[die Flamme lod're durch den Rauch]
So today, in a stunning combination of pretty much everything that I already talk way too much about, I am going to talk about music, German, Norseshit, and my Shounen Life Dreams all at the same time. This is clearly unprecedented and you all care a lot no wait please come back I swear it's interesting I swear
So in choir, we're performing Mendelssohn's "Die Erste Walpurgisnacht" for our Halloween concert next week. (Also, Firefox spellcheck is, I guess, perfectly okay with the word "Walpurgisnacht," but not, it seems, the word "spellcheck." Okay then.) This is a fun-ass piece - glorious Mendelssohn drama on an unusual theme! Long story short:
1.) Spring comes to 800s Saxony. Some druid-type ladies are terribly excited about this.
2.) A druid-type dude declares that this is a rad time to light some fires to the Allfather AWWWWW YEAH.
3.) Everyone agrees! In SONG!
4.) An old lady reminds everyone present that Christians are douchebags who sling pagan children against walls, oh and also we're all nearing our inescapable doom, don't forget that either guys
5.) The druid-type ladies are sad about this.
6.) The druid-type dudes who are present decide that it is time to light some SACRIFICIAL FIRES. Everyone sneaks through the woods because HEE HEE WE CAN'T LET CHARLEMAGNE FIND OUT WE'RE STILL PAGANS YOU GUYS
7.) One enterprising dude gets the bright idea that the druid-types should run through the hollows with sticks and make owl noises and scare all the Christians shitless.
8.) EVERYONE PROCEEDS TO DO THIS AND IT IS FUCKING BANANA PANCAKES CRAZY (starts at about 1:40.)
9.) The Christians are appropriately terrified ("ZOMBIES! WITCHES! WEREWOLVES! I WANT TO GO BACK TO FRAAAAAAAANCE") and they all run away.
10.) All the druid-type folks return to the fire and sing about how awesome it is to be a secret pagan. THE END.
Yeah, that's the plot. It's short - maybe 30-40 minutes long, start to finish. Put it on in the background, it's worth a listen.
I might be slightly in love with the text. It's funny in summary, and a little cheesy, yes; but one of the things I like about choir is getting to play a part in my music. With this, it's not a piece to show off the chords (though they are terrific) or the soloists' virtuosity (though they are spectacular). It's about telling a short story of a people oppressed, from a point of view not usually seen - the music paints images of a group of people deep in the blackest woods of old Germany, singing quietly for fear of being overheard. There are ghosts here, behind the words, in the voices of the women singing Ach, the cruel conquerors - and we all near the inescapable trap! Interspersed between the songs of praise are quiet reminders to remain watchful in the silence, because under the joy is a constant, quiet fear. It's tense, and emotional, and Mendelssohn is a fucking genius, as always.
Then, in the last bit, this is the text, sung by a druid priest and echoed by the people:
Die Flamme reinigt sich vom Rauch,
so reinig' unsern Glauben!
Und raubt man uns den alten Brauch;
dein Licht, wer kann es rauben?
Translated this is roughly (with greater attention paid to meaning than literal translation):
The flame purifies itself through the smoke-
So purify our faith!
And even if they rob us of our ancient rite;
Your light-- who can rob it?
....Eurgh, yeah, these work much better in German and also I am a shitty translator. But! But it's the meaning of the words! Those last two lines, especially - because in the movement before, he sings this line, except he says, Wer will es rauben? And at the very last, it changes - from "Who will rob us of your light?" to "Who can rob us of your light?" And we finish on these vast, ringing chords, begun quietly but filling up the whole hall, because though we are alone in the woods, though we are dead if they find us, the light of our faith shines like bright fire through a cloud of smoke, and we cannot help but give it everything in our voices.
Shames talked about this a little. "Everyone has something like this," he said. "I don't think we have any actual druids in the choir - do we? Hm. No, it appears we don't. But everyone has something like this-- this flame inside them, that cannot be concealed. Sing that for me."
And so, even though I go to rehearsal exhausted and half-sing my way through the narrow, rocky hollows, by the time I get to this movement, I have a good piece of my soul in this music - because everyone has something like this. It doesn't matter if with my words I'm singing to Allfather, if the audience hears druids. I'm... oh god this is corny. I'm thinking of what I want to do with my life. I'm thinking of the light that keeps me going through my ridiculous schedule, through sturm und drang and late-night German essays and dry reading about international law - there is something at the end of that. There's justice, and the justice that someday I will help bring to someone, anyone; there's the light of a better country, and a better world, that I am working to be a small part of bringing into being.
That's what I think of when I'm standing in the choir loft trying my damnedest to be a convincing druid-type Saxon lady. I love this music. I fucking love this music. I wish I could shake my enthusiasm over this into everyone singing around me (and also slap every person who bitches about the German one more time, okay), because there is something so timeless in this, such beautiful emotion to bring to light, something fixed in time and place and at the same time so universal....
All right, gonna stop before I descend any more into epic cliche. But. This is why I come home from rehearsal happy, and full of energy - because every time I sing that the flame blazes through the smoke, I remember why I work myself to exhaustion, and I remember that it is worthwhile.
