3 ms·

Cosmopolitan aesthetics would be the root of the phenomena I imagine, if that word doesn't still apply. I know it was a discussion for many decades about wheth

Cosmopolitan aesthetics would be the root of the phenomena I imagine, if that word doesn't still apply. I know it was a discussion for many decades about whether a piece of music should be in the original language or the translation. Everyone settled on the original, so we all sing with absolutely atrocious accents in foreign languages as best we can. I feel like this whole area is a giant minefield for actors now, switching accents for roles is extremely normal. If that is suddenly interpreted as signaling a lack of respect for the real accent of the people they are portraying it makes an awful lot of everything harder.

flyinghamster 5y ago
> I know it was a discussion for many decades about whether an piece of music should be in the original language or the translation. Everyone settled on the original, so we all sing with absolutely atrocious accents in foreign languages as best we can. I can relate to that. Pre-pandemic, I was singing in a community chorus, where we routinely had to sing in languages we don't necessarily speak. Typically, the director would coach us. We had an actual German in the audience one time when we did some Christmas pieces in German, and he told us that we sang the words correctly, but it was still odd to hear German with a Chicago accent. :) I've heard of one top-level group bringing in a professor to coach Church Slavonic when they did Rachmaninoff's _Vespers_. Since I don't even speak modern Russian, I have no idea how well they did it, but their musicianship was outstanding.
- neltnerb 5y ago
  If you dig into the linguistics for the singing a bit more, it's even more odd. Singing is traditionally done in "High German" so a lot of the pronunciation is as it is supposed to be, but it's not standard modern German. French is even odder, the sung version is quite different from spoken. I have tried simply speaking the poems that were set to music and people who know French have absolutely no idea what I am saying.

flyinghamster 5y ago

> I know it was a discussion for many decades about whether an piece of music should be in the original language or the translation. Everyone settled on the original, so we all sing with absolutely atrocious accents in foreign languages as best we can. I can relate to that. Pre-pandemic, I was singing in a community chorus, where we routinely had to sing in languages we don't necessarily speak. Typically, the director would coach us. We had an actual German in the audience one time when we did some Christmas pieces in German, and he told us that we sang the words correctly, but it was still odd to hear German with a Chicago accent. :) I've heard of one top-level group bringing in a professor to coach Church Slavonic when they did Rachmaninoff's _Vespers_. Since I don't even speak modern Russian, I have no idea how well they did it, but their musicianship was outstanding.

neltnerb 5y ago
If you dig into the linguistics for the singing a bit more, it's even more odd. Singing is traditionally done in "High German" so a lot of the pronunciation is as it is supposed to be, but it's not standard modern German. French is even odder, the sung version is quite different from spoken. I have tried simply speaking the poems that were set to music and people who know French have absolutely no idea what I am saying.