Right from childhood, I had a dream, a dream of being a part of the chorus group, to sing in front of a large crowd. But I never thought it would come true this way.
O I could not believe my ears. I couldn't believe that I would be singing Beethoven's Ode to joy..
It did not seem true and took me few minutes to accept it. I love singing anyways, but the very fact that I would be singing Beethovens was a dream come true.
For those who are not aware, let me explain: Beethovenfs Ode to joyfs chorus and orchestra has a special meaning and is considered as a fanfare of peace, tolerance and liberty all over the world. Beethoven himself could not hear the clamour and the shouts of 'Bravo' at the Ninth first outing, as he was completely deaf by this time.
We had to sing this Symphony on the cultural fest we had on the 2nd Oct. It was a large scale campaign for peace and there were around 1500 people gathered for attending the programme from all over India.
When we heard it for the first time, it seemed impossible to sing the song. We thought the opera kind of music is not our cup of tea. Thankfully we had a couple of members who knew German and they helped us with the pronunciation of the https://lyrics. To pronounce each word was an effort. For instance, the first word of the song was Freude which is pronounced as Froida. You gotta rotate your jaws fully to pronounce this word and it applies for the whole song.
It took us quite some time to get a feel of the song and to understand the way it has to be sung. Out of 55 members singing, it was difficult to get the real effect. So we figured out those who can sing high notes and those who can sing low. Some of those who could not sing high notes were trying to make an effort to sing the high note and it seemed as though they are crying for breath. Their cries were unbearable.
I was among the High scale singers as I am comfortable singing highs. I sound absurd when I sing the low scale. Now the challenge was that the song was to be sung both in High Scale and in low Scale simultaneously. Imagine, 55 members out of which only 14 members are in the Highs & we had to remember our own notes and sing it without getting confused with the Mains. Phew!!
This was a major struggle. It seemed as though we were in a rush for finishing off the song and getting over with it. Everybody wanted to just throw out whatever bit they knew. It was miserable. This was the 1st day of the rehearsal. We were very sure that we would not be doing justice to this song.
But gradually we improved in our song with constant practice. Then the D day arrived. And when we gave our performance, the audience could not stop clappingccI was in the seventh heaven. I could not believe that I had sung Beethovenfs in front of such a huge audience. I had only one thing in my mind just before the performance. I had to sing this song to my best. I decided to sing as though it was my solo performance ie I tried to give my best. My life condition had risen to such great level after the performance.
And since then this is the only song I hum all the time. It was a great honour to be a part of such an event which was for such a great cause. To end with, I would mention the lyrics of the song. If at all mouthshut had an option of sending an mp3 file, I would have got my voice recorded and would have added it to the site. How I wish to do this. till this development, guess the lyrics would do..
This symphony is supposed to be one of the most beautiful compositions of Beethoven. This symphony is from Schillerfs poem.. The music is so beautiful that it is totally mesmarizing. People who have an ear for music would feel it in the song..it touches your soul..
Freude, schöner Gyotterfunken,
Joy, beautiful spark of gods,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Daughter of Elysium
Wir betreten feuertrunken.
We enter fire-embibed
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
O heavenly, thy sanctuary!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
thy magic powers reunite
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
what custom has strictly divided;
Alle Menschen werden BrEer
all men shall become brothers
Wo dein sanfter FlEel weilt.
Where thy gentle wing abides
Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen
Whoever has earned the great fortune
Eines Freundes Freund zu sein,
to be friendfriend,
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
whoever has won the love of a devoted wife
Mische seinen Jubel ein!
Join into our jubilation!
Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele
whoever can call even one soul
Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!
His on this earth!
Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle
and whoever was never able to shall
Weinend sich aus diesem Bund.
Creep tearfully away from this circle.
KEse gab sie uns und Reben,
Kisses she gave us, and wine,
Einen Freund, geprt in Tod;
A friend, proven in death;
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,
Pleasure was giveneven to the worm
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott!
And the cherub stands before god!
PS: I ve given the meaning of each line. The lines in bold is the meaning.
Thank you for reading this review and hope you enjoyed reading it!!
