Songs (lieder) specifically about WINE/drinking

[Lance]

A friend, who is running an opera company out in Indianapolis has been spending time here with Tri-Cities Opera. He's soon leaving and asked me an interesting question, to which I responded with about 35 titles. He is looking for repertoire dealing exclusively with WINE, and to a lesser extent, the hard stuff (liquor). I gave him a list of 25 songs that are collectively in one CD dealing with the subject, songs by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Thomas Selle, Reissiger, Lortzing, Liszt, Chopin (believe-it-or-not), Ludwig Hess, Meyer-Olbersleben, Karl Marx, Hanns Eisler, Brahms, Schoeck and Adam Krieger. I also gave him five or six selections from operas (brindisi). Does anyone know of something rare in opera or song that deals with this subject? Your responses gratefully appreciated!

[piston]

Unless the 17th-century Frenchman did not get drunk on wine(!), I would suggest "Chanson à boire" by Francis Poulenc, based on an anonymous 17th-century author.

[Lance]

Great, Piston — thank you! I hadn't thought of Poulenc. Good choice.

Unless the 17th-century Frenchman did not get drunk on wine(!), I would suggest "Chanson à boire" by Francis Poulenc, based on an anonymous 17th-century author.

[Gary]

Does anyone know of something rare in opera or song that deals with this subject?

How about an oratorio instead, Lance, as in Haydn's The Seasons?


31. Chorus
Joyful the liquor flows,
that by degrees refined,
high-sparkling cheers the soul!
Hurrah! Produce the mighty bowl!
Now let us merry be!
Let us drink now, drink in festive joy.
Let us sing now, sing in festive joy.
Hip, hip, hurrah! Three cheers for the wine!
Three cheers for the soil that did no wrong;
Three cheers for the vat that made it strong;
Three cheers for the bowl we pass along.
Let us drink now, fill the glasses,

once more let us drink in festive joy.
Hurrah! Let’s praise the juice divine!
Hey there! Three cheers for the wine!
A band from the village now starts up the dancing:
The fiddle is scraping,
The organ is groaning,
The bagpipe is droning.
The children are prancing,
The youths to the sound are advancing.
The girls in their arms now are dancing
An old country dance.
Trip it, trip it, foot it featly!
Trip it, trip it, step it neatly!
Good fellows all, come fill the bowl! And drain it down!
Gaily singing! Laughter ringing! Hip, hip, hip, hurrah!
Joyous and jocund, let’s merry be!
And now let all the company
In friendly manner all agree
Let’s merry be this joyful day!
Hang sorrow! Let’s cast care away!
Let us now both sport and play!
Three cheers for the wine, the noble wine, that joyfully now appears!
Let’s praise the juice divine. All hail to the wine. All hail!

http://www.sussexchorus.org/music/HaydnTheSeasons.pdf

[Lance]

Gary, thank you. I hadn't thought of liquor within an oratorio, but your suggestion is well taken. I'll pass that information along! Grazie!

[DavidRoss]

Not rare, just brilliant:
Mahler, Song of the Earth,
I. Drinking Song for the Earth's Sorrows

[piston]

A number of "drinking" songs do not specifically mention wine, as in Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth, wherein the song "Quand la flamme de l'amour" refers to a "flacon," not to a bottle of wine. But Emmanuel Chabrier's Une Education Manquée does include the song "Ce vin généreux," which is specific enough.

Should the list also include poisoned wine?

[Imperfect Pitch]

Lance - I'm sure you already thought of this one (not exactly "rare"), but I've been waiting for an excuse to post it :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mrisHLMEZY

[Chalkperson]

You guys are good, i'm more than impressed...

Oh, i'm drinking a nice little Oregon Chardonney, from the Russian River Valley, maybe you'll find a song about American Wine...

[Brendan]

Beethoven's Trinklied may also rate a mention - don't know because I've only ordered it now.

[John F]

These may not be exactly what your friend has in mind, but anyway:

Alban Berg: Der Wein (3 poems from Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du Mal," trans. Stefan George)
Yrjö Kilpinen: Der Tod und der einsame Trinker

More conventionally:

Ravel: Don Quichotte à Dulcinée: Chanson à boire

[aurora]

Kinda surprised no one's mentioned 'In Taberna Quando Sumus' from Orff's Carmina Burana... it's a rompin' good tune


When we are in the tavern,
we do not think how we will go to dust,
but we hurry to gamble,
which always makes us sweat.
What happens in the tavern,
where money is host,
you may well ask,
and hear what I say.

Some gamble, some drink,
some behave loosely.
But of those who gamble,
some are stripped bare,
some win their clothes here,
some are dressed in sacks.
Here no-one fears death,
but they throw the dice in the name of Bacchus.

First of all it is to the wine-merchant
the the libertines drink,
one for the prisoners,
three for the living,
four for all Christians,
five for the faithful dead,
six for the loose sisters,
seven for the footpads in the wood,

Eight for the errant brethren,
nine for the dispersed monks,
ten for the seamen,
eleven for the squabblers,
twelve for the penitent,
thirteen for the wayfarers.
To the Pope as to the king
they all drink without restraint.

The mistress drinks, the master drinks,
the soldier drinks, the priest drinks,
the man drinks, the woman drinks,
the servant drinks with the maid,
the swift man drinks, the lazy man drinks,
the white man drinks, the black man drinks,
the settled man drinks, the wanderer drinks,
the stupid man drinks, the wise man drinks.

