'The American Spirit' [Az amerikai szellem]
László Lukin’s Hungarian Translations of American Folk Songs in Erzsébet Szőnyi’s Biciniumok
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/ahea.2024.572Keywords:
Erzsébet Szőnyi, László Lukin, Zoltán Kodály, Kodály scholarship, American folk song research, bicinia, biciniumok, music education, translation studies, cross-cultural studiesAbstract
The composer and pedagogue Erzsébet Szőnyi (1924-2019), who studied with Zoltán Kodály, Nadia Boulanger, and Olivier Messiaen, is largely credited with advancing Kodály’s vision for music education around the world. In the second and third volumes of Szőnyi’s Biciniumok (two-part musical arrangements to be used pedagogically with children), the musician, educator, and translator László Lukin (1926-2004) provided Hungarian texts to twenty-four American folk songs. Lukin himself was a student of Lajos Bárdos and Jenő Ádám, who (along with Szőnyi) were pivotal in the development of Hungary’s system of music education in the early 20th century. This paper explores the challenges encountered when translating lyrics from English to Hungarian: navigating the idiomatic use of language in folk material; overcoming differences in prosody and its impact on both linguistic accents and musical meter; and differentiating between literal, cultural and artistic/creative avenues of translation. General patterns of word stress, syntax, and meaning will be addressed for all twenty-four of the folk song arrangements. Through a detailed analysis of four of the pieces (“Madarak”, “Bricskán Járok”, “Postaváró”, and “Ausztrál Tájak Felé”), the author will highlight the variety of approaches taken by Lukin regarding the process of translation.
References
The American Folk Song Collection. Kodály Center at the University of Redlands, https://kodalycollection.org/collection.cfm. 2004. Accessed 20 Sept. 2023.
Botsford, Florence Hudson, ed. Botsford Collection of Folk-Songs, vol. 1. New York: G. Schirmer, 1929.
Campbell, Olive and Cecil Sharp. English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1917.
Cox, John Harrington. Folk-Songs Mainly from West Virginia. National Service Bureau, 1939.
Czerniawski, Adam.“Translation of Poetry: Theory and Practice.” The Polish Review, 39, no. 1: 3–19. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25778763. 1994. Accessed 9 Nov. 2023.
“Elhunyt Lukin László karnagy” [“Colonel László Lukin passed away”]. Sulinet, hirmagazin.sulinet.hu/hu/muveszetek/elhunyt-lukin-laszlo-karnagy. 2004. Accessed 10 Oct. 2023.
Erdei, Peter, ed. 150 American Folk Songs to Sing, Read and Play. Boosey & Hawkes, 1974.
Gillington, Alice E., ed. Old Surrey Singing Games and Skipping-Rope Rhymes. London: J. Curwen & Sons, 1909.
Hughes, Robert and Edith Sturgis. Songs from the Hills of Vermont. New York: G. Schirmer, 1919.
Ittzés, Mihály, ed. Zoltán Kodály: Writings on Music Education. Translated by Kata Ittzés, Keskeny Print House, 2019.
Jaccard, Jerry. A Tear in the Curtain: The Musical Diplomacy of Erzsébet Szőnyi. NewYork: Peter Lang Publishing, 2014.
Kodály, Zoltan. Bicinia Hungarica I. Rev. ed. Geoffry Russell-Smith. New York and London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1984.
Locke, Eleanor. Sail Away: 155 American Folk Songs to Sing, Read and Play. New York and London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1988.
Randolph, Vance, editor. Ozark Folksongs. Vol. 2, Revised ed. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1980.
Scarborough, Dorothy. On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925.
Smith, Laura Alexandrine. The Music of the Waters. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1888.
Szőnyi, Erzsébet. Bicinia Americana I. New York and London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1984.
---. Biciniumok I. Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 1974.
---. Biciniumok II. Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 1974.
---. Biciniumok III. Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 1977.
---. Biciniumok IV. Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 1983.
---. Biciniumok V. Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 1983.
---. Biciniumok VI. Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 1987.
Welch, Robert A.“The Translation of Poetry: Some Principles.” Studies: An Irish Quarterly
Review no. 244, 326–42. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30087998. 1972. Accessed 9 Nov. 2023.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Matthew Hanne
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
- Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
- The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
- Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
- The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
- Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
- The Author represents and warrants that:
- the Work is the Author’s original work;
- the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
- the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
- the Work has not previously been published;
- the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
- the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
- The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.
Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.