[Smt-talk] German christmas hymns.

[Guerin, William Brian]

Dear List,

While opinion seems to be converging on "eye-ya", I'm in a bit of a contrarian mood today, so I'll make a case for "eia" as including the long ? here (or, if you'd like, something that would rhyme with OutKast's 2003 hit "Hey Ya!")

While standard Hochdeutsch undoubtedly pronounces "ei" as rhyming with "my", I suspect that the word "eia" here may be Latin, not German. Certainly vernacular carols and other songs of medieval origin freely mix in Latin interjections (ave!, gaude!, etc.)

I think of two familiar examples of Latin "eia" as a Latin interjection: the 12th century Aquitanian carol "Verbum patris umanatur o o" (where it is spelled with the greek Y), and the song "Stetit puella" from the Carmina burana.

Surely when Marie sings "Eia popeia" it's pronounced like "eye", but as "eia popeia" seems to be nonsense rhyme, I suspect that it's not really the same word as the Latin "eia" that one sees in medieval songs.

This is all just conjecture, but it's also worth noting that if you were to browse YouTube performances of the hymn "Zu Bethlehem geboren" cited by Dr. Frosch below, almost all performances done by actual Germans pronounce "eia" as rhyming with "Hey Ya!"  Its being a Latin borrowing would perhaps account for this.

Best wishes,

Bill

________________________________
William Guerin
Ph.D. Candidate, Music Theory, Indiana University
Software Developer, Web Systems
Music Information Technology Services
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
wguerin at indiana.edu


From: Michael Morse <mwmorse at bell.net<mailto:mwmorse at bell.net>>
Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 2:59 PM
To: "Campbell, Brian" <bcampbell at csbsju.edu<mailto:bcampbell at csbsju.edu>>, "'reinifrosch at bluewin.ch<mailto:'reinifrosch at bluewin.ch>'" <reinifrosch at bluewin.ch<mailto:reinifrosch at bluewin.ch>>, "smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org>" <smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org>>
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] German christmas hymns.

The only dialect that pronounces "ei" like "hay" is East Prussian. If you're not singing in the Königsberg suburbs, go with "eye-ya"!

MWM
Trent

________________________________
From: BCampbell at CSBSJU.EDU<mailto:BCampbell at CSBSJU.EDU>
To: reinifrosch at bluewin.ch<mailto:reinifrosch at bluewin.ch>; smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org>
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2013 19:51:40 +0000
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] German christmas hymns.


I asked this question of a colleague of mine who is originally from Vienna. He has heard both pronunciations and suspects it varies among different dialects.



Brian G. Campbell, Music Department Chair

Associate Professor of Music

College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University

37 South College Avenue

St. Joseph, MN 56374

320-363-5717 (CSB)

320-363-2509 (SJU)

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From: smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org> [mailto:smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org] On Behalf Of reinifrosch at bluewin.ch<mailto:reinifrosch at bluewin.ch>
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 10:55 AM
To: smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org>
Subject: [Smt-talk] German christmas hymns.



Dear german-speaking colleagues,
The word "eia" occurs in many German christmas hymns, e.g., in "Zu Bethlehem geboren": eia, eia, sein eigen will ich sein. Our choir has mixed opinions on how to pronounce the syllable "ei" in "eia" (like the English word "wide", or like "rain"?)  Your help will be appreciated.
With best wishes,
Reinhart Frosch,
Dr. phil. nat.,
CH-5200 Brugg.
reinifrosch at bluewin.ch<mailto:reinifrosch at bluewin.ch> .

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