This is the very most important Danish Christmas song. I cannot find a Danish performance of it I like enough, so we will play it in the original Latin. Here it is in Danish, in a nice Renaissance style that is surely appropriate, and here is Tony Holm singing it with the tune I know. … More Et barn er født i Bethlehem
In a true Danish Christmas there would be Lutheran Mass but we went to a Catholic one. It was very beautiful, the full ceremony with costumes and processions that I tend to forget are done now and not only in the late Middle Ages. These things were remarkable as well as inspiring and uplifting. Without … More Rhyme of the Norn Guest
It just would turn out that Child was an American and was late 19th century. It also just would be the case that he collected things that had already been collected and has been said to have a third eye or sixth sense that enabled him to ensure that what he collected was truly old. … More Francis James Child
At last I have found this skjaldesang, a medieval ballad I have been looking for for years. It is apparently not medieval, though it may sound so. The melody is old, but the words are nineteenth century and the author is Grundtvig. It is a nationalistic and pedagogical text nostalgic for the time of Kings … More Skjaldesang
Clearly, next year I will have to make Danish Christmas cookies at Thanksgiving and ripen them in tins. For this year I must go to the fancy store after herring, salmon, prunes, rye bread, red cabbage, songbirds and candles. 23 December is the day to do it. Very basic versions of the Scandinavian menus, modified … More Brave old menus (and brave new consulting business), revised
Spanish literature is not the prefiguring, emanation, or multiple expression of a Herderian national soul, as we were taught. If we must say it is one thing then it is the sardonic laughter of witty people who caught in an irrational situation and commenting upon it. Spanish literature is an adjective, not a noun. It … More Qu’est-ce que la littérature … espagnole?
Not only is there now much more Spanish literature than there was at one time; what used to exist has become more interesting. Within my memory there were exam questions such as, “Discuss idealism and realism in the Spanish soul, citing examples from relevant literary texts.” In Catalan class the questions had only marginally more … More Aftershocks
The Libro de buen amor was given that title by Menéndez Pidal in 1898. Before, it was apparently called the Libro de los cantares. I wrote an entire M.A. examination on this book, four hours on a single question about this fragment: De todos los enstrumentos yo, libro, só pariente: Bien o mal, qual puntares, … More Further shocking facts about Spanish literature
“En un piso de la calle 52 Este de Nueva York, ante los ojos conmovidos de una mujer y un hombre que oyen tras las ventanas cerradas el viento del invierno y el rumor como de catarata de la ciudad a la que asoman muy pocas veces y encuentran en el baúl de Ramiro Retratista … More El jinete polaco
I am still looking for all the right Scandinavian, but especially Danish carols, but many good recordings are Norwegian. Here is the choir of Oslo Cathedral, with an old photograph on which you can see a tree with real candles. They have candles on the pews in church on Christmas Eve, too. I have already … More Dejlig er jorden
coldhearted scientist وداد 