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(page updated 1 January 2010)

The presenter would like to thank his host,
Ms Miroslava Linda Sabbath,
President of the Sacred Arts Council of Canada,
for her role in facilitating this talk for the
Alumni Writers' Group at the University of Ottawa.

For the convenience of Internet users,
this two-hour presentation is divided into
four segments of less than a half-hour each
(click on image or capitalised title
to view in Quick Time [.mov] format).

 

1. INTRODUCTION & DEFINITIONS
(28 minutes 20 seconds)

Introduction by host

JW's poem: "A poem is a song"

. . .......A poem is a song...   .....John Woodsworth          A poem is a song        That carries me along        The upward edge of a thought.        No music there, you say?        Just listen to it play --        The poem itself is fraught        With harmony and melody        Reflecting sweetest psalmody:        The music's become one        With the poem's message,        And every line may presage        A tune in time begun        By the listener's own responding        To the poem's thought-tones sounding        In ever-rippling chords...        As thought o'ershadows ear,        I cannot help but hear        The music in the words.          Poem written in English        Inspired by my dear wife's own        poetry of the past year,        and dedicated to her,        Susan Keyes Woodsworth        Ottawa, 22 July 1990 .

Music = poetry = music
(Google search results)

Ludwig von Beethoven: Sonatina in G
(poetry or not?)

Martin Joos: quotation from book The five clocks

Music & Meaning

The Bible:
Genesis 32: story of Jacob at Peniel (narrative)
Psalm 23 (balance between meaning & musicality)

Poetry/music: definitions

*  *  *  *  *

 

2. THE ROLE OF MUSICALITY IN INTERLINGUAL POETRY TRANSLATION
(26 minutes 15 seconds)

Story by Ljubov' Romanchuk: "The cyber", published (in JW's English translation) in: Agata Schwartz & Luise von Flotow (eds.), The third shore: Women's fiction from East Central Europe (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2006, pp. 160-63)

     JW's conference paper:
"Meaning & musicality: striking a balance in poetry translation".  Presented at the February 2002 conference: The Eye/I in Canadian research and Canadian art -- sponsored by the Graduate Students Association of the University of Ottawa.
(Sound file no longer available)

I-chart (phrases from conference-paper introduction)

.
.
Key phrases from the main part of paper:

Psycholinguistics == the relation of language to thought
(anticipation > confirmation/modification > integration of new information with old; role of cognitive context)

Book by Frank Smith: Understanding reading: a psycholinguistic analysis of reading and learning to read (New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1971)

JW's conference paper: "A major deficiency in current Russian textbook programmes", revised version published in Canadian Slavonic Papers, 16:2 (June 1974), pp. 262-85 (three types of context-- verbal, situational, cognitive -- their role in oral reading)

Translating poetry (from Russian to English): conveying musicality as well as meaning

*  *  *  *  *

 

3. 'TRANSLATING' WRITTEN POETRY OR MUSIC INTO SOUND
& THE POETRY OF MUSIC
(28 minutes 40 seconds)

Role of variegation in facilitating comprehension of spoken poetry (analogy of cockpit controls in British military aircraft)

Sasquatch Literary & Arts Performance Series
(click here for the Sasquatch website)
Video: "A mighty dream",  celebrating the 25th anniversary of Sasquatch, presented by founding director Juan O'Neill (video no longer available)

Book by Eugene Nida: Toward a science of translation (New York, 1964) :
Four levels of translation (philological, linguistic, communicative, socio-semiotic)

Prose & poetry: a continuum, including 'poetic prose'...
Series of 9 books by Vladimir Megré: Ringing Cedars Series -- Translated from Russian by JW, edited by Dr Leonid Sharashkin (Kahului, Hawaii, USA: Ringing Cedars Press, 2004-08.  Readings today taken from: Book 1 (Anastasia): Chapter 4 and from Book 3 (The Space of Love): Chapter 24.
(click here for the publisher's website)

The poetry of music:
Frédéric Chopin:  Air: Juz miesiac zeszedl: Andantino (Fantasia on the folk song "Laura i Filon").  Pianist: Robert Stankovsky.  Naxos compact disc 8.550368 (Chopin: Piano Concerto Nº 1 et al.), Track 5.  [on a commercial disc; not recorded on the video for copyright reasons]

Musical improvisation (click here for further information and MP3 samples, including the two which follow as part of this presentation):
"Thought crevices #2".  From cassette album First steps by JW
Improvisation on "Carol melody" from JW's CD album Sacred steps: piano improvisations on Christian Science hymn tunes, Track 10 

Reaction to piano improvisations on the part of children

*  *  *  *  *

 

4. MUSIC IN COMBINATION WITH THE SPOKEN WORD
(12 minutes 40 seconds)
 

Poems + improvisations: from CD album Detour to Paradise.  Poems by Miroslava Linda Sabbath, read and with piano improvisations by John Woodsworth (not yet in published circulation):  Track 1: "Nostalgia for Paradise"; Track 7: "Maniwaki Magnificat"; Track 9: "An Evening with Ota-wa Taiko".  For further information and MP3 samples, including Tracks 1 & 7, click here.  To read the poems on Tracks 1 & 7, click here.

E-mail : <jw[at ]kanadacha.ca>
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