A double dactyl on the subject of performing spoken chorus pieces in China
"Rimini, Brindisi"--
If you are singing Ernst
Toch's work, the Fuge aus der
Geographie,
Though it is fun to say
"Popocatepetl",
Chanting "Tibet," you had
Best not add "Free!"
--
How the heck have I never heard of the Geographical Fugue before now? It's like "Bulbous Bouffant" but with volcanoes! I stumbled across it on Youtube this morning and will now have it in my head for approximately the next three months. This may be a problem as I try to learn the several other pieces I actually need to sing, but y'know.
The poem above is the result of my speculating on what it would be like to perform the song in Beijing. Despite the fact that the song is purely innocent, I expect a foreigner repeating "Tibet" over and over may not go down so well. My conclusion is that it would be best to do the German version (identical except for using "Ratibor" instead of "Trinidad" and "Athen" instead of "Tibet"). "Tibet" could also be replaced by another iambic locale; I was thinking that "Shenzhen" has the right vowel sounds and even sounds similar to the original German choice.
If you are singing Ernst
Toch's work, the Fuge aus der
Geographie,
Though it is fun to say
"Popocatepetl",
Chanting "Tibet," you had
Best not add "Free!"
--
How the heck have I never heard of the Geographical Fugue before now? It's like "Bulbous Bouffant" but with volcanoes! I stumbled across it on Youtube this morning and will now have it in my head for approximately the next three months. This may be a problem as I try to learn the several other pieces I actually need to sing, but y'know.
The poem above is the result of my speculating on what it would be like to perform the song in Beijing. Despite the fact that the song is purely innocent, I expect a foreigner repeating "Tibet" over and over may not go down so well. My conclusion is that it would be best to do the German version (identical except for using "Ratibor" instead of "Trinidad" and "Athen" instead of "Tibet"). "Tibet" could also be replaced by another iambic locale; I was thinking that "Shenzhen" has the right vowel sounds and even sounds similar to the original German choice.