Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

silence - Re: [silence] Performing Mesostics and the Other Non-sensical Texts

Subject: Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

List archive

Re: [silence] Performing Mesostics and the Other Non-sensical Texts


Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Goldstein, Louis" <>
  • To: Rod Stasick <>
  • Cc: silence <>
  • Subject: Re: [silence] Performing Mesostics and the Other Non-sensical Texts
  • Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2022 14:43:09 -0700
  • Authentication-results: eifmailue2p2.az.virginia.edu; spf=pass (virginia.edu: domain of designates 209.85.160.176 as permitted sender)

I agree the #1 option is the one faithful to the original intention.  But I keep thinking of the differences different translations can make.  In class I've used 3 English translations of two H. Hesse poems, ones used by R. Strauss in "Four Last Songs."  In addition to the different choices of adjectives and adverbs to translate individual words, and which can alter the slant of the meaning, - - -  one of the translations preserves Hesse's rhyme scheme, surely a vital element of the poems.  But in doing so the meaning of the text becomes convoluted and difficult to follow.  German speakers have told me that one of the 3 translations best conveys the language and intent of the original, but in English it reads as an unrhymed, unmetered contemporary verse.

On Sun, Jan 23, 2022 at 11:41 AM Rod Stasick <> wrote:
I was going to check my copy of the Mudima text as well, but Stefano beat me to it.
That mesostic slipped thru with an unnoticed “a” in the word “am” (and it is highlighted for some reason?)
Still, it works well if you chop everything off after the word “or” in that line and just continue reading.

I’ll check my copy of the “Kunst = Leben” catalog. I seem to remember a German language mesostic there.

Anyway, possibilities exist to move forward no matter what previous versions are already out there.

Rod




Now Playing:

‌Charles Ives:‌ Symphony No. 3 in B Flat Major, 'the Camp Meeting' - I. Old Folks Gatherin'

from:
‌Ives - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4, the Unanswered Question & Central Park in the Dark‌

‌‌Last.FM:



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page