Page 4 - Bilingual Mirvis Family Songs

About Songs in this Book

“My music stems from consciousness of my poetic mind.” --Robert Schumann
When the melody comes first, there is a poetic feeling that brings it to life. Like artists,
composers source their inspiration from nature, or find it in people and their creation. Rustling of
leaves, movement of ocean waves, or an architectural shape turn into melodies, and then into a piano
piece or a symphony.
This book is built around poetry. The songs are set to poems that span over 200 years, from
classical to modern. It makes many of them similar to an art-song (different from pop or folk songs that
are set to lyrics or created immediately with lyrics). The uniqueness of this series is in bi-directional
translation of the poems that share adapted melodies.
Depending on the style and content of a poem, the composer uses a variety of genres: from a
romantic or humorous art song, to a children’s song or a lullaby; or a cross-over genre, somewhat
between bard songs and classical. The poetry fills each song with great meaning and images, the
melody, in its turn, gives it wings to reach minds and souls.

An idea of the Bilingual Songbook
“To have another language is to possess a second soul.” ‒ Charlemagne
Eugene Mirvis started to write his poetry and songs first in Russian, then later on - in English..
He has also composed music to known poetry masterpieces in both languages. Having each song
available in two languages would allow the greater number of listeners, bilingual or not, to equally
enjoy them.
The idea came from the fact that some songs were originally written to the Russian translation
of the English classical poetry, which made us curious: How would the original text sound with the
same melody? So we tried to set a couple of songs (“The Camel Hump” or “To the Cuckoo) that we
have always sung in Russian, back to their native English. In S. Marshak’s excellent translations, the
rhythm of the original is well preserved, so the melodies fit just fine, with no or little adaptations. Some
other songs required more work as we strived to bring the changes in notes and rhythm to the
minimum, to keep the original contour of the tune similar in both versions.
Ten out of these sixteen songs didn’t have any translations, so Eugene used his poetry-making
experience and created his own translations from the original language. We have placed the English
and the Russian texts and music scores side by side (the original the first) for convenience of readers
with different levels of proficiency in the languages.
Why “Family” Songs
“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.” Albert Einstein

When children grow up, they often tend to estrange themselves from the family, spending more
and more time with their peers. While this pattern hasn’t changed for centuries, we would still advocate
for family values and stronger bonds. In bilingual families, there is often a language/cultural barrier
between parents and children. Fun and fulfilling intellectual activities can help to keep generations
closer together, ideally if the kids are introduced at an early age. When the same song or a poem is
presented in both languages, it can be enjoyed by the entire family, the young and the old alike. Then
the barrier can be diminished by efforts from both sides

From a lullaby to a romantic or philosophical song-poem, the songs grow along with the child.
While there is never a panacea, good time spent with family will always stay in the child’s memories.
And from there, new traditions may start when they become parents.

Introduction 1
Not for public release