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Translation

From nonsense words in Alice through the Looking Glass to Babel in Hitchhiker's Guide, poet Sacha Dugdale translating Russian and The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand in German.

Miscommunication, the multiple meanings of words and what it means to translate emotion into music are explored in today's programme. Our readers Jonathan Keeble and Emily Pithon bring us Humpty Dumpty's wonderfully pugnacious encounter with Alice, in which he states "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean β€” neither more nor less', we hear Nabokov's commentary on words within Eugene Onegin, underscored by the musical version of Pushkin's novel in verse, composed by Tchaikovsky. A recent work from poet laureate Simon Armitage is a modern retelling of the medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale. Another excerpt comes from TS Eliot's The Wasteland in which he quotes, in German, from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. And New Generation Thinker Islam Issa has picked out an Arabic translation by Professor Mohamed Enani of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee.

Producer: Nick Holmes

In the Free Thinking archives you can find a series of episodes looking at language asking what language did Columbus speak?, exploring dead languages including Oscan and decoding Egyptian hieroglyphics and uncovering writing in Black Country dialect.

Readings:
Lewis Carroll Alice Through the Looking-Glass
William Shakespeare, trans. Prof. Mohamed Enani Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day (Sonnet 18) read by Islam Issa
T S Eliot The Waste Land; The Burial of the Dead
Ezra Pound The Seafarer
Reginald Shepherd A Few Thoughts about Translation
William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Dany LaferriΓ¨re, trans. David ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔl I am a Japanese Writer
Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Diane Thiel Love Letters
Mireille Gansel, trans. Ros Schwartz Translation as Transhumance
Vladimir Mayakovsky trans. into Scots by Edwin Morgan War Declarit read by Michael Rossi
Sasha Dugdale Translator’s Note to Our Sweet Companions Sharing your Bunk and your Bed by Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Tsvetaeva trans. Sasha Dugdale Our Sweet Companions Sharing your Bunk and your Bed
Mark Twain The Innocents Abroad
Simon Armitage The Owl and the Nightingale
Vladimir Nabokov translation of Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

You can find a dramatisation of Simon Armitage's The Owl and the Nightingale available now on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 13 Nov 2022 17:30
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Alfred Reynolds

    Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Suite; Parade

    Orchestra: Orchestra of the London Festival Ballet. Conductor: Gavin Sutherland.
    • Marco Polo 8.225184.
    • 4.

  • Lewis Carroll

    Alice Through the Looking-Glass read by Emily Pithon

  • 00:03

    John Dankworth

    Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?

    Singer: Daniel Norman. Performer: Christopher Gould.
    • Stone Records 5060192780734.
    • 11.

  • William Shakespeare, trans. Prof. Mohamed Enani

    Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day (Sonnet 18) read by Islam Issa

  • William Shakespeare, trans. Prof. Mohamed Enani

    Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day (Sonnet 18) read by Islam Issa

  • 00:07

    Tunde Jegede

    African Messiah; But Who May Abide

    Composer: George Frideric Handel. Singer: Laverne Williams. Performer: Tunde Jegede.
    • ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ recording.

  • T S Eliot

    The Waste Land; The Burial of the Dead

  • 00:10

    Richard Wagner

    Tristan and Isolde

    Singer: Peter Schreier. Singer: Helga Dernesch. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.
    • EMI Classics 0777 7 69319 2 0.
    • 3.

  • T S Eliot

    The Waste Land; The Burial of the Dead

  • 00:12

    Richard Wagner

    Tristan and Isolde

    Singer: Peter Schreier. Singer: Helga Dernesch. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.
    • EMI Classics 0777 7 69319 2 0.
    • 10.
  • 00:13

    Sally Beamish

    Viola Concerto No. 2 'The Seafarer'

    Performer: Tabea Zimmermann. Orchestra: Stockholms Ensemblen. Conductor: Ola Rudner.
    • BIS CD1241.
    • 1.

  • Ezra Pound

    The Seafarer read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:21

    Oasis

    Wonderwall

    Performer: The Mike Flowers Pops.
    • London LONDCD-378.
    • 17.

  • Reginald Shepherd

    A Few Thoughts about Translation read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:25

    Benjamin Britten

    A Midsummer Night's Dream

    Performer: Dexter Fletcher. Singer: Donald Maxwell. Singer: Adrian Thompson. Singer: Roger Bryson. Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Virgin Classics VCD 7 59305-2.
    • 14.

  • William Shakespeare

    A Midsummer NightΒ’s Dream read by Emily Pithon

  • Dany LaferriΓ¨re, trans. David ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔl

    I am a Japanese Writer read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:33

    Benjamin Britten

    Songs from the Chinese; The Old Lute

    Singer: Wilfred Brown. Performer: John Williams.
    • Sony Classical: 88843 09294.
    • 5.

  • Douglas Adams

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:37

    The Beatles

    Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand (I Want To Hold Your Hand)

    • Apple 5099969944901.
    • 8.

  • Diane Thiel

    Love Letters read by Emily Pithon

  • Mireille Gansel, trans. Ros Schwartz

    Translation as Transhumance read by Emily Pithon

  • 00:42

    Franz Schubert

    Nacht und Traume D. 827

    Ensemble: Accentus. Conductor: Laurence Equilbey.
    • NaΓ―ve V 5048.
    • 8.

  • Vladimir Mayakovsky, translated by Edwin Morgan

    War Declarit read by Michael Rossi

  • 00:45

    Antonio Vivaldi

    The Four Seasons (recomposed by Max Richter); Winter

    Composer: Max Richter. Performer: Daniel Hope. Orchestra: Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin. Conductor: AndrΓ© de Ridder.
    • DG 481 0044.
    • 11.

  • Vladimir Mayakovsky, translated by Edwin Morgan

    War Declarit read by Michael Rossi

  • Marina Tsvetaeva, trans. Sasha Dugdale

    Our Sweet Companions Sharing your Bunk and your Bed read by Emily Pithon

  • Mark Twain

    The Innocents Abroad read by Jonathan Keeble

  • 00:58

    Deep Purple

    Smoke on the Water

    Performer: Pink Turtle.
    • FrΓ©meaux & AssociΓ©s : FA 503.
    • 3.

  • Simon Armitage

    The Owl and the Nightingale read by Emily Pithon

  • 01:01

    Igor Stravinsky

    The Firebird

    Music Arranger: Philip Moore. Performer: Simon Crawford‐Phillips. Performer: Philip Moore. Performer: Philip Moore.
    • EMI: HMV Recordings 1928 - 1953.
    • 1.

  • Vladimir Nabokov

    Translation of Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

  • 01:07

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Eugene Onegin

    Singer: Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Singer: Olga Borodina. Orchestra: Orchestre de Paris – Philharmonie. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Philips: 438 235-2.
    • 30.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 26 Sep 2021 17:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Sun 13 Nov 2022 17:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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