El cant dels ocells

Birds on a 12th century Chinese silk painting

El cant dels ocells ( Catalan for 'The song of the birds') is an old folk and Christmas song from Catalonia . In this song, more than thirty species of birds, large and small, celebrate the birth of Christ . The melody of the song is solemn, set in a minor key and has a very large range of notes.

Pau Casals ended all of his exile concerts since 1939 with this song, such as the concert on November 13, 1961 in the White House in front of Jackie and John F. Kennedy and invited guests in an arrangement for cello and piano . In this way, like the Virolai de Montserrat , this song became a Catalan national symbol , a kind of secret national anthem, alongside the official Catalan anthem Els Segador .

The lyrics

This is followed by the text in an old Catalan language, which sometimes differs from the current Catalan spelling, together with a German translation.

Catalan	German
El cant dels aucells Cançó de nadal Al veure despuntar el major lluminar, en la nit més ditxosa, els aucellets cantant a habenjar-lo van amb sa veu melindrosa. I l'àguila imperial , se'n vola cel endalt cantant amb melodia serves: - Jesús és nat per treure'ns de pecat i dar-nos alegria. Respon-li bé el pardal - Avui, nit de Nadal és nit de gran contento! El verdum i el lluer diuen cantant també: - Oh, que alegria sento! I canta el passerell : - Oh, que hermós i que bell és l'Infant de Maria! Li respon ara el tord , - Vençuda és la mort, - i naix la vida mia! Murmura el rossinyol : - És més bonic que el sol, més brilliant que una estrella. La cotxa i el bitxac , fix al manyac - ia sa Mare donzella. Refila el reietó per glòria del Senyor, filant amb biçarria. El canari segueix. Llur música pareix celestial melodia. Yes n'entra el cotoliu serves: Aucells, veniu afestjar l'aurora. I la merla , xiulant, anava festjant a la més gran Senyora. L ' estiverola diu: - Yes no és hivern ni estiu, sinó que és primavera puix que és nada una flor que exhala tal olor que omple la terra entera. Cantava el francolí : - Aucells: qui vol venir avui, a trenc de dia, a veure el Gran Senyor amb sa gran resplendor a dins d'una establia? Picots i borroners volen entre els fruiters cantant llurs alegries; la guatlla i el cucut del molt lluny han vingut per contemplâ el Messies. Vé xiluant el puput : - Eixa nit ha vingut el Rei de més grandesa. La tórtora i el colom , admiren a tothom cantant sense tristesa. I canta la perdiu : - Me'n vaig a fê el meu niu a dins de l'establia, per veure bé l'Infant com està tremolant en braços de Maria. La garsa , griva i gaig diuen: - Ara vé el maig! Respon la cadernera : - Dead arbre reverdeix, tota planta floreix, com si fos la primavera. Xiuxiueja el pinsà : - Glòria avui i demà; sento immensa alegria, de veure el Diamant tan hermós i brilliant en braços de Maria. El xut , també el mussol , en veure eixir el sol, confosos se retiren; el gamarús i el duc diuen: - Mirar no puc; tals resplendors m'admiren.	The song of the birds Catalan Christmas carol While they see the brightest light rising in the blissful night , the birds begin to sing and celebrate with their delicate voices. And the imperial eagle flies up into the sky, sings a melody and says: - Jesus was born to take away sin from us and give us great joy. The sparrow replied : Christmas night today is a night of great joy! The greenfinch and the siskin also speak singing: Oh, what joy I feel! And the linnet sings: Oh, how beautiful and how pretty is Maria's child! The song thrush answers this now. Death is defeated and my life is born! The nightingale mumbles: He is more beautiful than the sun, more sparkling than a star The redtail and the stonechat celebrate the gentle and (as well) his mother, the virgin. The Firecrest chirps for the glory of the Lord, it trills in bizarreness. The canary follows (this example) your music sounds (appears) as a heavenly melody. The woodlark comes in and says: You birds, come to celebrate the dawn. The blackbird , whistling, was always celebrating its very highest mistress. The great tit says: It is neither winter nor summer. It's just spring now. A flower is born that gives off such a fragrance that it fills the whole earth. The francolin hen sang: You birds, who wants to come today, at daybreak, to see our great master with his great splendor in a stable? Woodpeckers and bullfinches fly back and forth between the fruit trees, singing their joys. The quail and the cuckoo have come from afar to contemplate the Messiah. The hoopoe comes and whistles: This night has come the king of the greatest dignity. The turtledove and the dove all astonished by their singing without any sadness. And the partridge sings: I am starting to build my nest, in this stable, so that I can see the child shivering in Mary's arms. The magpie , the mistletoe and the jay shout: Now comes May! The goldfinch replies: All trees are green again, all plants are blooming as if it were spring. The chaffinch trills: Gloria today and tomorrow; I feel extraordinary joy to see this diamond, so beautiful and brilliant in Mary's arms. The scops owl and also the little owl , when they see the sun rise, withdraw in confusion; the tawny owl and the eagle owl speak: We cannot look; such splendor amazes us.

