“Farshpreyt zikh, vekhter,” khor fun di vekhter fun di druidn, num. 4 der kantate Walpurgis nakht (“Verteilt euch, wack’re Männer” from Die erste Walpurgisnacht)
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Description
The Yiddish rendition of the chorus from Die erste Walpurgisnacht by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847) comes from a rare copy of a two-volume collection published in Wilno (Yid. Vilne) on the eve of World War II. Billed as the repertory of a chorus led by Jakub Gersztajn (who perished in the Vilne Ghetto in 1943), and assembled by him, the collection demonstrates trends typical of Wilno’s artistic circles: the interest in Jewish folk culture and the penchant for performing mainstream musical compositions in Yiddish translation (there, one could hear Verdi’s and Puccini’s operas in Yiddish).
In Die erste Walpurgisnacht Goethe depicts Druids in a May Day celebration of the coming of spring, while the Druid watchmen fend off interference from the Christian occupiers. Moyshe Broderzon masterfully translates Goethe’s text into Yiddish, in the process reframing its spiritual significance and coding it with new meaning. Instead of Goethe’s “ganze Waldrevier” (the entire forest area) Broderzon describes a forest where “murmurs and shadows bend in reverence.” He uses the expression “koyrim faln,” which translates as “prostrate oneself” in Yiddish. “Koyrim” (Heb. plural form) references the bending of the knees during certain moments in Jewish liturgical practice. At the end of the stanza, Broderzon offers another religious image that has no equivalent in Goethe’s original: the watchmen wait in silence while “branches whisper prayers” (Yid. tfiles, a Hebrew-loan word). By infusing his language with Hebrew-inflected religious metaphors, Broderzon reinterprets the atmosphere of a pagan Druid ritual as a mysterious sacred Jewish space that would have been more meaningful to his audience.
This setting serves as an example of the thriving Jewish choral movement that emerged by the end of the 19th century, with organizations such as “Lira,” “Hazomir” and “Szir” sprouting in small towns and big cities. These ensembles performed an ambitious repertory of oratorios by Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and other monumental works, including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem, as well as arrangements of folk songs and Jewish sacred music.
In Die erste Walpurgisnacht Goethe depicts Druids in a May Day celebration of the coming of spring, while the Druid watchmen fend off interference from the Christian occupiers. Moyshe Broderzon masterfully translates Goethe’s text into Yiddish, in the process reframing its spiritual significance and coding it with new meaning. Instead of Goethe’s “ganze Waldrevier” (the entire forest area) Broderzon describes a forest where “murmurs and shadows bend in reverence.” He uses the expression “koyrim faln,” which translates as “prostrate oneself” in Yiddish. “Koyrim” (Heb. plural form) references the bending of the knees during certain moments in Jewish liturgical practice. At the end of the stanza, Broderzon offers another religious image that has no equivalent in Goethe’s original: the watchmen wait in silence while “branches whisper prayers” (Yid. tfiles, a Hebrew-loan word). By infusing his language with Hebrew-inflected religious metaphors, Broderzon reinterprets the atmosphere of a pagan Druid ritual as a mysterious sacred Jewish space that would have been more meaningful to his audience.
This setting serves as an example of the thriving Jewish choral movement that emerged by the end of the 19th century, with organizations such as “Lira,” “Hazomir” and “Szir” sprouting in small towns and big cities. These ensembles performed an ambitious repertory of oratorios by Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and other monumental works, including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem, as well as arrangements of folk songs and Jewish sacred music.
Composer
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Date Composed
1843 (arr. 1939)
Poet
Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832)
Translator
Moyshe Broderzon (1890-1956)
Performers
Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir
Patrick Gardner, Conductor
Paul Conrad, Accompanist
Patrick Gardner, Conductor
Paul Conrad, Accompanist
Translation
| Yiddish Text | English Translation |
|---|---|
| Farshpreyt zikh, vekhter, inem vald, vu roysh un shotn koyrim falt, un vakht in shtiln shvaygn, beys s’sheptshen tfiles tsvaygn. |
Disperse ye, watchmen, in the forest, Where murmurs and shadows bend in reverence, And keep vigil in complete silence, While the branches whisper prayers. |
Citation
Halina Goldberg and Nancy Sinkoff, ““Farshpreyt zikh, vekhter,” khor fun di vekhter fun di druidn, num. 4 der kantate Walpurgis nakht (“Verteilt euch, wack’re Männer” from Die erste Walpurgisnacht),” Soundscapes of Modernity: Jews and Music in Polish Cities, accessed May 20, 2024, https://polishjewishmusic.iu.edu/items/show/21.