Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
Vocal Music | Piano | Organ | Chamber Music | Orchestral | Articles and Commentary | Poems and Stories | Miscellany | FAQs
Schul-Schmaecklein - (2016)
Eduard Mörike / De Bello Gallico
for baritone or bass and piano
Ei ja! es ist ein vortrefflicher Mann,
Wir lassen ihn billig ungerupft;
Aber seinen Versen merkt man an,
Dass der Verfasser lateinisch kann
Und schnupft.
Consuesse enim deos immortales,
quo gravius homines ex commutatione rerum doleant,
quos pro scelere eorum ulcisci velint,
his secundiores interdum res et diuturniorem impunitatem concedere.
3 pages, circa 1' 30"
Eduard Mörike
Academic ignominy
Ay! he's that sort of excellent chap,
Left easily un-plucked, we don't call his bluff;
But one takes note of his oft-quoted pap,
That this author knows both his Latin and snuff.
rhymed paraphrase by the composer
The immortal gods are wont to allow those persons whom they wish to punish for their guilt
sometimes a greater prosperity and longer impunity,
in order that they may suffer the more severely from a reverse of circumstances.
De Bello Gallico (The Gallic Wars), Julius Caesar, Book I, Ch. 14, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, 1869.
For other settings to texts of Eduard Mörike, click here.
An up tempo setting of Mörike's humorous jibe sets the poem, with a center section in Latin from Julius Caesar's The Gallic Wars, which reads in English translation: "The immortal gods are wont to allow those persons whom they wish to punish for their guilt sometimes a greater prosperity and longer impunity, in order that they may suffer the more severely from a reverse of circumstances." Might this quote apply to some within the academic life?
The score 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.
