Ave Maria out of context: prosody, poetry or piety?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Focusing on singability and audience reception, this is a case study on Duy ey sevgili sesimi! ‘Hear, o beloved, my voice’, a Turkish version of Schubert’s Ellens Gesang III (D. 839; Opus 52, No. 6). The study provides a data-driven discussion on the reception of this version by the primary text user, i.e. the performer, the secondary text users, i.e. the listeners, and a first-hand account of the intentions behind the choices of the target song lyricist. The data provide evidence for a hierarchical understanding of Johan Franzon’s three layers of singability: prosodic, poetic, and semantic-reflexive. However, the hierarchical ordering of the layers depends on the priorities of each user group. The performer has focused on the musical aspects of the song rather than the target text itself. Listeners with no background in music or translation have prioritized the semantic-reflexive layer. Listeners with a background in translation studies have paid attention to the poetic and semantic-reflexive layers. In contrast, those listeners with musical training or a special interest in music have regarded the lyrics as subordinate to the original composition, standing aloof from the translation of a classical song. Such diverging views point towards a more fine-grained understanding of singability.