I don't know who invented the German language, but whoever it was had a very cynical sense of humor. German pronunciation is a very difficult skill to master, and while I am by no means proficient, I can say that I am getting closer to becoming cautiously comfortable with it. For example, I've gotten used to pronouncing the letter "e" with an schwa at the end of words like "liebe" (which means "love"). This is the symbol of a schwa: Ə. It looks like an upside-down "e," and it indicates pronunciation of the neutral vowel in the word "the," the "e" in the word "taken," and the "i" in the word "pencil."
Anyways, I am singing two German songs this semester. The first is a solo - "Von Ewiger Liebe" by Johannes Brahms. The second is a choral piece that will be performed by the Trinity Choir at our fall concert - it is called "Und Ob Ich Schon Wanderte Im Finstrin Thal" by Georg Schumann.
"Von ewiger liebe" means "Of eternal love," and it is the story of two young lovers who, wending their way to the girl's house on a dark (dunkel) evening, converse about their love. The young man tells his beloved that if he should ever bring her shame or disgrace, then "our love shall be ended ever so fast." ("Werde die Liebe getrennt so geschwind.") The girl assures her lover that "Steel is firm and iron is firm, yet our love is firmer still." ("Fest ist der Stahl und das Eisen gar sehr, Unsere Liebe ist fester noch mehr.") It's a beautiful song.
The Schumann piece isn't a love song. It's a Bible verse; Psalm 23:4 - "And if I even wander in the dark valley, I fear no misfortune because You are by me, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me, my God, because You are by me." This song speaks to me especially right now, because I am currently not in choir rehearsal (where I am supposed to be) due to an untoward but not wholly unexpected sickness. I went to the doctor today at Health Services, and I think the fact that the nurse drew blood from my arm might have contributed to my current state of physical ailment.
Anyhow. Enough about German. I'm ready to move on to something interesting.
"Ich fürchte kein Unglück denn Du bist bei mir, mein Gott!" I fear no misfortune because you are by me, my God!"
My German pieces by Jennifer Miller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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