Thus 32 different birds appear one after the other:

Page from the first Catalan-German dictionary by the Heidelberg printer Joan Rosembach from 1502, which primarily compares Catalan and German names of birds

During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), a political version of the song was circulated on leaflets in 1705 on the occasion of the visit of the Austrian Archduke Karl to Barcelona. The title read: Cant dels Aucells quant arribaren los vaxells devant de Barcelona, y del desembarch de Carlos III (que Deu guarde) , that is: “Song of the birds at the arrival of the ships before Barcelona and the landing of Charles III. (whom God protect) ”. In this version, the birds cheer the designated Spanish rival king as the future savior of the country.

Pau Casals and El cant dels ocells

Casals statue in Barcelona

In his memoirs, Pau Casals explains his motivation for turning this impressive Christmas carol into a secret Catalan hymn under the title A Christmas Story :

“When I was already in exile after the Spanish Civil War, I made it a habit to end all my concerts and music festivals with an old Catalan folk song that is actually a Christmas carol. It's called 'El Cant dels Ocells' , 'The song of the birds'. Since then, this melody has become the song of homesick Spanish refugees. Today I own a country house in the village of Molitg-les-Bains in the French Pyrenees, right next to the Gran Hôtel Thermal […]. The hotel owner had fifteen bells arranged in a tower to form a carillon for which I sing the birds have set up; and now this compelling melody can be heard every hour, every hour the mountains echo back. An inscription on the largest bell says: 'In this song I sing about the worries and homesickness of the Catalans'. [...] May it be a song of peace and hope for you tomorrow. "

Pau Casals' heartfelt wish would come true after Franco's death in 1975 and the subsequent Transición , the democratization of Spain.

literature

Enciclopèdia Catalana: El cant dels ocells . In: Gran enciclopèdia catalana. 2nd edition 5th reprint 1992. Volume 6 . Enciclopèdia catalana, Barcelona 1987, ISBN 84-85194-90-X , p. 184 f . (Catalan).
Enciclopèdia.cat: El cant dels ocells. Retrieved April 26, 2018 (Catalan).
Pau Casals (arrangement): El Cant dels Ocells . For solo voice and four-part choir. April 26, 2018 ( el-atril.com [PDF]).

Web links

Wikisource: El cant dels ocells - Sources and full texts (Catalan)

Pau Casals: Pau Casals plays El Cant dels Ocells (YouTube). Retrieved April 26, 2018 (Catalan).
Pau Casals: Pau Casals plays El Cant dels Ocells (YouTube). White House concert on November 13, 1961. Retrieved April 26, 2018 (Catalan).

Individual evidence

↑ Discography: Pau Casals: Concierto en la Casa Blanca 13-XI-61 (concert in the White House on November 13, 1961), Sony Music Entertainment, 1962 and 1991. This CD contains El Cant dels Ocells , played by Pau Casals, cello , and Mieczysław Horszowski , piano.
↑ Pau Casals - El cant dels ocells (at the White House) YouTube video
↑ Jaume Ayats: Les cançons dictades al segle XVII i principis del XVIII ( Memento of December 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF). Recerca Musicològica XIX, 2009, pp. 229-240. With the political lyrics in updated Catalan spelling on page 237.
↑ El cant dels ocells (1705) . Blog of the Grup d'Opinió Ara Lliures, September 17, 2013, with an image of the historical leaflet.
↑ Pablo Casals: Light and shadow on a long way. Memories recorded by Albert E. Kahn. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1971, ISBN 3-10-012801-X , p. 20 f.

[1] Discography: Pau Casals: Concierto en la Casa Blanca 13-XI-61 (concert in the White House on November 13, 1961), Sony Music Entertainment, 1962 and 1991. This CD contains El Cant dels Ocells , played by Pau Casals, cello , and Mieczysław Horszowski , piano.

[2] Pau Casals - El cant dels ocells (at the White House) YouTube video

[3] Jaume Ayats: Les cançons dictades al segle XVII i principis del XVIII ( Memento of December 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF). Recerca Musicològica XIX, 2009, pp. 229-240. With the political lyrics in updated Catalan spelling on page 237.

[4] El cant dels ocells (1705) . Blog of the Grup d'Opinió Ara Lliures, September 17, 2013, with an image of the historical leaflet.

[5] Pablo Casals: Light and shadow on a long way. Memories recorded by Albert E. Kahn. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1971, ISBN 3-10-012801-X , p. 20 f.