Sunday, July 8, 2012

Ode to Joy


A few years ago my daughter, practicing for her piano lessons, was plinking away at the keyboard and came upon the theme for the last movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, the Ode to Joy.  With a number of repetitions, the melody began to sink into my brain - and I mulled over the fact that while I loved this movement, I did not comprehend the German choral part (written originally by Schiller and adapted by Beethoven) and had never really liked the English translations of it that I had seen.  Rather than a literal transcription it should be something that matched the melodic line of the symphony - and it occurred to me that this was something I could attempt.  

Since I really do not speak German - recognizing about one word in three - the effort involved several hours labor with a dictionary.  Rather than forcing full rhymes I went for a loose slant-rhyming scheme that kept the right rhythm, and I was happy with how nicely it danced!

Joy, ye shining spark of heaven,
Daughter of Elysium.
We draw near your holy temple,
Blessed spirit, drunk with flame.

Though this world may coldly sunder,
Your soft magic knits a bond.
Where your wing has lightly brushed us,
All men wake to brotherhood.

Who through toil has yet succeeded
To his friends a friend to be,
Who has won his only sweetheart,
Join with us in rhapsody!

Yes, whoever ’cross the world’s globe
One lone soul can call his own;
Let the rest who never loved go
Slink away and weep alone.

From the breasts of Nature every
Creature drinks of Joy its fill.
Good and wicked, each is drawn to
Follow on her rosy trail.

By her gift came wine and kisses,
Friendship proven to the end.
Pleasure to the Worm was given;
Rapt by God, an angel stands

Glad, as shining suns go sailing
By vast heaven’s splendid plan.
Fly, my brothers, down your raceway –
Joy to your victorious band!

May ye be embraced, ye millions,
Kiss the world entirely held.
Brothers, there beyond the star-veil
Must a loving Father dwell.

Do ye kneel to him, ye millions?
Do you sense your Maker, world?
Seek him there beyond the star-veil,
Past the star-fields must he dwell.

One point that struck me, after having reworked this poem word by word, is that there is a triple structure to the text that echoes the Christian Trinity; three stanzas relate to the Holy Spirit, then three to the Son, and lastly three to the Father. 

Later, some months after I had finished, a story I had once read by Ursula LeGuin came to mind, in which with her usual cool grace she had limned the Ode to Joy as an enduring brilliance of the human soul that could only be weakly counterfeited, but never truly expressed, by the service of an oppressive regime.  (By counterpoint, I remembered watching a viscerally appalling advertisement on television after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, in which the Ode to Joy was appropriated to accompany images of sea lions and dozens of other ocean creatures boisterously applauding Exxon's environmental stewardship.) Le Guin's story rested in my mind for a few days, and then I took the odd step of writing a letter to her and enclosing a copy of my little translation.  Some days later I was surprised and pleased to get a gracious response back by post, complimenting the verse.  It was gratifying to have such a moment of contact with an author whom I've admired for so many years - and through music!  

-GEC


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