Writing music for foreign lyrics.

Question

I'm currently transcribing a tune with Indian (Malayalam) lyrics. The transcription is easy enough (not!). But it got me to thinking about writing original music to foreign lyrics. Some languages; French, Italian, German, Russian are easy enough to get pronunciation and inflection guides for, but what of some African, Asian or Indian dialects. If you're not a native speaker, how hard is it to put together a melody that fits the words and conveys the meaning?

A lot of this was done before in Opera where composers and librettists work together to get the music right. I'm just considering if I'd like to write original music for foreign language poetry ... how absurd is that?

Answer 1

Bravo!

I am currently doing this too. The most important step is to find an individual that can advice you in the language and phrasing, as it is sometimes reversed.

The only requirements you'll need, are patience and a sense of humor. You'll find it is well worth the effort and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if you do it again.

I'll send you some of mine and share with you some of the humorous setbacks I've faced.



Edit: I just called a friend of mine that was born in Trinidad. She said if you are looking for a Hindi dialect, she will help you.

Answer 2

A mentor of mine once wrote a piece where the text was in ancient Coptic. To get the pronunciations/tranliterations/translations, he called up various universities until he found one who had an expert in that particular language who was able to help out. He was able to get a tape made of the pronunciation (and a translation of the sounds into IPA) which he then used in setting the text.



Two lessons:

1.) There is no language so obscure that someone at some university won't be able to understand it.

2.) The more unusual the language, the more enthused the person at that university will be to help you. Think about it this way- if you spend years learning a language which almost nobody knows, and which leaves you with few people who you can communicate with, and then out of nowhere a handsome man or woman comes and asks you for help with that language, you're going to help him/her right?

Answer 3

To try to set to music a language that you do not understand is, in my opinion, fruitless. It is difficult enough to bring MORE clarity and expression to those languages that we DO understand - or to communicate wordlessly - thank to tinker with this. SOMEONE who is a native speaker will surely roll their eyes - or worse - when they hear awkward stumbling, poor phrasing, misplaced accents, and just plain lumpiness. I examine every syllable, and rank the importance of verbal and emotional stresses, when I do my tiny bit of humble composing - my son, who is studying composition at the graduate level, works the same way. A young colleague of mine, the same age as my son, decided to compose a piece for his 6th grade chorus in the Ewok language - yup, the furry Star Wars guys. However, this composer is a HUGE SW fan - goes to conventions, suited up, SPEAKS a few SW languages to a limited extent - so although none of his STUDENTS are fluent speaker in Ewok- and probably not many in his audience - at least HE could set the text well. I asked him if this work had a future life at a SW convention - all I got was a sardonic smile . .



Stick to what you do best. Dance with who brung ya - and you'll never get rich playing another man's game. If the mixed metaphors bother you - so will bungling another's language.

Answer 4

Handel, the 'English' Bach (W.F.?), Haydn, Mendelssohn, etc., all wrote really well for a language not their own. (English) How well, however, would they have written for a non-European language?



My guess (and only a guess!) is that they would have been less fluent, and far less convincing. With the exception of Russian (which connects only to Greek, in reality?) the chief languages of musical Europe are very much inter-connected, as are the cultures of the various countries.



Ravi Shankar's daughter, Nora Jones, would be an ideal person to put this very interesting question to. I feel that European music would have exceeded its 'limits' if it were used for African or Indian language. Now this question is in my mind, it will perplex me until some authoritative answer appears!

Answer 5

I'm not a linguist(though did have 3 sems. of German in college, and studied Sanskrit for about two years with the cadre of a renowned scholar), nor a composer; but my advice is don't even attempt it: pretty absurd in my opinion.



Sorry,



Alberich