Gelineau in German
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 998
    For those in Germany or knowledgeable of German hymnody: have the Vingt-Quatre Psaumes et un Cantique of Joseph Gelineau (1953) ever been translated into German? I'm looking for specific Psalms, i.e. Psalm 23 and 100.
  • tandrews
    Posts: 174
    I haven't been able to find any translations yet. Additionally, the only instance of Gelineau in Gotteslob is a setting of O Lamm Gottes. The psalmody in Gotteslob appears to be all done by German composers.

    EDIT: Here's a worldcat entry for the 24 psalms and canticle book. It appears to only exist in French and English: https://www.worldcat.org/title/twenty-four-psalms-and-a-canticle/oclc/9657522
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 998
    Next to French and English, they have also been translated into Dutch (Psalmen in Nederlands Proza, 1957). I wonder what these publications might contain:

    Junger, Gelineau, Klenk, Psalmen zum Kirchenjahr (1982)
    Gelineau, Psalmen – Psalter der Bibel von Jersusalem

    This example of Psalm 103 has a German text set to a melody of Gelineau. It seems to be from the Psalmen zum Kirchenjahr.
    Thanked by 1tandrews
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    Gelineau's introduction to the English translation, Grail(1963), explains that the French translators of the book of Psalms for the Bible de Jérusalem were at pains to reproduce the poetic character of the Hebrew.
    "Special attention was paid to the rhythmic structure of the poetry of the psalms, and this allowed a sung or recited psalmody to be fashioned on the basis of the analogy that exists between the Hebrew tonic rhythm and that of our modern languages. ... Following the success of the French venture, The Grail took the initiative of making an English translation based on the same principles."

    Gelineau then produced musical settings for these, which work very well in the flow of French, IMHO not quite as well in English which has more prominent stresses. How it would work out in other languages depends on their stress structure.
    Note that the French translators were explicit in disclaiming any intention to use the texts in liturgy, and made a relatively free translation with copious footnotes, ie a 'study' edition. The lengthy process of revising the 1963 translation while retaining the stylistic principle shows that satisfying the current CDWDS attitude to translation is difficult.
    Note also that Gelineau came to dislike his original, and very popular, setting of Pslam 23.
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