New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
Growing Interest in Russian
Music Sign of Increasing Culture
flew Collection of Muscovite Songs Shows the I'm.
portance of Folksong Idiom as Used
by Younger School

'e'os' anu '"us'cai idloms. Unhappily,
we cannot expect that of Russian
songs; and this fact invites a few oh-
servations.
One Of the things which vcxod III.
sous l'f they were not case -hardcned)
OF honest critics who were not steencd
in knowledge Of the Russian Ianou.,.
was to listen to the chorus Of cond.n-
nation of Rimsky- for hi.
amendments of the score of Nous
sorgsky's Boris Godounotf" in Franc.
and England and the United State.
raised by persons who knew nothing
either Of the original score or of
the language in which it was com.
posed. We were asked to believe that
some of its essence had been dissi-
pated by the man who showed his nd
miration for the WORK and his love for
its composer by rectifying the blunder,
and filing out the lacuna of drunken
genius; yet tho presumptuous critics Of
RimskyKorsakoff Cat least, those who
wrote in New York; had, as we we'll
knew, no knowledge OF either the
original score or the Russian language.
When Mr.. Chaliapin enacted the role
Of Boris in the opera we were con-
vinced of what we had hitherto only
believed, that some Of the strength
much, no doubt. to the knowers of
Russian-had been dissipated by the
translation into Italian, and we felt
again an old disappointment Mt that when
ever the translation of a foreign opera
is necessary in order TO adapt it for
performance at the Metropolitan Opera
House the secondary medium was not
English. We had to listen to "Lohcn-
grin in Italian when it was first sung
in our fashionable lyric theatcrs, and
we did so gratefully aud without pro-
test; but We could not help smiling
derisvcly at ~ Msestri Cantori" after
VIC had been made acquainted with
Die Mcistersinger.' In all cases Of
enforced translation the ucw medium
chosen should approach as closely in
genius to the original. Wagncr's works
can be translated, with reasonable
| fidelity to their native strength into
English; they cannot be rendered with
equal fidelity into any Latin tongue.
The reason is obvious and need not be
discussed.
The songs in this collection arc all
given in English translations and some
times with French or German para
phrases. The translatons STEM to be
as excellent as the selection Of songs,
but we are not in d position to judge
Of the extent to which the tmnslations
have met the difficulties PLACED in the
way of the paraphrast by the COM
poser. Mr.. Newman has written an
! illuminative essay on the subject of the
Russian art song. Speaking of tho
difficulties which assail the translator,
/ he says:
"Russian prosody has hsd a good
deal of influence on Russsn melody.
Russian poetry is rich in da:tylic end
ings which, needless to say, set the
English translator in solubl. problems
at times. These dactyls ofen end in
vowel-another thorn in the side of
the translator, for the vowel ending
gives peculiar lightnes to the
finish of the Russian pfrase that
cannot be duplicated in English. l
once had this forcibly brought home
to me by hearing a Czech choir sing
God Save the Queen Gin their own
tongue). Each two-measure phrase tap
cred off like the thin edge OF wedge
with US, from the very nature of the
words the emphasis on each note is
the same. The difference b.tween the
all-through blunt effect and the taper
ing effect in the dactyl may be illus.
trated by the unvarying limpishness of
the consonant gracious Queen OF
walking stick'-whch some people
would not even class as dactyls, but as
feet of three tongs and the airiness
the dive and Aoat Of Already or 'mys'
terry
with these illustrations in mind let
the reader now look at Liapounof s
christmas Song The Russian text Of
the first eight measures, corresponding
to the English words:
'Lttle Song OF Christmastide,
Tuncful in its dulcet sound
Like unto string Of pearls
Radiant on a velvet ground
may be roughly translated thus:
Svytochnaya pyesenka,
korovaya droozhnaya
Stovno zern 20 barkatoo
katitsy9 ZhemchooZnaya.
ut will seem that the most eAper
choice of English words cannot quit.
reproduce the Tilt of the original, The
soft vowel endings of the lines, the
taperlng of the verbal sound that sug
gests to the singer a corresponding
tapering of the melodic phrase. Tho
geniuses of the two languages arc alb
solutely different. / draw attention te
the fact here not only to show how
galiantly the translators have bravec
these and other difficulties. but to indi.
cate, en passoMt. the correct phrasine
! (because the natural phrasing) of The
melodies, and to show how, in man,
cases. type of melody that strikes The
ear at once as being peculiarly Russia
! has come about not through any con.
scious desire Of the composer to imi
tate q folk odium but purely and
simply as the result OF the pull of the
words"
Mengclberg Sails This Week
To Appear With Philharmonic