'Anniversary Waltz' or 'Valurile Dunarii': A. Sebastian's notes
Ioana Radu si barca ce pe valuri pluteste usor. Pe care le auzi si apoi ti le reamintesti cu drag. Sunt refrene pe care le canti din memorie si cantareti pe care ii apreciezi desi nu mai sunt printre noi. Astazi un moment special: o mare voce a noastra, Ioana Radu si o melodie in care “In chiosc fanfara canta: / Barca pe valuri pluteste. Iar Dunarea are valuri cat sa legene romanta-vals 'Barca pe valuri pluteste usor/Inima imi salta plina de dor'. In rest, disperare mare. De la americani ne asteptam la altceva! Ii credeam mai seriosi! Doar revista presei romanesti, numai lucruri stiute, numai barfe, doar zvonuri! Avand in vedere subtilitatea analistilor care fac politica la.
A good example of cultural mess is a very well known, and very successful song. Here we have two parts: the culture, which is both high class and Balkan, and the mess, which is American! In the English speaking world there is a very well known song titled the Anniversary Waltz. While our days it is heard mostly as a musical arrangement, it had, at one time or another some very popular Yiddish versions. Strangely enough, Westerners are inclined to give credit for it to one member of the Strauss family or another, and to the Austrian school of music. The reality is that the song was born down the river, in more or less Rumania: the composer, Ivan Ivanovici (who by no means was Romanian) was the Chief of military music in Giurgiu, a port and dusty town located in today Romania; historically the town was under Ottoman control for probably most of its existence. The Turks relinquished the town probably following the war of 1877-78, and while the song was probably composed in 1879 and published in 1880, the Ottoman influence at least was still there (it still was for that matter in the 1970's, when I saw the town last). One last thought, though: generally, when we talk about Yiddish we think of Klezmer music, which has a pretty clear-cut Rumanian origin, this song on the other hand is not Klezmer, and has in my opinion more of a Balkan / Ottoman / Sephardi* melodic line.
So here is the original, Romanian version with words by / pe versurile lui Aurel Felea
Barca pe valuri pluteste usor,Dar cine-ngana un cantec de dor?
Nu, nu e vantul, nici Dunarea nu-i,
E lopatarul si cantecul lui...
REFREN:
Ca pe o frunza de nufar spre mal,
Spre fata care-l asteapta oftand
Si orele trec pe rand...
Si cand lopetile vor atipi,
Barca sub salcii tacuta va sta
Si fata-l va-mbratisa...
[etc.]
The words have the typical Romanian poetry and romance that gets so easily lost in the translation that, for the time being at least, I'd rather leave it alone and not attempt to ruin it... in English.
And now, let us move to whatever America brought to the table: used the music, slapped some Yiddish verse to it, and a few recognizable names of the Vaudeville era... Oh, by the way, this had nothing to do with either Rumania or any of the Rumanian Jews of great fame in this country!
Thu, 21 Aug 1997 18:48:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email protected]
Subject: Chasene Valts--Anniversary Waltz
From: [email protected]
Subject: Chasene Valts--Anniversary Waltz
I have both the Vanguard stereo lab recording and the Vanguard cassette with Jan Peerce singing the Anniversary Waltz in Yiddish. The recording, dated bv 1963, is entitled 'Jan Peerce Sings Yiddish Folk Songs'. Orchestra conducted by Abraham Ellstein. Words by Chaim Tauber. Music by I. Ivanovici.
The text that Bob Rothstein submitted looks quite complete. Jan Peerce sings it a little differently, and assuming there's an interest in Peerce's version, here it is as sung by Jan Peerce:
Kum, tants mit mirUndzer valts fun amol
Gehat nor mit dir.
kh'hob dikh lib on a tsol.
Tsum ershtn mol,
Ven ikh hob dikh derzen [derzeyn]
Geshpilt hot men dan
Undzer valts azoy sheyn.
Tsvey yunge hertser
Mir zenen geven [geveyn]
Libe's gefiln
Umshuldik un reyn
Gedrikt hob ikh dikh
Azoy hertslikh tsu mir
Zikh ayngelibt
Bald in dir.
