Flory Jagoda (b. 1926) Arranged for SATB choir and piano by Nick Page

Transcription

1 HAMISHA ASAR Flory Jagoda (b. 1926) Arranged for SATB choir and piano by Nick Page TRANSLATION AND PRONUNCIATION /ha-mi-ßa a-sar ha-mi-ßa a-sar/ /v n a v r mos va-mos kan-tar/ ven a ver mos, vamos kantar. Come to see come let s sing /la ba-la-ba-ja mos a-sp ra/ La balabaya mos aspera the hostess us serve /kon kin-ts pla-tos de fru-ta/ kon kintze platos de fruta. with fifteen platters of fruit /b n-di-tßo su nom-br sin-jor d l mun-do/ Bendicho su nombre Sinyor del mundo blessed his name Lord of world /fru-tas de is-ra- l/ Frutas de Israel. Fruits of Israel /ha-mi-ßa a-sar ha-mi-ßa a-sar/ New Year of Trees ven a ver mos, vamos bal-jar/ ven a ver mos, vamos balyar. come to see come dance /la ba-la-ba-ja mos a-sp -la kon/ La balabaya mos aspera kon the hostess us serve with /la bak-la-ba i ka-v / la baklaba i kave. baklava and coffee ven a ver mos, vamos kantar. La balabaya mos aspera kon kintze platos de fruta. Bendicho su nombre Sinyor del mundo Come to visit us, we will sing The hostess awaits us With fifteen platters of fruit Blessed his name, Lord of the world

2 Frutas de Israel. ven a ver mos, vamos balyar. La balabaya mos aspera kon la baklaba i kave. Fruit of Israel. Come to visit us, let us dance. The hostess awaits us with baklava and coffee. 1 LANGUAGE This song is sung in Judeo-Spanish (often referred to as Ladino), which is the language of Sephardic Jews. Its roots are in Old Spanish, but it has traits of other Romance languages of the Iberian Peninsula, including Portuguese and Catalan. Judeo-Spanish also retains traces of influence from several Balkan languages. It was once the language of trade of the Adriatic Sea, but now the language is under threat of extinction. 2 This language is analogous to the Yiddish of the Ashkenazic Jews. Like most dialects, Judeo-Spanish has many variations in pronunciation. The Serbian heritage of the composer has informed some of the decisions I ve made in terms of pronunciation. Research materials include listening to recordings, using the pronunciation guide included with the score and the following resources: Uno Ladino, Dos Ladino, Tres Ladino, Cuatro : The Forward [ and Judeo-Spanish : Wikipedia [ The phonemes below are some of the ones that can vary greatly. Intervocalic z = /z/ j = /Ω/ This is an interesting one. According to Philologos, an anonymous blogger who wrote on language for The Forward for 24 years, Judeo-Spanish did not make the shift to the palatized /x/ sound for the letters x, j and g (before i or e) that happened to Spanish spoken in Spain the 16 th century. Instead, Judeo-Spanish retained the sounds that had been used prior to this time, x making the sound /ß/, j making the sound /Ω/ and g making the sound /dω/. final o = /o/ as opposed to /u/ BACKGROUND AND PROGRAM NOTES 1 Page, Nick. Hamisha Asar. Boosey & Hawkes, 1999, p.2. 2 Ladino, Wikipedia. 6 June [ Spanish]

3 Flory Jagoda is known for her interpretations of songs from the Sephardic Jewish tradition (Jews who settled in Spain and Portugal around the year 1000) as well as the folk music of Bosnia. The song is in Judeo-Spanish, the language of Sephardic Jews. Hamisha Asar is the Judeo-Spanish name for the Jewish holiday Tu Be Shevat, or New Year of Trees. The festival celebrates the sap rising in the trees. TU BE SHEVAT ) is a Jewish holiday occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat (in 2017, Tu BiShvat begins at sunset on February 10 and ends at nightfall on ), literally "." In contemporary Israel, the day is celebrated as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration In the Middle Ages, Tu BiShvat was celebrated with a feast of fruits in keeping with the Mishnaic description of the holiday as a "New Year." In the 16th century, the kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples instituted a Tu BiShvat seder in which the fruits and trees of the Land of Israel were given symbolic meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting the appropriate blessings would bring human beings, and the world, closer to spiritual perfection In the Chassidic community, some Jews pickle or candy the etrog (citron) from Sukkot and eat it on Tu BiShvat. Some pray that they will be worthy of a beautiful etrog on the following Sukkot. 3 RECORDINGS Flory Jagoda (from Kantikas di mi Nona): New Mexico All State Treble Choir 2003, conducted by Dr. Jennifer Haywood: Camerata Singers (Stony Brook), Alice Cavenaugh, cond.: 3 Wikipedia contributors. "Tu BiShvat." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Mar Web. 28 May

4 ANALYSIS Key: Phrygian dominant scale. This scale is the result of taking a basic harmonic minor scale and starting the scale on the dominant. In the case of this piece, the key signature has two flats. The harmonic minor scale for this key signature would normally start on g, with the raised seventh scale degree (F#). In the Phrygian dominant version of this scale, the tonal center is d, which is the dominant in g minor. The scale degrees are then [D Eb F# G A Bb C D]. This scale is commonly used for music of Eastern Europe, particularly Klezmer music, as well as the Middle East. Meter: 7/ Form: Strophic Each strophe has the following phrase structure: a b b c c. Each phrase is 5 measures long. Verse 1: phrase 1: women in unison; phrase 2: women in unison; phrase 3: men join in unison; phrase 4: women in unison; phrase 5: men join in unison; Verse 2: phrase 1: two part harmony women sing melody and men sing a sixth below; phrases 2, 3, 4 and 5: the same cadence extension on last phrase. Verse 3 (repeats text of verse 1): Phrases 1, 2 and 3: four part block harmony, alto has melody, tenor sings a sixth below as in verse 2, bass and soprano have new harmonizations; phrases 4 and 5: divisi in soprano and bass lines; alto with melody, tenor a sixth below as in previous phrases.

5 TEXT UNDERLAY This arrangement is missing a key word in the second verse. Without it, the text does not make sense. I have gone back to Flory Jagoda s performance of this piece to come up with a text underlay that includes the full text. Please use the graphic below to edit your scores with this new underlay. Begin on measure 33, found on p. 5 of your scores.