Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.131 October 8, 1994 1) Ravel's Chants Hebraiques (Ruben Frankenstein) 2) Yiddish software (Stanley Werbow) 3) Yidish un kompyuters (Peter Kluehs) 4) The Film: Ivan and Abraham (Jesse C. Rabinowitz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 Oct 1994 11:52:35 +0100 (MEZ) From: frankens@mibm.ruf.uni-freiburg.de Subject: Ravel's Chants Hebraiques Daniella HarPaz asks about the text of two songs set by Maurice Ravel. This deserves a longer answer, since we have here to do with one of the greatest masterpieces of jewish music. With the term Jewish music I mean, music dealing with jewish themes and motives regardless of the composer`s descent. The first encounter of Maurice Ravel with jewish folklore was 1910 as he wrote his "Chants Populaires" with folksongs of dif- ferent languages, one of them he called "Chanson Hebraique" though its main language was Yiddish. It is the popular song "MEYERKE". The text of the song is: Meyerke mayn sun, Meyerke mayn sun! zi weystu far vemen du shteyst? -Lifney meylekh malkhey hamlokhim, tatenju. Meyerke mayn sun etc. vos vestu oysbetn bay im? -Boney, khajey, mzoney, tatenju. Meyerke mayn sun etc. oyf vos darfstu boney? -Bonim oyskim batoyre, tatenju. Meyerke mayn sun etc. oyf vos darfstu khajey? -Kol hakhayim joydukho, tatenju. Meyerke mayn sun etc. oyf vos darfstu mzoney? -ve`okhalto ve`sovoto uvejrakhto, tatenju. The original song contains another strophe: Meyerke mayn sun etc. zi veystu ver du bist? -Hineni he`oni mima`as, tatenju. 4 years later Ravel again dealt with jewish motives writing his "Deux Melodies Hebraiques" and again the term hebrew was not the correct one. The first "Kaddisch" is mainly aramaic and is the original text of the Kaddish prayer. The second is this wonderful philosophical meditation "Fregt di velt di alte kashe" - a mid- stage between a song and a wordless Nigun, conserving the riddle in the intonation of the answer without words. Fregt di velt an alte kashe: Tra-la tra-di-ri-di-rom - - entfert men: Tra-di-ri-di-rey-lom, oy-ey, tra-di-ri-di-rom! Un az men vil, ken men oykh zogn: Tra-i-dim? Blaybt dokh vayter di alte kashe: Tra-la tra-di-ri-di-rey-lom. Do I have to write the translation or interpretation? I believe they are clear. You find the text and partiture in: Fritz Mordechai Kaufmann: "Die schoensten Lieder der Ostjuden", Berlin 1920, 1935, Jerusalem 1971. Menachem Kipnis: "Hundert Folks-lider" Buenos Aires 1949. And I believe also in the 4-volume "Anthology of Yiddish Folksong" edited by Aharon Vinkovetzki and others, Jerusalem. Also, at least one of the two (Meyerke) in: Nathan Ausubel`s "A treasury of jewish folklore", New York. If more information or details are needed I shall be glad to add. Ruben Frankenstein 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 Oct 1994 11:16:17 -0500 From: s.werbow@mail.utexas.edu Subject: Yiddish software Many thanks to Mordechai Steve Seidman for the fine catalog of Hebrew/Yiddish software sources. This emboldens me to ask him or others the following question. I have an old Yiddish word processing program called Mouse-Write which came out of the Hillel at Harvard (I think). It worked fine on Mac system 6. Now I have a Power Mac with System 7.0.2, on which the program writes fine on the screen, but does not print out. Is there some way to get the printer to function? Grateful for any help. Stanley Werbow 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 08 Oct 1994 19:57:00 +0200 From: pete@pko.rhein-main.de Subject: Yidish un kompyuters, a por entfers tsurik fun di vakatsyes in Bavarye mit naye koykhes un hanoe tsu leyenen di mendele brivn un shraybn a por entfers! far d. jacobowitz ----------------- a sheyner hebreisher editor iz Hebrew-Edit. s'iz shareware un kost bloys US$ 19. er hot nikud un vet farkoyft fun right to left software, toronto, ontario, canada. in mendele No. 4.099 hob ikh geshribn vu men ken aroplodn dem editor. far m.s. seidman ---------------- in ayer reshime fun wordprocessors far yidish hob ikh nisht gefunen dem Hebrew-Edit. er iz veyniker shver un mer volvl vi ale editorn vos ir hot bashribn. far e.q. feins -------------- ayer tate hot avade geredt fun a 'bashefenish' vos in english iz a creature. agev, s'iz nokh faran dos daytshishe vort 'beschaffen' mitm taytsh 'gemakht'. far l. botwinik ---------------- ayern barikht #1 vegn dem tzenter far yidish un tekhnologishe naywarg hob ikh geleyent mit a shtarkn interes. ikh volt gevolt aykh helfn mit ayer vikhtikn arbet. lemoshl, oyb ir hot plener ajnshteln a database far yidishe literatur, ikh volt kopirn hebreishe tekstn mit mayn hebrew-edit. di files vos men bakumt azoy lozn sikh gut aynshpaykhlern in a database. mir hobn nor nokh dos problem, az dos internet ken nisht transmitirn di diakritishn oysyes fun hebrew-ascii. efsher iz do shoyn a program kedey tsu transliterirn hebrew-ascii in latin oysyes. ver git unds do an eytse? peter kluehs 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 Oct 94 13:20:35 PDT From: panisse@mendel.berkeley.edu Subject: The Film: Ivan and Abraham The film "Ivan and Abraham" by the French director Yolande Zauberman was recently shown in the Bay Area. It is described by Leah Garchik in a review in the SF Chronicle as a "movie about the friendship between two boys in a shtetl near the Polish border in 1930 (in which) a full picture of life in the Pale emerges." I found the film to be an exceptional achievement in many areas, and would like more information about it. Where was the film made? Has Yolande Zauberman made other films? What is her background? Was the shtetl totally recreated, or were existing buildings used? None of the actors or actresses were familiar to me. I would like to know who they were and whether they were professional or not. Parts of the story were difficult for me to follow. This could result from the fact that I don't know very much about the culture pictured, or that the subtitled English version was badly cut, or that the film maker is at fault. For example: what is Ivan's relationship to the Nachman family? The subtitles indicate only that he is an "apprentice" and must leave the family because he is too old. I didn't understand the spoken dialogue at that point and was not able to recognize the original word translated as "apprentice." And if he was indeed an apprentice, what was the skill he was learning in the Nachman household? I was somewhat confused by various scenes and dialogue related to the Mother. She seemed too young to be the Mother of Rachel. What was the significance of her statement that she like men, but not her husband? I did not understand the the reference to the dress by Rachel and her Mother. I would appreciate information about the film, the players, the maker, and the specific points I have mentioned above concerning the story. Jesse C. Rabinowitz ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.131 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. 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