Die Zeit, die ist ein sonderbar Ding - Time Is Weird
Music by Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)
Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874 - 1929)
From the opera "Der Rosenkavalier"
Premiered 1911, Dresden, Germany
Published by Schott, Mainz, Germany
Emily Bezar: soprano
Erik Pearson: acoustic and electric guitars
Produced by Emily Bezar
Guitar parts arranged by Erik Pearson
Recorded and Mixed by Dan Feiszli at What's For Lunch? Recording, El Cerrito, CA
www.studiorhythm.com
with additional recording by Erik Pearson and Emily Bezar
www.erikpearson.net
Mastered by Ken Lee
Notes:
A famous aria from an iconic character in Opera history. This is the Marschallin’s ode to the passing of time, sung to her younger lover Octavian near the end of Act One of Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier”, which premiered one century ago: in Dresden in 1911.
This version features guitarist Erik Pearson, who magically interprets the orchestral score with both acoustic and electric guitars. When we stripped this Aria down to its essential structure, Erik and I both began to hear the legacy of Bach, Mozart and the deep, long tradition of German and Austrian vocal music contained in this short piece.
lyrics
Lyrics by Hugo Von Hofmannsthal:
Die Marschallin:
Die Zeit im Grunde, Quinquin, die Zeit,
die ändert doch nichts an den Sachen.
Die Zeit, die ist ein sonderbar Ding.
Wenn man so hinlebt, ist sie rein gar nichts.
Aber dann auf einmal, da spürt man nichts als sie.
Sie ist um uns herum, sie ist auch in uns drinnen.
In den Gesichtern rieselt sie,
im Spiegel da rieselt sie,
in meinen Schläfen fliesst sie.
Und zwischen mir und dir da fliesst sie wieder,
lautlos, wie eine Sanduhr.
Oh, Quinquin! Manchmal hör' ich sie fliessen – unaufhaltsam.
Manchmal steh' ich auf mitten in der Nacht
und lass die Uhren alle, alle stehn.
Allein man muss sich auch vor ihr nicht fürchten.
Auch sie ist ein Geschöpf des Vaters, der uns alle erschaffen hat.
English Translation
by Emily Bezar
Time will be here soon enough, baby –
it doesn't change course for anything.
Time is weird.
You wander along, distracted by your life
and time means nothing at all.
But then come one day,
you can think of nothing else.
Then it's all around us...and inside of us....
we see it in faces, in the mirror.
My temples pulse with it.
And in between me and you,
it just keeps on flowing,
trickling, like sand in an hourglass.
Oh baby, sometimes I can hear it – streaming relentlessly.
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night
and stop all the clocks, every one of them.
But we don't have to fear it....it's just one piece
of the same God who created us,
and everything.
Singer, composer and keyboardist
Emily Bezar creates intricate, uncategorizable music, drawing freely from classical, jazz, rock, pop and electronic genres to create an enchanting, dynamic sound world.
supported by 9 fans who also own “Die Zeit, Die Ist Ein Sonderbar Ding - Time is Weird (Richard Strauss)”
I have been listening to these songs for decades and to hear Happy Rhodes interpretation brings my appreciation to a whole new level. Michael Pomerantz
A mesmerizing fusion of traditional Turkish melodies and contemporary sounds, creating a captivating musical journey. Bandcamp New & Notable May 27, 2023
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Every track is a stunning expression of creativity. Voltaic just (*cough*) sparked something extra...
Gorgeous production - work that's incredibly dense, musically, comes through fantastically clearly. Peter Jones