Random amusing choral piece

[Despina41]

I found this today: op.93b, Tafellied.

I put it in the "bread and butter" category, but that means, actually, its more accessible than most Brahms. heh


Cute!

And guess where the beginning of the bassline comes from?
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rgu5U6KCxg&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rgu5U6KCxg&feature=related[/ame]

As a harpsichordist , I appreciate these things.


Text (by Eichendorff) :

Die Frauen:
Gleich wie Echo frohen Liedern
Fröhlich Antwort geben muß,
So auch nahn wir und erwidern
Dankend den galanten Gruß.

Die Männer:
Oh, ihr Güt'gen und Charmanten!
Für des Echos holden Schwung
Nehmt der lust'gen Musikanten
Ganz ergebne Huldigung!

Die Frauen:
Doch ihr huldigt, will's uns dünken,
Andern Göttern nebenbei.
Rot und golden sehn wir's blinken
Sagt, wie das zu nehmen sei?

Die Männer:
Teure! zierlich, mit drei Fingern,
Sichrer, mit der ganzen Hand -
Und so füllt man aus den Dingern 's
Glas nicht halb, nein, bis zum Rand.

Die Frauen:
Nun, wir sehen, ihr seid Meister.
Doch wir sind heut liberal;
Hoffentlich, als schöne Geister,
Treibt ihr's etwas ideal.

Die Männer:
Jeder nippt und denkt die Seine,
Und wer nichts Besondres weiß:
Nun - der trinkt ins Allgemeine
Frisch zu aller Schönen Preis!

Alle:
Recht so! Klingt denn in die Runde
An zu Dank und Gegendank!
Sänger, Fraun, wo die im Bunde,
Da gibt's einen hellen Klang!

[ame]http://www.classicalmusicforum.net/music/23-Brahms-op93b.mp3[/ame]

The women:
Just as the echo of happy songs
must give a happy answer,
so we also approach and return
the gallant gretting with thanks.

The men:
Oh, you kind and charming ones!
For the fair flight of the echo
Take from the joyful musicians
the homage that is offered!

The women:
Ah, but we perceive that you pay homage
to other Gods as well.
Red and gold we see it twinkling,
Tell us how should we take that?

The men:
Dear ones! Daintily with three fingers,
more securely with the entire hand -
And so the glass is filled from those
not halfway, but to the rim.

The women:
Now we see that you are masters.
But we are liberal today.
Hopefully, as handsome spirits
you can be led to some ideal.

The men:
Each one sips and thinks of his own lady
and he who doesn't have one in particular -
now, he drinks in general
renewed praise to all beautiful ones!

All:
That is right! All around clink
toasts and returned toasts!
Where singers and women are united,
there will be a bright sound!

[Philidor]

Is this in the same tradition as Telemann's table music? I'd love to know why Brahms wrote it. OK, it's a 19th century drinking song but it's SO ridiculous, and part-plagiarised, plus I'm sorry -- no offence to German readers or English Elgar fans -- but German drinking songs, however naive and embarrassingly ludicrous, stick in my throat. Jolly old Elgar at the London Proms has the same effect. For some reason they bring out the latent fascism nestling in the Anglo-Saxon bourgeois bosom...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMVql9RLP34"]YouTube - Tomorrow Belongs to Me[/ame]



The French know how to deal with Anglo-Saxon drinking songs... but then need 150 divisions of US armour to help them out.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iYbEPZVVIA"]YouTube - Casablanca - French National Anthem[/ame]

[Herzeleide]

Originally Posted by Philidor

Jolly old Elgar at the London Proms has the same effect. For some reason they bring out the latent fascism nestling in the Anglo-Saxon bourgeois bosom...

Rather than just saying 'Elgar', such a sentiment ought to be consigned to the Pomp and Circumstance marches... there's not much else of Elgar that is merely 'jolly'.
And of course we wouldn't base our entire opinion of Brahms on this Tafellied - however enjoyable and well-made.

[BrahmsGuides]

Despina, that translation looks very familiar. I'm assuming it's from the Emily Ezust site. If so, I did that translation. The only one I've done for her that has been posted so far. The reason being that Op. 93b is going to go up in my guides soon and I needed a linkable translation, so I did my own (I have a dual master's in German and lived in the Dresden/Leipzig area for two years back in '91-'92). Anyway, THAT'S pretty cool to see here. Ms. Ezust put a link to my guide site on the top of her Brahms index page, since I use her translations for the site.