Koym zikh dervart
Fun der shul nor aroys
Gefayert a khasene,
Glik azoy groys
Gedenkstu di nakht
Hot geshpilt di muzik
Dem zelbn valts fun glik.
Lebt nokh di nakht
Yene gliklikhe nakht
Freyd on a shir,
Far undz beyde gebrakht.
Khotsh zilber di hor,
Un di fis zenen mid,
In harts klingt nokh alts
Undzer lib', undzer valts.
[He sings the last two lines again after a short musical interlude.]
If you have the record, or the tape: a Vanguard twofer cassette 'The Yiddish Dream.' you can sing along with Jan.
Esther Goffstein
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 1997 23:19:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN <[email protected]>
Subject: 'Yoyl-lid' oder 'Anniversary Song'From: ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN <[email protected]>
Subject: Valurile Dunarii
To: Alin Sebastian <[email protected]>
Mendele 3.134 contained my approximate transcription of Chaim Tauber's Yiddish text of 'Anniversary Song,' as sung in a recording by Jan Peerce. It was similar to the text quoted in 7.050 by Elliot Gertel. I can now cite sheet music of 'Der khasene valts,' published by Metro Music and Hensley Music Co. as 'Der chasene waltz (The Wedding Waltz)' with a copyright date of 1963. (The original copyright was granted to the arranger, Henry Lefkowitch, in 1947.) Tauber's text (including an additional verse that may or may not be his) is as follows: Akh, yene nakht, yene gliklikhe nakht
hot freyd on a shir far undz beyde gebrakht.
Tsum ershtn mol ven ikh hob dikh gezen [gezeyn],
geshpilt hot dan di muzik azoy sheyn.
Tsvey yunge hertser mir zenen geven [geveyn],
libes gefiln umshuldik un reyn.
Gedrikt hob ikh dir azoy tsertlikh tsu mir,
zikh ayngelibt bald in dir.
Koym zikh dervart, fun der shul nor aroys,
gefayert a khasene, glik azoy groys.
Gedenkstu di nakht, s'hot geshpilt di muzik,
dem zelbn valts fun glik.
Kum, tants mit mir undzer valts fun amol,
Gehat nor mit dir hob ikh glik on a tsol.
Biz in mayn toyt blaybt mir liber fun alts
fun yener nakht undzer khasene valts.
Tsugegebener ferz:
Lebt nokh di nakht azoy frish vi amol,freyd un layd durkhgemakht hobn mir on a tsol.
Khotsh zilber di hor un di fis oykh shoyn mid,
In harts klingt gor klor fun dem tants undzer lid.
In 3.134 I pointed out that the original music was from an instrumental Piece called 'Valurile Dunari' ('Waves of the Danube') by the Romanian composer Ion Ivanovici, first published in 1880 in Bucharest, and later popular throughout Europe. According to James J. Fuld's 'The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk', the English text of 'Anniversary Song' was written by Al Jolson and Saul Chaplin for 'The Jolson Story' in 1943, but RonRobboy's citation of 1946 (7.050) and attribution to Chaplin alone may well be more accurate. Incidentally, the sheet music of 'Der chasene waltz' also contains an English reworking of Tauber's Yiddish text by Stanley Lionel.
Bob Rothstein
----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 20:56:33 -0400From: 'Stanley F. (Shimke) Levine' <[email protected]>
Subject: Yoyvl-lid
Elliot Gertel asks for clarification of the text he transcribed from a recording of Yoyvl-lid. Although I do not know this piece, I believe I can help with one line:
- _libes_gefiln_ un _shildet_ (?) un _reyn_,
- is doubtless 'libes-gefiln, unshuldik [pron: --shildik] un reyn,'
i.e. 'feelings of love, innocent and pure'
> _gedrikt_ hob ikh dir azoy tsertlekh tsu mir,
sounds like good Yiddish: 'I pressed you so tenderly to me' (i.e. embraced you so tenderly)
- zikh _eybelekh_faln_ in dir.
this line remains a mystery to me.
Stanley F. 'Shimke' Levine, Aiken, SC
______________________ *for the Rumanian reader at least, the Sephardi concept does not really exist: it is represented by 'Spanish Jew' (R=evreu spaniol) or simply 'Spanish' (R=spaniol), although the meaning in this case is strictly 'Jew'.
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