Lost in the fire of last year's Pierrot centennial was translation. After all, it was Otto Erich Hartleben's German--translated from the original French of Albert Giraud--that Arnold Schoenberg had set.
And with Stanley Appelbaum's Anglicised Hartleben turning 20 next year (not to mention having its own Twitter account @PierrotTweets), Classicalite figured a new English language translation was passed due.
The moonbeam is the oar, The water lily serves as the boat: On it Pierrot travels south Wafted by a favorable wind.
— Pierrot (@PierrotTweets) June 2, 2011
To wit, for the next 21 weekdays, we'll be offering a new take on each of Giraud/Hartleben/Appelbaum's 3x7 poems...alongside some of our favorite performances.
JOURNEY HOME
A moonbeam is the rudder,
The water lily serves as boat,
So Pierrot sails southward
With a fair wind for his passage.
The stream hums deep scales beneath
And rocks the fragile dory.
A moonbeam is the rudder,
The water lily serves as boat.
To Bergamo, his homeland,
At last, Pierrot returns.
In the east, soft glimmers rise
To the dawn's green horizon--
A moonbeam is the rudder.
Up next: "O Alter Duft"
