Nanna's Lied
Last week's music combined the partnership of Brecht and Weill in a poignant song. A prostitute wonders about her life, about growing old and the role of "love". However it's the repeated refrain
Wo ist der Schnee vom vergangenen Jahr?"
(Where are last night's tears?
Where are the snows of yesteryear?)
that sticks in the mind. The second part pilfered, or borrowed consciously from Villon's
(Incidentally the use of the word "yesteryear" in the translation is interesting, or at any rate is worth a little investigation. UPDATE. I amended the literal translation from "Where are the tears of yesterday evening", to the more obvious English "Where are last night's tears". However it loses the the symmetry of the original. Discuss, if you're feeling bored....)
In the poem from which the original French is taken, Villon is musing or celebrating or even mourning the passing of famous women. In Brecht's poem, it is the less than famous Nanna herself, or maybe the woman she might have been.
I think it is perfectly sung here by Ute Lemper. Her cabaret style perfectly fits the vulnerabality of the subject.
This week something more cheerful. Well it might actually drive some people for the off-switch - but hopefully for others it will be a reminder or even a promise of summer sun.
I said that I was going totally French this week, but that's only partially true
