Faculty Recital

January 8, 2025

Concert Piece No. 2 by Wan-Yun liang

Liang’s Concert Piece No. 2 (2022), is subtitled “Hakka” and is inspired by the pastoral tonalities of Hakka folk music.

The term Hakka, which literally means "guest people" or "strangers," is the name of a Chinese ethnic group whose ancestors, like those of all Han Chinese, are believed to have originated in north central China. Estimated to number in the tens of millions today, Hakka now reside mainly in Southeast China, Taiwan, and regions of Southeast Asia, but the Hakka diaspora extends to virtually every continent in the world.

-Nicole Constable in Guest People: Hakka Identity in China and Abroad (2014)

Galgenlieder (1992) by Jan Koetsier (1911-2006)

Galgenlieder by Jan Koetsier is a musical setting of the poetry Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914). Born in Munich, Morgenstern worked as a journalist and poet throughout his career, but is best remembered for his nonsense verse, much of which was not published until after his death. His poetry is often satirical and features many made-up words, which makes their translation from German to English particularly difficult. The title for this work is taken from Morgenstern’s first volume of poetry entitled Galgenlieder (Gallows Songs) and published in 1905. A huge thank you to my friend Christine Graham whose fluent German enabled her to capture the nuance of Morgenstern’s poetry in her translations below.

I. The Birth Song (Das Geburtslied)
Translation by Christine Graham and Genevieve Clarkson

A toddler, by happenstance
Made a poopy in his pants
But in the air,
Oh what a scare!
The wind began to really dance

A little girl, precociously
Kicked her sweetheart in the knee
But from the sky - 
Oh me, oh my!
The windows shook ferociously

A screech owl pushed a stubborn mule
Past the windows of the school
He looked inside,
“Hoot, hoot,” he cried
The silver goose sat on the stool

A little worm caught in the rain
Descended from the weather vane
The thunder snapped,
“Oh crap, oh crap . . . 
Forgot my boots,” on what a pain!

Oh child if you do, perchance
Make a doodoo in your pants
And wander free,
A bum you’ll be!
Heed this warning in advance!

II. Song of the Derelict Shirt (Das Hemmed)
translation by Max Knight

Know ye the derelict shirret?
Fluttera-tah, fluttera-tah.

He’s damned who used to wear it!
Fluttera-tah, fluttera-tah.

It’s chucked and it’s plucked by the gale.
Winduru-deye, windurur-deye.

It whines with a babyish wail.
Winduru-deye, windurur-deye.

That is the derelict
shirret.

III. The Two Roots (Die zwei Wurzeln)
translation by Max Knight

A pair of pine roots, old and dark,
make conversation in the park.

The whispers where the top leaves grow
are echoed in the roots below.

An agèd squirrel sitting there
is knitting stockings for the pair.

The one says: squeak. The other: squawk.
That is enough for one day’s talk.

IV. The Air (Die Luft)
translation by Christine Graham

The air was once about to die.

It cried: “Oh help me, Lord on high;
I am distressed and feeling sick,
am getting sluggish, getting thick;
you always know a way, Papa:
send me abroad, or to a spa,
or buttermilk may cure and heal — 
else to the devil I’ll appeal!”
The Lord, perturbed by this affair,
invented “sound massage for air.”
Since then the world is full of noise,
which thrivingly the air enjoys.

V. Fishes’ Nightsong (Fisches Nachtgesang)

VI. Hedgehog and Hedgehag (Igel und Agel)
translation by Walter Aue

A Hedgehog sat upon a stone
and blew into his quilléd cone.
Shawmylala, shawmylali!
Out came his fair love Hedgehag
and switter-swattered Hedgestag
to melodies his own.
Swittmala, swattmala,
swattmalaya li!

The beast blew off his shirt of flute...
"How come you look so strange and brute?"
Shawmalasound, shawmalashoot -
Hedgehag did to the neighbour sneak! -
Poor Hedgehog, swept up by the creek,
beneath the waves lies mute.
Wivela, wavela,
wavalaya hoot:
toot, toot...

VII. The two donkeys (Die beiden Esel)
translation by Christine Graham

A gloomy donkey, tired of life
one day addressed his wedded wife;

“I am so dumb, you are so dumb,
let’s go and die together, come!”

But as befalls, time and again,
they lived on happily, the twain.

VIII. The Does’ Prayer (Das Gebet)
translation by Max Knight

The does, as the hour grows late,

med-i-tate;

med-it-nine;

med-i-ten;

med-eleven;

med-twelve;

mednight!

The does, as the hour grows late,

meditate.

They fold their little toeless,

the doesies.