♫アフトンの流れ（Flow Gently, Sweet Afton)

On:
In: 2017, Englsih, music
50年ぐらい前、混声の定期演奏会で、指揮者だった武島先生が舞台でソロで歌われた時の美しい声とさわやかな歩き方の印象。今度英語の歌を歌うときがあったら挑戦したいな・・・。

アフトン川の流れ
Flow Gently Sweet Afton

静かに眠るメアリー　アフトンよ　彼女の夢を妨げたもうな
『アフトン川の流れ Flow Gently Sweet Afton』は、スコットランドの国民的詩人ロバート・バーンズの詩が用いられた19世紀アメリカの歌曲。なお、メロディにスコットランド民謡が用いられているかは不明。
発音が聞き取りやすい。でもアメリカンイングリッシュだ。

歌詞の一例

1.
Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
Flow gently, I’ll sing thee a song in thy praise;
My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.
Thou stock-dove, whose echo resounds thro’ the glen,
Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den,
Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear,
I charge you disturb not my slumbering fair.
2.
How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills,
Far mark’d with the courses of clear winding rills;
There daily I wander as noon rises high,
My flocks and my Mary’s sweet cot in my eye.
How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,
Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow;
There oft, as mild Ev’ning leaps over the lea,
The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.
3.
Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,
And winds by the cot where my Mary resides,
How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,
As gathering sweet flowrets she stems thy clear wave.
Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays;
My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream
Burns Robert
Miscellaneous
Flow Gently Sweet Afton

 

Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes

A Quick Bio of Robbie Burns
Robert Burns was born 25 January 1759 in the village of Alloway in Scotland. His poetry has been recognized to represent His poetic impulses were Alexander Pope, Henry Mackenzie, and Laurence Stern. He holds that title of Scotland’s national poet. His first poem was Handsome Nell written for a lady named Nellie Kitpatrick. As Robbie Burns progressed throughout his career, it became clear that he increasingly turned his attention to the passions of nature, alcohol, and women to inspire his writing. He fathered a total of 12 children by four different women.
www.youtube.com/watch?=N8g_NCIdeRE/
Analysis
Sweet Afton is a poem and song that was written in 1791 for Mrs. General Stewart of Slair and was featured in the Scots Musical Museum in 1972. Robbie Burns poems are often refereed to with more then one name. for example, Sweet Afton is also called River Afton and Afton Water. The song could have been referring to Mary Campbell, one of the many women whom inspired Robert Burn’s work. Sweet Afton however is more so about nature at the afton river in Ayeshire. When I read this poem, I think the tone is soothing, quiet, tranquility, safe, stillness and warmth. The poem is written in a rhymed scheme. The poem is a couplet: AA, BB. The first two verses in a stanza rhyme and the next two rhyme with each other as well. The rhythm scheme is closed which means that there is a fixed pattern clearly seen throughout the poem. Verse one and verse six are the exact same. Sweet Afton, disturb not her dream uses personification because Afton (a river) is being talked about as if it has feelings. There are four verses in each paragraph and it is written in 1st person. There is visual imagery such as, “Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes.” There is Auditory imagery such as, “Thou stockdove whose echo resounds thro’ the glen, Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den, and Thou green-crested lapwing thy screaming forbear.” An example of olfactory used in the poem is, “The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.”
古いスコットランド民謡から取っているので、少々歌いにくいし、長すぎる！かな？
 ♫歌いたい歌
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