Dear Peter, The book you are referring to is Christian Kelnberger, _Text und Musik bei John Dowland_ (Passau: Verlag Karl Stutz, 1999). The text of all Dowland's songs is translated into German. It has to be said, that the translation reflects only one person's interpretation of what are often pretty obscure words.
Martin mentioned "Can she excuse my wrongs with vertues cloak?", which Kelnberger translates as, "Kann sie mein erlittenes Unrecht mit dem Mantel der Tugend entschuldigen?" The word "erlitten" comes from the verb "erleiden" = to suffer, sustain, endure. "Unrecht" can mean "wrong" or "injustice". One could translate it back as, "Can she excuse the injustice I have endured with a cloak of virtue." Shades of Babelfisch, perhaps, but at least it is clear from the German translation, that the wrongs are inflicted on the Earl of Essex by Queen Elizabeth, not the other way round. I don't know about great insights, but if you know some German, Kelnberger's translations might help you churn the meaning around a bit. Best wishes, Stewart. -----Original Message----- From: Peter Martin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 18 June 2008 21:54 To: Lute list Subject: [LUTE] Re: Singing English Lute Songs I remember reading a review by Stewart McCoy of a book of lute song texts translated into German. He found that, curiously, the translations gave great insights into the texts because the translator had to make explicit their meaning, in the way that Martin illustrates. Stewart, could you remind us what the book was? And for those whose German is less than perfect, are there any good 'translations' into modern English available? Peter To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
