Posted by Steve Dedman on September 02, 2003 at 08:16:56:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Ein Heldenleben posted by jlb on September 02, 2003 at 08:01:18:
Actually, I think Mahler in particular used everyday terms in his musical direction. For instance, "etwas zuruckhaltend" literally translated is "somewhat held back." In this case, "etwas langsamer" would be somewhat slower." etwas = somewhat, langsam = slow.So a good literal translation is a gret place to start, and will usually get the basic idea across. Anything that doesn't can then be researched.
BTW, mit Damper is with mute. Dampfer = mute.
SD