Subject: bird songs
Date: Jul 9 16:22:39 2002
From: Cliff Drake - cliff at cliffdrake.net



> and of course, there is some black humor, too.
> Cignus Ustus Cantat (the roast swan)

How could I have forgotten that one! I want that line on my gravestone,
"Dentes frendentes video"! (My favorite translation is "I catch sight of
gnashing teeth.)

Has anyone mentioned Swan Lake? And don't forget Respighi's Pini di Roma,
The Pines of Rome. Movement three, I pini del Giancolo features a recording
of a real Nightingale, it comes with the score. Also la Giaconda (sp?) has
dancing swans, hippos in Fantasia.

In the gay 90's there was "She's only a bird in a gilded cage", "Let's all
sing like the birdies sing" "Alexanders Ragtime Band" includes a fiddle
"With notes that screeches, Like a chicken, like a chicken..." Man of la
Mancha has "Little Bird Little Bird" which "features" a rape scene. "My
Fair Lady"s "On the street where you live" asks "Can you see a lark in any
other part of town?" Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man says "there were
birds in the sky, but I never heard them singing-"

Listen to the first movement of Mahler's first and tell me if you don't
hear birds, especially cukoos.

Well, enough.

Cliff Drake
Seattle WA
cliff at cliffdrake.net

At 12:13 PM 7/9/2002 -0700, 'Devorah' D Wisti wrote:

>okay, i have another one.
>
>how can anyone not recall carl orff's carmina burana, that astonishing
>work of art that is full of references to death and dying and love and
>birds? here's a sampling ...
>
>Veris Leta Facies (the merry face of spring)
>
>[...]
>
>[...]
>
>In harp-like tones sings
>the sweet nightingale,
>with many flowers
>the joyous meadows are laughing,
>a flock of birds rises up
>through the pleasant forests,
>the chorus of maidens
>already promises a thousand joys. Ah!
>
>
>and of course, there is some black humor, too.
>
>Cignus Ustus Cantat (the roast swan)
>
>Once I lived on lakes,
>once I looked beautiful
>when I was a swan.
>
>Misery me!
>Now black
>and roasting fiercely!
>
>The servant is turning me on the spit;
>I am burning fiercely on the pyre:
>the steward now serves me up.
>
>Misery me!
>Now black
>and roasting fiercely!
>
>Now I lie on a plate,
>and cannot fly anymore,
>I see bared teeth:
>
>Misery me!
>Now black
>and roasting fiercely!
>
>regards,
>
> Devorah A. N. Bennu, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
>Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
> Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
> Love the creator? Then protect the creation.
>
>On Tue, 9 Jul 2002, ian paulsen wrote:
>
> > HI ALL:
> > Does anyone know this song: Walk Chicken walk?
> >
> > Ian Paulsen
> > Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
> > ipaulsen at krl.org
> > A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
> > "Rallidae all the way"
> >
> >

Cliff Drake
Seattle WA
cliff at cliffdrake.net