In the days leading up to our concert, Together We Sing, the author of our programme notes provides an alternative look at the pieces featured on Saturday 6th June. The series may be interspersed with other posts but will be more or less daily! We hope you enjoy it.
Lost in Translation
All translators face the same challenge: whether to translate a text word-for-word or to try and communicate its sense and true meaning.
Take, for example, Consors paterni luminis, a hymn that was historically sung on Tuesdays at Matins in the medieval Divine Office. Run it through Google Translate and it becomes:
Partner of the father's light,
The light itself of light and day,
We break the night with fire:
Assist those who pray.
However, when translated by a human, it begins to make more sense:
O Christ, who share the Father's light,
The Light from Light, and brightest Day,
With song we interrupt the night:
Stand by your servants as we pray.
Of course, translators and translations don’t stop there and when, in 1864-65, the 19-year-old Gabriel Fauré chose to set Consors paterni luminis for a composition competition at the École Niedermeyer de Paris, instead of using Google Translate, he opted for Jean Racine’s French paraphrase because, it is said, he preferred the elegant and florid French text.
The result? The Cantique de Jean Racine which, translated into English reads:
Word equal to God, the Almighty, our only hope,
Eternal day of the earth and heavens;
We break the silence of the peaceful night,
Divine Saviour, look upon us!
Or, perhaps:
O Redeemer divine, our sole hope of salvation,
Eternal Light of the earth and the sky,
We kneel in adoration.
O Saviour, return on us Thy loving eye!
Fiat lux!
Jean-Baptiste Racine (1639-1699)
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