In conclusion: We are all beautiful druids. Don't let Charlemagne rob you of your light, bros. <3
So in choir, we're performing Mendelssohn's "Die Erste Walpurgisnacht" for our Halloween concert next week. (Also, Firefox spellcheck is, I guess, perfectly okay with the word "Walpurgisnacht," but not, it seems, the word "spellcheck." Okay then.) This is a fun-ass piece - glorious Mendelssohn drama on an unusual theme! Long story short:
1.) Spring comes to 800s Saxony. Some druid-type ladies are terribly excited about this.
2.) A druid-type dude declares that this is a rad time to light some fires to the Allfather AWWWWW YEAH.
3.) Everyone agrees! In SONG!
4.) An old lady reminds everyone present that Christians are douchebags who sling pagan children against walls, oh and also we're all nearing our inescapable doom, don't forget that either guys
5.) The druid-type ladies are sad about this.
6.) The druid-type dudes who are present decide that it is time to light some SACRIFICIAL FIRES. Everyone sneaks through the woods because HEE HEE WE CAN'T LET CHARLEMAGNE FIND OUT WE'RE STILL PAGANS YOU GUYS
7.) One enterprising dude gets the bright idea that the druid-types should run through the hollows with sticks and make owl noises and scare all the Christians shitless.
8.) EVERYONE PROCEEDS TO DO THIS AND IT IS FUCKING BANANA PANCAKES CRAZY (starts at about 1:40.)
9.) The Christians are appropriately terrified ("ZOMBIES! WITCHES! WEREWOLVES! I WANT TO GO BACK TO FRAAAAAAAANCE") and they all run away.
10.) All the druid-type folks return to the fire and sing about how awesome it is to be a secret pagan. THE END.
Yeah, that's the plot. It's short - maybe 30-40 minutes long, start to finish. Put it on in the background, it's worth a listen.
I might be slightly in love with the text. It's funny in summary, and a little cheesy, yes; but one of the things I like about choir is getting to play a part in my music. With this, it's not a piece to show off the chords (though they are terrific) or the soloists' virtuosity (though they are spectacular). It's about telling a short story of a people oppressed, from a point of view not usually seen - the music paints images of a group of people deep in the blackest woods of old Germany, singing quietly for fear of being overheard. There are ghosts here, behind the words, in the voices of the women singing Ach, the cruel conquerors - and we all near the inescapable trap! Interspersed between the songs of praise are quiet reminders to remain watchful in the silence, because under the joy is a constant, quiet fear. It's tense, and emotional, and Mendelssohn is a fucking genius, as always.
Then, in the last bit, this is the text, sung by a druid priest and echoed by the people:
Die Flamme reinigt sich vom Rauch,
so reinig' unsern Glauben!
Und raubt man uns den alten Brauch;
dein Licht, wer kann es rauben?
Translated this is roughly (with greater attention paid to meaning than literal translation):
The flame purifies itself through the smoke-
So purify our faith!
And even if they rob us of our ancient rite;
Your light-- who can rob it?
....Eurgh, yeah, these work much better in German and also I am a shitty translator. But! But it's the meaning of the words! Those last two lines, especially - because in the movement before, he sings this line, except he says, Wer will es rauben? And at the very last, it changes - from "Who will rob us of your light?" to "Who can rob us of your light?" And we finish on these vast, ringing chords, begun quietly but filling up the whole hall, because though we are alone in the woods, though we are dead if they find us, the light of our faith shines like bright fire through a cloud of smoke, and we cannot help but give it everything in our voices.
Shames talked about this a little. "Everyone has something like this," he said. "I don't think we have any actual druids in the choir - do we? Hm. No, it appears we don't. But everyone has something like this-- this flame inside them, that cannot be concealed. Sing that for me."
And so, even though I go to rehearsal exhausted and half-sing my way through the narrow, rocky hollows, by the time I get to this movement, I have a good piece of my soul in this music - because everyone has something like this. It doesn't matter if with my words I'm singing to Allfather, if the audience hears druids. I'm... oh god this is corny. I'm thinking of what I want to do with my life. I'm thinking of the light that keeps me going through my ridiculous schedule, through sturm und drang and late-night German essays and dry reading about international law - there is something at the end of that. There's justice, and the justice that someday I will help bring to someone, anyone; there's the light of a better country, and a better world, that I am working to be a small part of bringing into being.
That's what I think of when I'm standing in the choir loft trying my damnedest to be a convincing druid-type Saxon lady. I love this music. I fucking love this music. I wish I could shake my enthusiasm over this into everyone singing around me (and also slap every person who bitches about the German one more time, okay), because there is something so timeless in this, such beautiful emotion to bring to light, something fixed in time and place and at the same time so universal....
All right, gonna stop before I descend any more into epic cliche. But. This is why I come home from rehearsal happy, and full of energy - because every time I sing that the flame blazes through the smoke, I remember why I work myself to exhaustion, and I remember that it is worthwhile.
In conclusion: We are all beautiful druids. Don't let Charlemagne rob you of your light, bros. <3