Gevalt! Anna Netrebko sings Yiddish
mainIt’s a lullaby by Avrom Goldfaden, and very beautiful too.
Who knew?
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I don’t know if Anna is Jewish or not, or if her Yiddish diction is correct, but what a beautiful voice !!!
– Certainly doesn’t deserve the negative ‘Gevalt’ wording at beginning of this post …
her diction is impeccable and thoroughly authentic….amazing
who knew, everybody who has her cd’s !!! The yiddish is okay yet not impeccable. It’s a gorgeous rendition but not as fine as Rita Streich from which the DGG producers took the inspiration for this song!!!!! And as far as i know this song is a traditional and not one by Goldfaden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze9hOVAQ0c4
It is definitely Goldfaden. Its from his operetta Shulamis
Her diction is absolutely correct and she might as well be Jewish.
‘Gevalt’ isn’t negative – but unfortunately, when it comes to Yiddish, the headline will always have something that the editor considers ‘funny’ and attracts attention
Thank you for letting us know that she sings in Yiddish–without the captation I wouldn’t be able to undestand one single word.
This version sound more like a Russian-Orthodox liturgy sang by the Cossacks before sacking the shetetel rather than a Jewish lullaby.
Disagree. Russian Orthodox liturgy music is a totally different medium.
For me, this clip sounds like a lullaby set in a shetetel…
you mean shtetele
I’ve always seen it as “shtetl.” As it is a transliteration, I daresay there are options.
Shtetele means a small shtetl in Yiddish. Or it is a caressing form used, for example, when someone is describing some sentimental recollections about happy childhood.
diminutive and loving form….listen to the song Belz,mein shtetele Belz
There are options, you are correct. (In the nostalgic glow with which most people think about Yiddish, there aren’t any though.) ‘Shtetele’ is a diminutive of ‘shtetl’ (which itself is a diminutive of ‘shtot’ – town). In most literature written about the Pale of Settlement, the word used to describe small Jewish villages is ‘shtetl’.
I was born into a Yiddish as a first language family, and Yiddish is my mother tongue. I strongly disagree with you.
Great. I won’t argue with your upbringing in a Yiddish culture.
– But I do disagree if you say that the clip sounds like Russian Orthodox music, and disagree as well stating that it doesn’t sound like a lullaby.
That was a different person ♂️
Not even remotely Russian-Orthodox liturgy. Anna is not Jewish; she was born and grew up in the region of Russia, the population of which is rather anti-Semitic, so her choice of the song is quite remarkable.
Very beautiful song and singing. The correct name of this Jewish lullaby is “Schlof sche, mein Vögele”. Netrebko’s recording was released in 2008 on her Souvenirs album
https://youtu.be/lr8whiadIBE
So: a lot of people knew.
More precisely, it should be “she”, not “sche”. This is a particle borrowed and incorporated into Yiddish from the surrounding Russian or Ukrainian languages. The meaning it transmits is some kind of nudging, like “fall asleep already”.
interesting. we had a neighbor who used to say vus she…..which means what “already” also he used to zog she which means speak “already” could be a location dialect. Max was from the Russian side of Poland… Borschz.
In modern Hebrew a somewhat derogatory term for Yiddish-speaking orthodox Jews is “vusvusim”.
Wonderful. I like how the dense darkness of the voice is gradually transfigured, toward the end of those long lines, into sweetness. There s tragedy there, but also ambiguous consolation.
Beautiful, I love her voice and the way she colours it. No idea what she was singing about but still..
Sleep, my little bird,
close your eyes,
sleep, my child, sleep!
Malach the good will be your guardian
will stand by you til the morning
with his wings, on your cradle,
he will cover you softly.
Sleep in peace, you shall not know
of any sorrow.
Sleep, my dear child!
Close your eyes, my dear little bird,
sleep long and ().
I suppose in the same way as she sings Italian, French, German etc.: kak papugaichick, i.e. as a little parrot. Self-confessed.
again this song is not by Goldfaden !!!!
Text in the picture:
Über dein Wiegele, deckt er still dich zu.
I can’t be a judge of her Yiddish but such a performance…
In my previous comment the phone automatically changed “zheh” (instead of “sche”) to “she” without my knowledge and authorization.
Anna has mastered her German-lyrics operatic repertoire & resides in Vienna, so this Yiddish song, with its simple lullaby verse, should predictably not pose any problem for her in terms of language. Even those not speaking Yiddish, but having basic German vocabulary, would be able to understand it. It sounds pretty much like East European German dialect to me. You don’t have to be Jewish to have proper Yiddish pronunciation & intonation. In this world of prejudice, I applaud Anna for having confidence & courage to enrich her operatic repertoire in this unusual, beautiful way.
big difference between the real thing and a copy
WOW
Yiddish songs are beautiful. Should be better known outside our Jewish communities. These songs influenced XX century music so much.
Perhaps this will help to enlighten
https://pasyn.org/video/professor-tina-fruhauf-experiencing-jewish-music-america
In addition Klezmer music (largely Jewish written late nineteenth and early twentieth century secular Eastern European music) was an influence on jazz