Flea song (Mussorgsky)

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The Flohlied ( Russian Песня о блохе / Pesnja o Bloche , scientific. Transliteration Pesnja o Bloche ) or the Flohlied of Mephisto or full Russian title Pesnja Mefistofelja w pogrebke Auerbacha ( Песня Мефистофеля в погребке Ауербаха , scientific. Transliteration v pogrebke Pesnja Mefistofelja Auerbacha / Song of Mephistopheles in Auerbach's cellar ) by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgski (1839–1881) was written in 1879. His text describes in a coarse and humorous way political conditions in court life of his time.

Portrait of Mussorgsky shortly before his death, painted by Ilya Repin in 1881

The Russian writer Alexander Strugowschtschikow (1808-1878) had composed the text from the Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). Mephisto sings in the song is one of his king to the Minister appointed flea : "There was once a king who hatt 'a large flea" in a Russian version. In the Russian version, which is otherwise relatively close to the German original, he is dressed in a velvet caftan . Frequent laughter ( cha, cha, cha ... ) was inserted.

In 1879 Mussorgsky quit his civil service and accompanied the contralto Darya Leonova (1829-1896) as a piano accompanist on a tour to southern Russia from August to November . He was very impressed by Leonova's singing and composed the flea song on the trip or shortly after his return to St. Petersburg to dedicate it to the singer.

The sheet music of the flea song was published in 1883, after Mussorgsky's death, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov as editor. It was later orchestrated by Igor Stravinsky (1914).

Originally, the song was for soprano composed, but now it is mostly used by performers of vocal registers bass or bass-baritone sang. The famous Russian singer Fyodor Chalyapin recorded the song several times, as did many other singers.

Texts (Strugowschtschikow / Goethe)

In the following, the Russian text and the German text are compared:

---
Жил, был король когда-то.
При нём блоха жила.
Блоха! Блоха!
Милей родного брата
Она ему была.
Блоха, ха, ха, ха, ха, ха. Блоха.
Ха, ха, ха, ха, ха. Блоха!
---
Зовёт король портного.
- Послушай, ты, чурбан,
Для друга дорогого
Сшей бархатный кафтан!
Блохе кафтан? Ха, ха, ха, ха, ха, ха.
Блохе? Ха, ха, ха, ха, ха. Кафтан!
Ха, ха, ха, ха, ха. Ха, ха, ха, ха, ха.
Блохе кафтан?
---
Чтоб жарко и парко блоха моя жила,
И полная свобода ей при дворе дана.
При дворе хе-хе-хе-хе-хе блохе ха-ха-ха,
Ха-ха-ха-ха-ха-ха блохе.
---
Король ей сан министра и с ним звезду даёт,
И с нею и другие пошли все блохи в ход а-ха.
И самой Королеве и фрейлинам ея
От блох не стало мочи, не стало и житья ха-ха.
---
И тронуть-то боятся не то чтобы их бить,
А мы, кто стал кусаться, тотчас давай душить.
Ха-ха-ха-ха-ха ха-ха-ха,
Ха-ха-ха-ха-ха ха-ха-ха-ха,
А а-ха-ха ха-ха.


Schil, byl korol kogda-to.
Pri njom blocha shila.
Blocha! Blocha!
Milei rodnogo brata
Ona emu byla.
Blocha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha. Blocha.
Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha. Blocha!
---
Soviet korol portnogo.
- Posluschai, ty, Tschurban,
Dlja druga dorogogo
Sschei barchatny kaftan!
Bloche caftan? Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha.
Bloche? Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha. Caftan!
Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha. Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha.
Bloche caftan?
---
Tschtob sharko i parko blocha moja schila,
I polnaja swoboda ei pri dwore dana.
Pri dwore che-che-che-che-che bloche cha-cha-cha,
Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha bloche.
---
Korol ei san ministra is nim swesdu dajot,
I s neju i drugije poschli wse blochi w chod a-cha.
I samoi Korolewe i Freilinam eja
Ot bloch ne stalo motschi, ne stalo i schitja cha-cha.
---
I tronut-to bojatsja ne to tschtoby ich bit,
A my, kto stal kussatsja, tottschas dawai duschit.
Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha cha-cha-cha,
Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha cha-cha-cha-cha,
A a-cha-cha cha-cha.


Once
upon a time there was a king who had a great flea,
whom he loves not a little,
as like his own son.
Then he called his tailor.
The tailor came up:
Here, measure the Junker's clothes
and measure his trousers!
[…] He was now dressed
in velvet and silk, Had ribbons on his dress, also had a cross on it, and was at once minister, and had a big star. Then his siblings also became great masters at court. And ladies and gentlemen at court, they were very troubled, the queen and the maid stabbed and gnawed, and were not allowed to bend them, and away they did not itch. We bend and suffocate But immediately if someone stings.














See also

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ Alexander Nikolajewitsch Strugowschtschikow ( Russian Александр Николаевич Струговщиков , scientific transliteration Aleksandr Nikolaevič Strugovščikov )
  2. ↑ Goethe: Faust. The first part of the tragedy, 1808. Auerbachs Keller in Leipzig, Mephistopheles sings
  3. ↑ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust. The tragedy first part , verses 2208-2240. The figure of the flea as a state bogeyman and expression of the courtroom is immediately commented in Goethe's poetry by the drinking brothers in Auerbach's cellar: “This is how every flea should fare! / Sharpen your fingers and pack them well! / Long live freedom! Long live the wine! ” (Ibid. Verses 2242–2244)
  4. ↑ Darja Michailowna Leonowa ( Russian Дарья Михайловна Леонова , scientific transliteration Dar'ja Michajlovna Leonova )
  5. ↑ cf. Mephistopheles' Song of the Flea

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