Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Self-Portrait 2016


05.27.16, IRT Line #1 Subway Station 28th St. Platform 

Monday, May 23, 2016

Italienisches Liederbuch

Hugo Wolf’s art songs in his Italienisches Liederbuch drew the words from anonymous Italian poems translated into German by Paul Heyse.  Translations, even when rendered beautifully, never succeeds in replicating the original; they are adaptations.  As I was listening to the first song in the set performed by a soprano, in German of course, and then reading the Italian text, I couldn’t help being struck by the drastic change of the poem’s character, in particular in the effect of the Italian diminutive suffix in “le cose piccoline” as opposed to “kleine Dinge” or even “Dingelschen.”  The case offers us a glimpse into the fundamental difference between Italian opera and German musical drama. 

Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken,
Auch kleine Dinge können teuer sein.
Bedenkt, wie gern wir uns mit Perlen schmücken;
Sie werden schwer bezahlt und sind nur klein.
Bedenkt, wie klein ist die Olivenfrucht,
Und wird um ihre Güte doch gesucht.
Denkt an die Rose nur, wie klein sie ist,
Und duftet doch so lieblich, wie ihr wißt.

Le cose piccoline son pur belle!
Le cose piccoline son pur care!
Ponete mente come son le perle:
son piccoline, e si fanno pagare.
Ponete mente come l'è l'uliva:
l'è piccolina, e di buon frutto mena.
Ponete mente come l'è la rosa:
l'è piccolina, e l'è tanto odorosa.


The Italian text is available in Canti popolari toscani, corsi, illirici, greci, raccolti ed illustrati da Niccolò Tommaseo, Venezia, G. Tasso, 1841. 

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Fried and Spiteful 目玉の恨み


Incomprehensibly, my fried egg at breakfast comes out now and then like this, fried and spiteful and plaintive — a chick hatching prematurely from the egg broken into the sizzling skillet and turning into an angry bird?? 

あたしの朝の目玉の卵、不可解乍ら、時たまこういう風に恨めしそうな顔をして訴えるの、焼け付くフライパンの卵が早まってひよこに孵って、そしてアングリバードになろうとしているのかしら。