The poor man drinks, the sick man drinks,
the exile drinks, and the stranger,
the boy drinks, the old man drinks,
the bishop drinks, and the deacon,
the sister drinks, the brother drinks,
the old lady drinks, the mother drinks,
this man drinks, that man drinks,
a hundred drink, a thousand drink.

Six hundred pennies would hardly
suffice, if everyone
drinks immoderately and immeasurably.
However much they cheerfully drink
we are the ones whom everyone scolds,
and thus we are destitute.
May those who slander us be cursed
and may their names not be written in the book of the righteous.



translation from this page

[TopoGigio]

Wine, Women and Song Strausz
And La Traviata...
==
Other,more in Spirit...or Words...
http://homepages.ulb.ac.be/~xhubaut/cho ... boire2.htm
==
But the Carmina Burana is the Best, along many old songs...of joie
at strange labels...
Once Upon A Time I Bought Woods,Women and Wine, by the title,
it is from Joculatores Upsalienses ,BIS.
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp ... BIS-CD-120
==
I have that BIS FourSeasons also, but the drinking is supposed there
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp ... =BIS-CD-75

[aurora]

But the Carmina Burana is the Best

I'll think to drat *hic*..errr.... drink to that!

[TopoGigio]

.

[diegobueno]

I recall seeing the Glimmerglass production of Charbrier's L'Etoile a few years ago, and there was a charming duet in there about "Chartreuse Vert".

[Gary]

Wine, Women and Song Strausz

Topo,

That's a purely orchestral piece, not a song. So it doesn't count.




However, there are several places in Die Fledermaus where they sing about wine and drinking.

Act 1:

Nr. 5 Finale: Trinke, Liebchen, trinke schnell
(Alfred, Rosalinde, Frank)

Act 2:

Nr. 7 Couplet: Ich lade gern mir Gäste ein
(Orlofsky)

Nr. 11 Finale: Im Feuerstrom der Reben (the famous Champagne song)
(Orlofsky, Adele, Eisenstein, Rosalinde, Ida, Frank, Falke, Chor)


Also...

Boris Godunov:

Varlaam at the inn near the end of Act 1.


Prince Igor:

Skoula and Eroshka

[Jack Kelso]

Schumann's opus 123 is entitled, "Bekränzt mit Laub" and is a genuine "Rheinweinlied". The only trouble: it's actually an orchestral overture with the "Soli und Chor" coming in about halfway through. At least it's a rarity.

No dice?

Tschüß!
Jack

[Jack Kelso]

Oh, just thought of another one:

From Handel's oratorio "Belshazzar", is the swinging aria, "Let the deep bowl thy praise confess!", sung by Belshazzar as he drinks red wine.

Jack

[val]

Jago's aria in the first act of Otello (when he tries and succeeds to get Cassio drunk).

[piston]

But one of the oldest wine-drinking songs and to this day most frequently played tune in the USA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9lYC0lBfkA

P.S. Why doesn't the "youtube" function, above, work for youtube urls?!!!

[John F]

Why doesn't the "youtube" function, above, work for youtube urls?!!!

Corlyss explained it elsewhere, and it isn't obvious. Don't use the whole URL, just the gobbledygook after the = sign, in this case r9lYC0lBfkA:



Is this what you wanted?

[piston]

Got it!
Thank you.

[slofstra]

Lance - I'm sure you already thought of this one (not exactly "rare"), but I've been waiting for an excuse to post it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mrisHLMEZY

What is it with out of sync soundtracks these days?

[TopoGigio]

Uh, from CornerPub I come again to Wine Chat. ..with the livre-disque of 120 pages
Food,Wine and Song (HMU 907314) at Harmonia Mundi...with music of Machaut,Isaac,Dufay,Binchois,Compere,Encina, Senfl...by Orlando Consort.

At the same label there is also Les Plaisirs du Palais/Chansons a Boire de la Renaissance FrancoFlamande (HMC 901729),with music of Clemens(non Papa),
Certon,Sermisy,Appenzeller,Gombert,Hesdin...by the Ensemble Clement Janequin of Dominique
Visse.The same Ensemble has Fête Chez Rabelais (HMC 901453)

[Ken]

Schumann's opus 123 is entitled, "Bekränzt mit Laub" and is a genuine "Rheinweinlied". The only trouble: it's actually an orchestral overture with the "Soli und Chor" coming in about halfway through. At least it's a rarity.

No dice?

Tschüß!
Jack

I've been looking for a copy of this ever since reading great things about it in John Daverio's biography... Know of anywhere I can find it?

[Jack Kelso]

Schumann's opus 123 is entitled, "Bekränzt mit Laub" and is a genuine "Rheinweinlied". The only trouble: it's actually an orchestral overture with the "Soli und Chor" coming in about halfway through. At least it's a rarity.

No dice?

Tschüß!
Jack

I've been looking for a copy of this ever since reading great things about it in John Daverio's biography... Know of anywhere I can find it?

I'm sorry to say, Ken---no, I don't. My copy is a taped recording I made about 20 years ago from local SWR2 radio. I didn't even take down the performers' names.

Yes, Daverio is quite generous in his opinion of this work. I like it, too---but not nearly as well as the musically superior (in expression) overtures, "Die Braut von Messina", op. 100, "Faust" (op. post. A3 0) and "Julius Caesar", op. 128 (not to mention the better-known "Manfred" and "Genoveva").

Actually, I could use a copy of it on disc, too. I'll check the Internet.

Best,
Jack