Much has been written about the moon, in prose, poetry, and song. It has long been the subject of art and photography as well. Its primal beauty has inspired many throughout the ages. As I don't consider myself much of a writer, poet, musical prodigy, or artist, I have chosen tonight to give tribute to the wonderful harvest moon using the works of others. And, more importantly, I get to act like an opera geek in the process.
When I look at the moon, I am often reminded of a beautiful aria from the Opera Rusalka, composed by Antonín Dvořák. Think of it as an ancient version of Disney's The Little Mermaid. In this aria Rusalka, a mermaid of the lake, has fallen in love with a Prince who swims in the lake, and here she sings her "Song to the Moon" asking it to tell the Prince of her love for him. I've linked the Aria and the lyric below, along with the translation into English; much better material than I could ever write.
The native language is Czech. Following below is the original lyric along with the rough English translation:
O Mesiku (Song to the Moon)
Czech/Albanian:
Mesiku na nebi hlubokem
Svetlo tvé daleko vidi,
Po svete bloudis sirokém,
Divas se v pribytky lidi.
Mesicku, postuj chvili
reckni mi, kde je muj mily!
Rekni mu, stribmy mesicku,
me ze jej objima rame,
aby si alespon chvilicku
vzpomenul ve sneni na mne.
Zasvet mu do daleka,
rekni mu, rekni m kdo tu nan ceka!
O mneli duse lidska sni,
at'se tou vzpominkou vzbudi!
Mesicku, nezhasni, nezhasni!
English Translation:
O moon high up in the deep, deep sky,
Your light sees far away regions,
You travel round the wide,
Wide world peering into human dwellings.
O, moon, stand still for a moment,
Tell me, ah, tell me where is my lover!
Tell him please, silvery moon in the sky,
That I am hugging him firmly,
That he should for at least a while
Remember his dreams!
Light up his far away place,
Tell him, ah, tell him who is here waiting!
If he is dreaming about me,
May this remembrance waken him!
O moon, don't disappear, don't disappear!
If you made it this far and have not died of boredom or fallen fast asleep, I thank you for your attention. So get out of the house and gaze up at that gorgeous full harvest moon! Good night all...
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7 comments:
Exactly what I needed tonight, Phil. Thank you.
Beautiful, simply beautiful. You render me speechless and this is not an easy task. :)
Nice post, now if Tide gets her photos, we can compare them to ours.
I won't leave mine up for long.
Thanks for the kind comments!
TSG, that photo isn't mine unfortunately. I wrestled with the digital camera the past few nights and played with the million menu settings, but all I kept getting was a bright overexposed picture with no detail. I miss my old 35 mm film camera for things like this. Since it was the full moon and wanted to post the entry last night, I just searched the public domain for a picture. Your moon pictures over the lake are terrific.
Yo Phil,
Drop over and check out the latest in man purses (LOL)
Phil, love the pix--love the music. It's so in keeping with the season. Come October and November I always feel the pull of the moon more.
And while Dvorak isn't exactly Russian, he has all the pathos I adore. They know how to share their pain in music as well as beauty. Thank you so much.
Tide - how nice for a mermaid to come visit my blog talking about, well, a mermaid...
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