오늘 또 다시 미뇽의 글을 올린다. 좀 더 준비하고 내용을 더욱 보강하였다. 이 이야기는 퍽 오래되었다.

1952년 내가 부산 피란 보성중학교 3학년 시절에 부실한 영어를 보강하겠다고 옛날 부산시청 앞길에 있는 동네책방에서 영어책을 뒤지다가 “Short Stories”란 책을 보고 읽고 싶은 마음이 생겨서 이 조그맣고 얇은 책자를 사서 갖고 와서 짧은 이야기를 하나씩 둘씩 읽기 사작하였는데, 우선 Alexander the Great, Diogenes the Philosopher, The Brave three hundred. 등등 읽었다.

목차 맨 끝에 Mignon이라고 나온 이야기를 읽고 아쉽게 책을 덮었다. 그로부터 여러해 후에 다시 접할 기회가 왔고, 그 오랜 후에도 더 찾게 되었다.

그러면서도 지금까지 Mignon이야기에 얽힌 집착에서 아직도 벗어니지 못한다.

그럼 우선 1회부터 읽어보세요.

For goodness sake, KwanHo, I didn't know you like German Lied! But this story of Mignon is quite famous,

perhaps more, through 'Mignon', opéra comique, based on Goethe's  Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre.

So most of people remember the song: 'Kennst Du Das Land?' as an opera song rather than a German Lied.

However, ‘Mignon’ is one of few Hugo Wolf composed German Lied I have in my old LP Library.

Yes, Mignon: 'Kennst Du Das Land?' my LP disc holds is exactly the same one you shared through the video,

sung by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf accompanied by Gerald Moore. What a nice surprise!!!

Although I do not enjoy much Hugo Wolf’s Lied in comparison to Schubert’s or Schumann’s Lieds,

I have another Mignon 'Kennst Du Das Land?' sung by Christina Nilsson, a Swedish operatic soprano as well.

Indeed, I love Franz Schubert’s Lied most so that the first thing I did when I decided NOT to go back to SNU

to Seoul on 1971 as SNU ordered and instead resigned to start my residency at Med Coll Va was I went out

to the record store in Richmond downtown on the first week to buy two sets of album of Die schöne Müllerin

and Winterreise sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau accompanied by Gerald Moore;

it was the biggest amount of the money I paid ever through my residency as a lump sum for the LPs.   

BB

P.S. I can’t recall her name but one pioneering soprano in Korea- Kim xxAe?- sang this operatic song of Mignon

through her recital held at 시공관 at 명동 ( 그대는 아는가 오랜지 꽃 항기----) in our high school days,

I heard for the first time!

By the way, KwanHo, we do have the libretto of Franz Schubert’s  Mignons Gesang - Kennst du das Land  

( I believe what we have in our LP library is Schubert’s  Mignons sung by Janet Baker!)

Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn,

Im dunkeln Laub die Gold-Orangen glühn,

Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht,

Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht?

Kennst du es wohl?

Dahin! dahin

Möcht ich mit dir, o mein Geliebter, ziehn.

Kennst du das Haus? Auf Säulen ruht sein Dach.

Es glänzt der Saal, es schimmert das Gemach,

Und Marmorbilder stehn und sehn mich an:

Was hat man dir, du armes Kind, getan?

Kennst du es wohl?

Dahin! dahin

Möcht ich mit dir, o mein Beschützer, ziehn.

Kennst du den Berg und seinen Wolkensteg?

Das Maultier sucht im Nebel seinen Weg;

In Höhlen wohnt der Drachen alte Brut;

Es stürzt der Fels und über ihn die Flut!

Kennst du ihn wohl?

Dahin! dahin

Geht unser Weg! O Vater, laß uns ziehn!

Enjoy it!

BB Lee

I am so happy to have you who has been such a great fan of Mignon Song.

In my young days, I tried to collect classical pieces of music in the form of LP’s.

Despite my lack of musical background as well as lessons, I had a chance to visit music saloons called

KY hall, Renaissance, Dolce and so on occasionally during pre-med days.

