For the past twenty years I’ve been pursuing a project which has been playing a modest role in the cause of keeping Yiddish alive. I have been translating the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan into Yiddish. In doing these translations I make a concentrated effort to adhere faithfully to Gilbert’s dazzling rhymes while striving to preserve unblemished Yiddish. I am never satisfied until I am absolutely certain that I've achieved a perfect match of verbal to musical cadence so that the lyric conforms to the accentuation and rhythm of each musical phrase. These works have been successful in bringing a renewed sense of the charm of Yiddish to U.S., Canadian and English audiences via fully staged productions. I was particularly interested in what the reaction of these performances would be in England, the birthplace of Gilbert & Sullivan. To my delight, in the summer of 1995 we played in London and scores of people had to be turned away at four sold out performances at the Rudolph Steiner Theatre in Regent Park.
Zalmen Mlotek conducted the New Yiddish Chorale in a Folksbiene Theatre presentation of my Yiddish version of "The Pirates of Penzance" (a.k.a., DI YAM GAZLONIM) at Temple Shaaray Tefila, 250 East 79th Street (at second Avenue), New York on Sunday, May 2, 2004 at 3:00PM. The performance was presented in honor of the legendary actor, folk-singer, and Yiddish music icon Theodore Bikel in celebration of his 80th birthday. Mr. Bikel addressed the jubilant audience of 800+ in both Yiddish and English after the performance. The irrepressible cheering of the crowd at the curtain calls is still resounding in my ears!
On Sept. 21, 2005 Zalmen Mlotek will conduct the New Yiddish Chorale in a Folksbiene Theatre presentation of my Yiddish translation of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" (a.k.a., DI YAM GAZLONIM) at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. This will be in association with the New York Jewish Music and Heritage Festival. It will be a prelude to a fully-staged Yiddish "Pirates" in the Folksbiene's 2006-7 season.
In the May 1989 issue of American Theatre Magazine, ISAAC ASIMOV wrote a review of DI YAM GAZLONIM in which he said “Al Grand doesn't change Sullivan's notes; they're all there; every one of them. And he doesn't change Gilbert's words in essence. He changes them into Yiddish, to be sure, but he keeps the rhymes, the lilt and the wit”. [Isaac Asimov, American Theatre Magazine, May 1989, Pp. 26-27] Here is the full text of Asimov's essay:
Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are quintessentially British. And not only that: They are quintessentially Victorian British.
Consider what that means. In the decades when the operettas were written, the British were indisputably the commercial leaders of the world. Behind a navy far larger than one any set of likely enemies could muster, even in combination, the British Isles were invulnerable. And the British crown ruled over one-quarter of the land area and population of the world.
The ruling British class was wealthy, secure and fully convinced of its own superiority. Even foreigners knew there was nothing like an English "milord" for calm arrogance.
In fact, the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are indelible proof of all this, for every one of them is a biting satire on cherished British institutions. Yet they were vastly popular and the British gentry laughed with delight. So unquestioned was their position that they could afford to laugh at themselves openly-the utterly acid test.
One would suppose, then, that it is hopeless to expect to be cross-cultural in such a thing. Can people of other nations understand the Britishness of it all? I myself have written Asimov's Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan for Americans. The language need not be translated, but the culture is 3,000 miles removed in space and 100 years removed in time and lo, the annotations are nearly as long as the plays. What if the language had to be translated-and the culture one that was not only not British, but not even descended from the British?
I suppose it could be done; on occasion it has been done. But if we want to really carry such an enterprise to an extreme, just imagine Gilbert and Sullivan operettas translated into Yiddish.
It's hard to think of differences more extreme than those between the Victorian British and the Jews of any time or place in the last 2,000 years.
It is the difference between the serene masters of the globe and a people who have had to live in the hidden nooks and crannies of the land, waiting always for the blow to fall (and never being disappointed, or finding themselves bored by having to wait too long). Even in ancient Judea or modern Israel, the sense of surround ing and overwhelming enemies was and is ever-present. How, then, fit the words of Gilbert into the Jewish experience?
And the music of Sullivan - cheerful, bouncy, busy! It is worlds different from the bittersweet minor mode of Jewish music, derived partly from the liturgy of Judaism and partly from the chords of eastern Europe. How, then, fit the notes of Sullivan into the Jewish experience?
Well, it can be done. Al Grand doesn't change Sullivan's notes; they're all there; every one of them. And he doesn't change Gilbert's words in essence. He changes them into Yiddish, to be sure, but he keeps the rhymes, the lilt and the wit.
And, as proof, here is a selection from Di Yam Gazlonim, which means, literally, "The Robbers of the Sea," or, if you're willing to go far out, "The Pirates of Penzance." Enjoy!
Of course, you have to understand Yiddish -- but doesn't everyone?
Contact :
Al Grand at (516) 292-8724,
e-mail : savoyid@optonline.net
Web : http://www.ibiblio.org/yiddish/DYG/
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