Seventy-Six Trombones

Seventy-Six Trombones

Seventy-Six Trombones
Seventy-six trombones led the big parade, With a hundred & ten cornets close at hand. They were followed by rows and rows, Of the finest virtuosos, The cream of every famous band. Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun, With a hundred & ten cornets right behind. There were over a thousand reeds, Srpinging up like weeds, There were horns of every shape & kind. There were copper bottom timpani in horse platoons, Thundering, thundering, all along the way. Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons, Each bassoon having its big, fat say. There were fifty mounted cannon in the battery, Thundering, thundering, louder than before. Clarinets of every size, And trumpets who'd improvise A full octave higher than the score! Seventy-six trombones hit the counterpoint, While a hundred and ten cornets blazed away. To the rhythm of Harch! Harch! Harch! All the kids began to march, And they're marching still right today!
Seventy-Six Trombones
sex sonat et decies septem quae turba tubarum! ~~pompa decem et centum cornua iuncta tenet. agminibus densis gnarissima turma secuta est, ~~Amphion, Orpheus, plurimus ipse Linus. sex iubar et decies septem rubefecit Eoum; ~~ecce decem et centum cornua pone tubis! mille instant calami, loliis simulata caterva, ~~buccina cum lituis, cornua, concha, tubae. tympana tunc equitum resonabant aere profundo, ~~quo tonitru resonans omne tonabat iter. fistula – iam duplicata rudent euphonia! - opimo ~ sermones duplicat gutture quaeque suos. quina decem tormenta, tonantia fulmina belli, ~~raucius augebant, raucius usque sonos; maxima vel maior, minor atque minuta cicuta; ~~classica conatu bis quater Icario; sex dant et decies septem contraria chordae; ~~vi flant undecies cornua dena melos. vadere cum pueris cunctae coepere puellae, ~vadere praesenti queis placet usque die!
My translation into Latin

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

DO RE MI

DO RE MI

English by Oscar Hammerstein II from 'The Sound of Music'. Latin by me.
DO RE MI
Let's start at the very beginning A very good place to start When you read, you begin with A-B-C When you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi Do, a deer, a female deer Re, a drop of golden sun Mi, a name, I call myself Fa, a long, long way to run So, a needle pulling thread La, a note to follow So Ti, a drink with jam and bread That will bring us back to Do. When you know the notes to sing You can sing most anything.
DO RE MI
incipiamus in incepto: valet optima origo. ~~alpha et beta legis, mox quoque gamma notas. imus cerva gradus, muliebris bestia, chordis; ~~aureolo sequitur guttula sole, iubar. tum mihi me nomen, quo me revocante vocabor; ~~currere fas longe, cui via longa, procul. dein sutoris acus, trahitur cum sutile filum; ~~excipiens caecus proximus instat acum. dein thea adest, pani coctis cum fructibus apta; ~~cerva iterum inventa conficiemus iter. tempore quo disces septem discrimina vocum, ~~omnia quam sollers carmina paene canes!
in pratis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drnBMAEA3AM in stratis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLm07s8fnzM

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

Cheering Thought After 200 Years

Ermutigung nach 200 Jahren

Reiner Kunze (1933)

(auf dem heimweg von einem orgelkonzert: going home from an organ recital)
Ermutigung nach 200 Jahren
Zu füßen gottes, wenn gott füße hat, zu füßen gottes sitzt bach, nicht der magistrat von leipzig
Cheering Thought After 200 Years
At god's feet, if god has feet, at god's feet sits bach, not the leipzig magistrate https://www.planetlyrik.de/reiner-kunze-auf-eigene-hoffnung/2015/09/
Cati Patel brought it for Insead in London, March 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dlq0PfWnXE

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

More poems by Reiner Kunze...

Epitaph for Isaac Albéniz

Epitafio a Isaac Albéniz

Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)

Recited by Lorca at the dedication of a statue of Albéniz in the cemetery of Montjuic, Barcelona, on December 14th, 1935.
Epitafio a Isaac Albéniz
Esta piedra que vemos levantada sobre hierbas de muerte y barro oscuro guarda lira de sombra, sol maduro, urna de canto sola y derramada. Desde la sal de Cádiz a Granada, que erige en agua su perpetuo muro, en caballo andaluz de acento duro tu sombra gime por la luz dorada. ¡Oh dulce muerto de pequeña mano! ¡Oh música y bondad entretejida! ¡Oh pupila de azor, corazón sano! Duerme cielo sin fin, nieve tendida. Sueña invierno de lumbre, gris verano. ¡Duerme en olvido de tu vieja vida!
Epitaph for Isaac Albéniz
This stone we witness standing tall on grass of death and dismal clay guards shadow-lyre and mellow sun, the spilled and lonely urn of song. Granada rears her water-wall; your shadow moans through gold of day. From salt Cadiz your hoofbeats run, Andalucían, pounding strong. Sweet one, small-handed one, who died! Music and goodness intertwined! The great of heart, the goshawk-eyed! Sleep, skein of snow, sky unconfined, dream, winter-light, dream, summer-grey, sleep as your old life slips away!

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

More poems by Federico García Lorca...