Songs My Mother Taught Me It is the fourth of seven songs from Dvorak’s cycle Gypsy Songs (Czech:Cigánské melodie), The Gypsy Songs are set to poems by Adolf Heyduk in both Czech and German. This song, in particular, has achieved widespread fame and has been recorded by many famous female singers.
This is my interpretation of the song which I sang at this year’s Kathleen Ferrier Bursary Competition in Blackburn. George Todica accompanied me during the competition and I hope that you like the performance.
I loved preparing this song and tried my best to get the correct feeling and colour into the Czech lyrics and to my Czech friends that listen please let me know how I could improve my pronunciation 🙂
The original Czech lyrics
Když mne stará matka zpívat, zpívat učívala,
podivno, že často, často slzívala.
A teď také pláčem snědé líce mučím,
když cigánské děti hrát a zpívat, hrát a zpívat učím!
The English transalation of the lyrics
Songs my mother taught me, In the days long vanished;
Seldom from her eyelids were the teardrops banished.
Now I teach my children, each melodious measure.
Oft the tears are flowing, oft they flow from my memory’s treasure.
Hi Charlotte, a beautifull interpretation, puissance , douceur et lumière……
Merci !!
Power, sweetness and light wow what a wonderful compliment, sounds like a good biog line 😉
Merci beaucoup!!
Charlotte
Absolutely beautiful, Charlotte! 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to tell me 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Absolutely stunning! 🙂
Hi Deborah, really happy you enjoyed it 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Beautiful! I am not Czech so I have no suggestions for improvement 🙂
Ha ha ha, it’s quite hard to sing in Czech because there are lots of different sounds to what we have in English, but I love singing in the language lots of colour to explore 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
A lovely present for my ears. Thank you.
That’s a lovely way to describe listening to my song ;). I’m honoured.
Best wishes
Charlotte
nice! love it!
Loving the conciseness of this message 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Tnx and Godbless
Lovely!
Thanks Tricia, do you play this one?
Best wishes
Charlotte
No – I hadn’t heard it before. Thanks for such a nice introduction to it!
superb! :0)
Hi De, glad you liked it 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Nice interpretation of the poem in song, Charlotte. Beautifully sung!
I have been reviewing lots of poetry to help with my compositions and understanding. I love your work too 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Thank you, Charlotte and all the best in your music studies. 🙂
This just makes me miss being a vocal performance major more. Beautiful singing. Such a talent.
Ahh don’t miss it use your fabulous skills 😉 what style do you prefer to sing in?
Best wishes
Charlotte
I am most familiar with classical singing, but I really like Musicals so I sing a lot of those songs. I just really miss having structured learning and having someone to help me improve.
This brought back lovely memories of me and my parents at a wedding when I was a kid, back in the ‘fifties, when mum got up and played the piano, nothing classical, but I just remember people singing “You made me love you”. My mother was musical and loved dancing, but my father was very jealous and wouldn’t let her go and do the things she loved. Such a pity, different times then.
I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have my music, rather like pinning down a butterfly :/
Best wishes
Charlotte
Beautiful lines and I always love to listen you voice. 🙂 keep up the good work 😀
The theme of the week at college has been legato, so it’s quite current that you used the term ‘beautiful lines’ thank you 😉
Have a good weekend, best wishes
Charlotte
Hello,
thanks for Your email:). You ve chosen extraordinary piece and one of the most intepreted song from Dvořák. Song itself has old czech folk characteristic, so lets focus on clear czech. It has pretty unusual rhytmical structure, which is making difficult to find accent in words….
So, some people are singing “zpívat” rather like “spí:vaat” Z is changed to S and there is no pressure on the beggining of word.
In “podivno” i dont hear N which is making word difficult to understand, its like you r singing “podivo” (N is basically one of hard consonants- CH; K; R; D; T; N; and there must be stress on that)
“A teď také” – you put words correctly together, but there is should a stress on both T, same as above.
Pláčem I believe i hear you sing E as english [i] “pláči:m” which is incorrect. Its more like “plá:čeem”
“Děti” maybe little more stress on T, even in high note
I am not so certain about the rest, but I believe it has mainly correct pronunciation. You’ ve got my sincerest admiration on ď, č, ě – these difficult letters sound very natural from You.
I believe people may disagree or add something to my feedback so You can get more opinions. And by the way, You ve got gorgeous and very cultivated voice.
With regard and respect,
Lukáš
That was very informative Lukas and very helpful, I really appreciate the time you took to do this and I’ll work on your suggestions.
Thanks very much, have a nice weekend,
Charlotte
I enjoyed listening to it. I’ve never heard music like that. What is it called?
Hi Krishnan, I’m pleased I introduced the song to you 😉 in English it is called ‘Songs My Mother Taught Me’ it was from a folk/art song genre. Lovely to sing.
Best wishes
Charlotte
That voice of yours is one lovely instrument. A true gift that I’m grateful you share with us.
Hi Phil, that’s a really nice way to put it, I’m glad to bring people happiness through my music.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Thank you, Charlotte. Your performance has a lovely, golden feeling in it that matches the nostalgic poignancy of the lyrics.
Hi Mary Ann, I love the term ‘golden feeling’, my friend Katie is all about auras and she says I have a ‘golden’ aura this week so that’s a coincidence 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
I think you’ve just added one more to the list of famous female singers that have recorded this! 🙂
Ha ha thanks Mimi, I don’t know about ‘famous’ but what a lovely compliment – I’ve got lots of work ahead but I’d love to be in such elusive company.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Absolutely beautiful! You have an amazing voice!
Thanks Melissa, have a lovely weekend.
All the best
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte
It has been a pleasure watching you grow up and being able to follow your progress into what is becoming a wonderful talent. Both Gill and I are very proud to know you. Love always, Terry
Ahhh that’s really lovely, thanks Terry I’ve always enjoyed your support and people like you and Gill that truly believe in me, it’s like fairy dust it’ll help me to fly.
Charlotte x
A stunningly beautiful performance. Even without the translation, I can understand from your performance the emotional content of the lyrics.
Cheer Dan, that’s really good to know, I appreciate your regular lovely confidence boosts 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Fantastic. Beautifully performed. You have a lovely voice and great stage presence.
Thanks Timothy, it was a beautiful room to perform in, very big space and very exciting 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Always enjoy reading your blog and listening to you sing
Thanks Alex, going to go help a friend to move flat shortly and I’ve just asked my Dad to send me some old video for a post tomorrow, hope you get chance to pop back to see 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Quite wonderful. I’ll post one of my older poems on my blog soon.
These poems really come alive with the music don’t they ;). Or perhaps that’s just me.
All the best
Charlotte
Dramatic voice, strong interpretive sense.
Thanks Robert I appreciate your message 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Your voice is brilliant as always. Please let us know when you will be back in the states (NY in particular). Would love to see you live 🙂
I’d love an opportunity to sing in NYC. When I do I’ll be sure to let you know 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Beautiful.
It is a beautiful song I will put more work into my Czech. I’m concentrating on German this year, I’m learning some beautiful German lieder.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Astonishingly amazing!!!
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