Alte Libe - (1999) YR1503
Yiddish Folk Sayings
for high or medium high voice and piano / (high voice and harp & strings)
i. With Peace At Home.
With peace at home, one can be satisfied with only a little.
ii. The Best Prayer
Eating is the best prayer. When the stomach is empty is the brain also empty. It is good to fast with a leg from a goose and a half a bottle.
iii. An Art
Parenting is to be an art, and almost everyone undertakes it. Children grow up and parents grow old.
iv. A Beautiful World
If one has children, health and money, one has a beautiful world. It is better to live with joy than to die with sorrow.
v. When One Becomes Old
It is not so bad when one becomes old and the years drag us along. Losing teeth and having children makes age come quickly.
vi. Old Love
Old love does not rust. Whatever God wills, but together.
vii. The Boss
The husband is the boss, as long as the wife allows it.
viii. The World Is a Wheel
The world is a wheel, and it turns. The world is big, and the world is small. A beautiful world, a light-filled world, but only for whom? The world goes on and on, until it goes crazy.
The texts in the score are transliterations from the Yiddish.
Yiddish, as a language, is perhaps one thousand years old. With origins in the Rhineland, Jews who had immigrated from France began to speak a Germanic vernacular which incorporated elements of biblical Hebrew. as well as old French and Italian. With further immigration eastward into Poland, elements of Slavic languages also became a part of the language and its various pronunciations. Though Germanic in origin and therefore in much of its verb structure, it was written using Hebrew characters since the Torah and additional writings was an integral part of the Yiddish culture. Historically during the period of the European Enlightenment, European Jews found themselves a greater role in European cultures and began to discard Yiddish voluntarily. It is ironic after this time that the early twentieth century's barbarity brought on by the advent of National Socialism resulted in a violent repression of this language and culture. It is by no means the only Jewish language, for Ladino was like unto Yiddish though rooted in Spanish linguistic roots.
These songs combine individual short Yiddish folk sayings into longer song texts. The original Yiddish adages may be found in the collection, Words Like Arrows, University of Toronto Press, 1984, edited by Shirley Kumove, though my less clever translation are directly from the Yiddish. The setting for strings and harp is available only in the high key. Another cycle of songs is the comic set poking fun at cantors, titles Ale khazonim.
This cycle of songs is available as YR1503 for purchase from Yelton Rhodes Music, Los Angeles.