I learned about Opera “Mignon” by Ambroise Thomas which I purchased but was soon disappointed

since opera Mignon was not Goethe’s Mignon.

I didn’t know there were so many compositions by great composers until recently.  

I tried to pursue Mignon, specifically where her home town was, who her parents were, how she lost her home

and some more.

I asked the owner of a local bookstore English editions of Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre and Wanderjahre.

It took me almost a year before I obtained the full set of 6 books, 3 for Lehrjahre, and another 3 for Wanderjahre.

I read them rather hurriedly since I didn’t have much free time. Recently I decided to reread them slowly

and leisurely, and now reading the fourth book.

I plan to post six stories one by one at the rate of each one every two weeks.

Your input is most valuable to me.

Thank you for your great interest.

Kwan Ho

In the main text, from below the red-colored texts, the font has reduced into a rather very small size.

It was difficult to read on my screen (maybe, not on your screen).

This must have happened when you reformat the text into a red color.

So, I have changed the red texts to the same size as the font above.

Now, all the text is in the same size.

I have added more spaces between the paragraphs as well as some minor grammatic changes.

I hope what I did is OK with you.

Wow, KwanHo, what a challenge to read through Wilhelm Meister’s entire set of Lehrjahre and Wanderjahre!

I know/learned a little bit about Lehrjahre/Apprenticeship through some review on New Yorker years ago and also good old Encyclopedia Britannica- we still keep the original old version of whole sets at my daughter’s weekend house and read infrequently like old testament! –. But I had no idea about Wanderjahre/ Journeyman Years till we saw its special temporary exhibition at Casa di Goethe/Goethe´s house in Rome- located a few minutes by walk from Piazza del Popolo.   

Indeed, I am not much interested in von Goethe as said, with very limited knowledge but forced (?) to learn about von Goethe by my buddy, Prof. Dirk Loose of Univ Hamburg who is a worshiper of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. As our closest family friend, we travel together infrequently and wherever we go, he always insists to stop over Goethe’s house to enjoy Goethe’s memorabilia like Rome. As a matter of fact, most of the Goethe (Language) Institutes throughout the world like New York or even Milwaukee/WI keep the library for Goethe’s publications for review through the internet system, I am sure you know.

Anyhow, all I know about von Goethe is ‘베르테르의 슬픔’! I still remember I was so fascinated with von Goethe’s ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther: ‘Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers’ when I read for the first time in the first year of our premed school days, romanticizing Charlotte's grief and shamelessly fantasized with copycat suicide. 

So, you will give me a chance one more time to enjoy von Goethe’s story.

I do look forward to reading your interpretation of Lehrjahre/Wanderjahre soon.

All the best,

BB

P.S. By the way, KwanHo, the original libretto of Ambroise Thomas’s Opera “Mignon” written by one French- I forgot the name, Jules? - is based on von Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre! But apparently German critics were not happy at all with this French alteration of the original story of Goethe version so that the Opera remains independent as French version to add the confusion.

I also looked at the catalog of our LP library at home this morning and I found out my memory slipped to cite wrong soprano, Christina Nilsson, for the second LP holding Hugo Wolf’s Lied. Actually, we have Mignon: 'Kennst Du Das Land?' sung by Christa Ludwig - not by Christina Nilsson - accompanied by the pianist Sebastian Peschko, on the list. Sorry for the mistake!

Dear BB: This is going to be my ambitious project to present my favorite character in the Goethe's masterpiece, Mignon. 

Next I will present my discovery of Mignon from our German Class in the pre-med days. 

That opened my curiosity of Mignon and the Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre. 

However it took more than two decades before I was able to purchase the full 6 volumes.

From the story 3 to the 6, I will post some selected parts of the English editions of the original Goethe's works with my brief notes. 

Each story will show several pages, which may challenge our readers, but I hope them to appreciate the chance

of reading this masterpiece verbatim!

BB, we shall see what happens with my amateurish presentations.