Jun 26, 2009

Counterfactuality

Lorraine Hunt sings "Ich freue mich auf meinem Tod" (BWV82) well, but she's no match for Fisher-Dieskau.

I wonder if anyone ever will be.

The aria is remarkable: it's one of those works in which the text (happiness) and the subtext (sadness) are diametrically opposed. (The Japanese have everyday parlance terminology for this phenomenon: tate mae -- the official line -- the word means literally facade -- and honne -- the underlying truth).

The text speaks about the joyous expectation of the afterlife; but the subtext of it is: my present life is deeply unhappy; oh, please let me die. It is a sad aria; and a lesson at how to listen to people: not their words but what they are really saying.

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