People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1894 — ACROSS THE DEEP. [ARTICLE]

ACROSS THE DEEP.

iThe Tower of Confusion DeI sorted to Await on 31 use of I music. Vrotu our Soecial Correspondent. I Beklin, June 15, 1894. I In my* former letter in referfeace to the learning of German IT referred to the habit of transBating. In easy German this san often be done with sufficient Base, but the idioms, of a lanIgiiage are peculiar to itself and ■would make little sense trans-I Bated and the only way is, first, Bo know the meaning, of the Bierman, for example, and after ■hit is done, what is the purpose nf translation? Meanings, ideas ■b re what we are after, and not pords. translations. If you pant the latter, get a good trans- ■ ition. if there is one existing, ■bad not bother with the original, py way of illustration we ask in English, •'When do you begin,” ■he literal translation of the parman phrase is our slang, ■‘When do you catch on?” Our Repression, “I am surprised,” Rrom the German would be, “It Rd Is to me on.” If I should tell ■ German how I shall return to Runerica it would he something ■ke this: “I will toward Ame«Rra over London and New York Bn til Chicago travel.” My point is simply this: To make ■teral translation does not make pnglish. It destroys the beau ty ■f the original and does not help Hou get the meaning because Hou must have that first before Hou can turn it into another late Huage. H Those have been so for - ■mate as to have read that beau - ■ful array of neatly put ■noughts, "Lucile," will rememHer the author's concise and apt Hiy of comparing the different Hfodern languages. The Gerpan language above all is adaptpi for the expression of deep piilosophic thought and for all ■ientific expressions where expttness is required. I don't bepeve it was intended for anyHiing else. It is true we find ■any beautiful things in prose ■id poetry, but they are few ■hen compared to other realms pl knowledge. If you want a

■erature which contains almost ■1 the philosophical thought of lie race since the time of Greece, Ihich contains the great adduces in religious dogmas, the fr.st criticisms of the historic Ke of the race, the careful in■stigation in chemistry, botany, ■c. If you want, in short, the lest thought of modern times, lu would certainly turn to the ■erman. I am not an admirer I’ Prussian egotism which mows nothing outside of her Birders, but I am an admirer of Be patience and'results of her Rholarship. But that strong fetiment on the part of the ■.'usioian, as a whole, that we ■e the people, will be her ruin ■ the result of narrowness. ■The German has a peculiar Banner in which he makes new Rw words, much to the regret. ■ all foreigners who attempt to ■arn the language. The pure, ■iginal German words are usHlly short, but as he began to ■ink more and to develope his Higuage he did not do it by inHiducing foreign words as the Higlish did, but by combining ft. words into new words with Hw meanings. This is a favorH pastime of the German writ- ■ 3 In scientific and philosophH 1 writings their language is Hmposed of compound words to Hrreat' degree. If you once unHigle these long’ words and get ■ir meaning, they are the easi- ■ to remember, for their length ■presses themselves upon one ■rough the eye. A fair sample ■y be given in this word: HiamphschiffefahrtaktiengeselHhaft. This one word is made ■ of six separate and individual ■rds, and, taken together, in ■glish would be written: DanK Steamboat Passenger Stock Hmpany. It is the presence of ■se words of the language that

