Rezept

 

Rezept - (2009)    

Joachim Ringelnatz

for medium voice and piano

 

Man mische 7 Pfund Palmin

Mit gleichviel Milch und Terpentin.

Dann füge man ein Hühnerei

Und etwas Öl nebst Eissg bei.

Dies nun zu festem Brei gerührt,

Wird dann in einen Strumpf geschnürt.

Das Ganze läßt man 13 Wochen

Ín lauem Seifenwasser kochen.

Dann wird es mit Gelee garniert

Und im verdeckten Topf serviert.

(Doch halte man zu rechter Zeit

Ein offnes Töpfchen sich bereit.)

[ 3 pages, circa 1' 45" ]

Joachim Ringelnatz

 

Recipe

 

You mix seven pounds of Palmin  [ 1 ]
With the same amount of milk and turpentine.
Then add a chicken egg
And some oil in addition to vinegar.
This is now stirred into a mash,
And then tied up in a stocking.
The whole thing rests for 13 weeks
In lukewarm soapy water.

Then it is garnished with jelly
And served in a concealed pot.  [ 2 ]
(But wait to the right time
When the pot is ready to open by itself.)

 

 

A horrid recipe in any case, this setting takes the poem as a spoof also of that kind of "wedding cake" music from the late 19th century. The opening gestures outlining no particular tonal region at first yield to G major for this waltz time, with upper and lower neighbor gestures pulled into dissonances with the underlying accompaniment.

 

 

The harmonic gestures which opened now become the alto and tenor voices over the dominant "pedal" D, as bridge material to return to the first section of this standard song form in miniature. This little bit of musical fluff is meant as a possible encore piece for the right circumstance and audience, preferably not one going out to dine afterwards.

 

The score for Rezept is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.

 

Rezept

                    

NOTES

 

[ 1 ]    Palmin - Dr. Heinrich Schlinck (1840-1909) developed Palmin at the end of the 19th century as a substitute for animal-based cooking fats. It is one hundred percent vegetable fat from coconut, and marketed still under the name Palmin, originally denoting the coconut palm. At room temperature it is hard and therefore  easy to package and store. The brand name is still in use today.

 

[ 2 ]    The verb, verdecken, is not always associated with recipes, the far more normal being Deckel, and its verb, decken.  As the normal meaning of verdecken is to conceal or hide, one notes that such a concoction as our jokester describes would be well suited to being hidden away -- permanently.