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Let's sing a carol along...

23/12/2013

3 Comments

 
If my more or less regular seven readers, just to have a break in their Christmas celebrations (I won't get to the heart of this matter, now I don't see the need of that) will have the fancy to stop by these virtual pages, maybe they will  be  pleasantly intrigued by  an historical curiosity.

In a way it's suitable for this time of the year, even though I decided to avoid carefully all dissertations about the presumed lost spirit of Christmas and the fact that Santa, how he's iconically shown, is a relatively recent invention of Coca Cola Company.

We'll speak about music and in particular a very world famous song, which you can hear clicking here below.

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It's " Auld Lang Syne". Probably many know that the lyrics are actually a poem by Robbie Burns, whom is called 'The Bard' in his Scotland. I think (but my so well educated seven readers, all of English mother tongue, will surely correct me) that 'Auld Lang Syne' means something like 'old long-ago'. This is not the point. I'd like to investigate about the melody, the music, not the lyrics, of which we know practically everything.

Burns in 1788 set his poem to the tune of a traditional folk song which was 200 years older. The composer of this melody, oddly, is an Italian. A very interesting character, Davide Rizzio (or Riccio…who knows exactly? The right orthography of a foreign name could be so easily misspelt in Scotland in 16th century…and not only then).

 He had a rather adventurous life and maybe one of these days I'll tell you something more about him. He was born in a small village, Pancalieri, near Turin, in Northern Italy. He had a certain talent as musician, composer and singers and a sure inclination to adventure and actually he ended to Scotland where he became a favourite of Queen Mary Stuart, no less! It seems he composed that music, which reminded him of an older folk song of his homeland and was very appreciated among Scots. 
He came to a very bad, awful end, but maybe I'll tell it to you another time, because it's another story….


3 Comments
barry
26/12/2013 02:55:26 pm

Auld Lang Syne - (Times gone by) was always sung on New year eye midnight by my parents and neighbours. I never did understand it significance and even now it seems just a tradition without real roots. The annoying thing I recall was at 8 or 9 years old and going happily to sleep (new years eve is still just another day to me like any another) and then being woken up to go out in the street with neighbours to sing "Auld Lang Syne". Why would anyone leave a warm bed to do this? New years eye to me it just an excuse for some people to act badly and drink too much and Auld Lang Syne seems to be an apology sung to those people you should have been nicer too in the past year.

Reply
William
30/12/2013 11:28:46 am

Barry's comment reminds me of pondering of Harry (played by Billy Crystal) in the New Year's Eve scene of "When Harry met Sally." Should we forget old acquaintances or remember them? or have we let too much pass by to know the difference? And why not step out into the cold night in search a inner warmth? Happy 2014.

Reply
Judy link
13/1/2021 07:43:22 pm

Hi thanks for postiing this

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    I'm the author of all the soap bubbles of thoughts, which are floating in this nearly private space.
    My name is
    Marisa Livet and I cannot speak of myself in third person, because it would sound definitely too ridiculous.
    I lay no claims to being an expert of anything.
    I write what I think, at random, without expecting any particular reader.
    This probably useless,
    ephemeral personal journal started on the 20th of December 2012,on purpose, as a kind of ironical wink to the amusing catastrophic theories which would make of the day after the last day of this world.
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