led Murk Twain to say that they “ma rch across the page in literary perspective,” for if you look down one of them as you would a rai Iway truck it does seem to cout«e to a point as the rails seem to come to a point in the distance. Th at part of the English which comes from the Anglo-Saxon stem bears considerable resemblance naturally to her sister language, the German, and in this we are led to make some very serious mi stakes especially in meaning. For instance, a very common mistake appears in use of the German verb, “bekommen,” in confusing it with our verb, “become.” The German asks for a jglass of water (not very often, however) and he says, if he is addressing a friend: “Darf, ich ein Glass Wasser bekommen?’* But if he is trying to exercise h is English on.you he will very likely say: “Dare I become a glat ’S of water?” We say, “not yet,” and he says, “yet not.” He a? so uses expressions which would hardly be admissible in English. For instance, he speaks in pro sale way about “throwing a gla.nce into a book,” when he would simply examine its contents • He speaks of a “beautiful life” when he is having an ordinarily easy existance. Of course, it is also to be remarked that the peculiarities of the English impress the German as awkwardly as their language does us. The German, I believe, is, by far, the most difficult of all languages to acquire, and as one of polite culture it must take a place below the French and Italian and English, but, as said above, if great truths in philosophy are wanted you will not go to the French and Italian, but you will go to the German and then to the English. If you desire a literature which is full of pretty things which can be apappropriated in social circles, in prettily turned compliments and racy settings, go to the French and Italian, because they cultivate this more than any other people. The relative time required to learn each is very .marked. By fair application, (one can get an easy reading 'knowledge of the French, by • proper methods in less than ; three months, and Italian in less I I time, but the speaking of the j French is something very difficult to acquire, and to get it as |it is spoken in Paris is considered a linguistic achievement, ; in which more fail than succeed, i A reading knowledge of the [German, so that one is “at ; home” in it, comes more slowly ! but the speaking, so far as pronunciation is concerned is not difficult as the French. Turning aside from the language of the German let us noI tice what he has given to the ’ world in the way of music, One i can hardly realize what we, as i Americans, as well as the rest ’of the world, owe to her great : composers. If you would know ! whose music you hear trace the 1 music of the choir, the parlor, i and of the concert, and you will ; be surprised to see how much of . them come from the operas and

symphonies of Germany’s gneat musicians. The wedding marches of Wagner and Beexhovan lead thousands to the altar each year and will contmiie to do so as long as the inspiring strains of music are welcome guests at the nuptial feast. I may have mentioned sometime before that the melody we know as “clamintine” is used in GerI many as a burial song. That great and powerful national air of the French “The Marseillaise,” whose power to move is so great that twice in the history of the French government was prohibited to be played on the streets of Paris, has been appropriated by us as a church hymn. The words of the hymn, “As Thou Wil A” is set to Weber's overture to ■*'Freischutz.” I suppose no eity in Europe gives the operas es Wagner so well as Berlin. I hope the time will soon come whe.'i the people nf America will have the same opportunity to hear grvat music as the people of Europe. One has only to hear the stirring music of Wagner to appreciate that old saying, “Let me wi’ite the* songs (music) of a people and I care not who makes her laws.”

The drama in Germany is not so good as in America. Their actors stay in one place for the season and must necessarily play many characters, and cannot enter really in the spirit of any because of this fact. But there is one actor in Berlin, Barnay, who has some of the Booth and Barrett fire in him. He renders Shakspearian characters as a rule and is quite good. The German acting in general is not good. Too much machine work and no real interpretation. The only real forcible German character I have seen is that of the Mephistopheles, or the Devil, in Goethe’s Faust. They can enter into the spirit of this character and do some great interpretation. The German standpoint is altogether different from the American. Our great actors are content to attempt the interpretation of characters and dramas written especially for them or especially suited to therm What would the characters which are brought forth with such incomparable skill be without Nat Goodwin or Sol Smith Russel? But the German actor is unfortunate in the fact that he must remain in one theater during the whole season and it is very seldom that he plays in any other for that period and then not with a select company with which he has continually played. So he must play a score of characters which can only result in indifferent success. It does not become real, living interpretation, but a more or less successful mechanical process. But the opera is certainly inspiringly done. No place in Europe except at Bayreuth is the opera of Wagner so magnificently given as here in Berlin. The music of Wagner is certainly the greatest that has ever been written, and the opera orchestra is said to be the greatest of to-day, then it follows that the lover of music has in Berlin a paradise of melody and harmony, so far as music is concerned, not to be surpassed by any in the world and scarcely equalled by Paris, Munich and Vienna, or even the music that is inspired by the soft melody of Italian skies. The greatest music so far written is conceded to the German. And musicians ask, “Will it ever be surpassed?”