1. Mandarin – 1000m,
2. English – 350m
3. Spanish – 250m
4. Hindi – 200m
5. Arabic – 150m
6. Bengali – 150m
7. Russian – 150m
8. Portuguese – 135m
9. Japanese – 120m
10. German – 100m
Data measured as mother-tongue (first-language) speakers. Source The Cambridge Factfinder, Cambridge University Press 1993.
Although we have a universal notation system for the music itself the problem of the language for the text still remains, and the table above shows that English is no longer the safe option for a libretto, and Latin no longer cuts it for sacred works. Lou Harrison (left) came up with a typically unconventional solution. His choral masterpiece La Koro Sutro is a translation into Esperanto by Bruce Kennedy of the Heart Sutra, which is one of the most profound Mahayana Buddhist texts. La Koro Sutro was first performed for an international gathering of Esperantists in San Francisco in August 1972.
There is a tendency today to dismiss Esperanto as a failed experiment, but this is far from the truth. Estimates vary, but there are around 1.5 million speakers of the language worldwide. More than 25,000 books have been written in Esperanto (originals and translations) as well as over a hundred regularly distributed Esperanto magazines. Two full-length feature films have been produced entirely in Esperanto, Angoroj in 1964 and Incubus starring William Shatner in 1965, and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin used Esperanto for signage on storefronts and buildings in his 1940 classic The Great Dictator. There are a number of music resources on the internet in Esperanto, and numerous popular and rock tracks with Esperanto lyrics available as MP3 downloads.
Gustav Mahler missed a trick when he used a volume of ancient Chinese poetry translated into German by Hans Bethge, titled, Die Chinesische Flöte ("The Chinese Flute") as the text for his symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde. Of course Esperanto is chump change compared with Chinese, and Tan Dun (below) has quite an advantage when it comes to setting Mandarin texts. His acclaimed Peony Pavillion uses a text by Tang Xianzu (1598) delivered in Mandarin and English, and a score that uses a range of traditional Chinese instruments as well as synthesizer, sampler and pre-recorded tracks. The linguistic efforts of Lou Harrison, Tan Dun and many others guarantee a real future for music beyond borders.Image credit: Esperanto - lacorteweb, Lou Harrison - jimhair.com , Tan Dun - tandunonline. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
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