slightly her Barangaene in her previous Met production with James Levine. Seiffert's Tristan was overall disappointing, though he did manage to showcase his intensity in Act III. Barenboim's tempo at the final Liebestod was not too slow (as compared with, say, Furtwaengler's in the following recording) but it sounded surprisingly calm and peaceful. Perhaps this is really the way to interpret this famous piece: could Isolde still have any agitated passion when she is dying so blissfully?
Kirsten Flagstad singing Liebestod (live), with Furtwaengler conducting:
Waltraud Meier singing Liebestod (live), with Daniel Barenboim conducting at la Scala (2007):
6.12.08
Fauré: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120
1. how you come across to it:
Continual listen to the 1st movement, and then the remaining ones. It often takes me quite a while to thoroughly digest a movement by listening to it repeatedly, before I can move on to another.
2. why this piece?
The 1st movement is the piece I play on the piano most these days, particularly when the temperature drops recently, as playing piano is a way to keep myself warm.
3. (and...)
Materials used in the 1st movement transfigured in the 2nd and the 3rd are not quite obvious (at least to me), unless you get more familiarized with the melodious 1st movement.
4. (also...)
Again, it's the subtlety which captures my attention - things which are there but not obvious at the first glance, but amaze you upon further investigation; things which are deep and intense that deserve a steady gaze to unveil, which takes time (or maybe I'm slow...).
The experience resembles how one savors tea, that you may experience a range of different combination of tastes - starting with aroma that enters the nose, followed by actual drops of tea going from the tip of tongue, to the end of throat.
This may as well serve as an excuse for my ignorance in grandiose music :p.
[8]
Continual listen to the 1st movement, and then the remaining ones. It often takes me quite a while to thoroughly digest a movement by listening to it repeatedly, before I can move on to another.
2. why this piece?
The 1st movement is the piece I play on the piano most these days, particularly when the temperature drops recently, as playing piano is a way to keep myself warm.
3. (and...)
Materials used in the 1st movement transfigured in the 2nd and the 3rd are not quite obvious (at least to me), unless you get more familiarized with the melodious 1st movement.
4. (also...)
Again, it's the subtlety which captures my attention - things which are there but not obvious at the first glance, but amaze you upon further investigation; things which are deep and intense that deserve a steady gaze to unveil, which takes time (or maybe I'm slow...).
The experience resembles how one savors tea, that you may experience a range of different combination of tastes - starting with aroma that enters the nose, followed by actual drops of tea going from the tip of tongue, to the end of throat.
This may as well serve as an excuse for my ignorance in grandiose music :p.
[8]
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