Sunday, January 06, 2008

Love's confusion

There are two violin pieces by composer Fritz Kreisler, "Liebesfreud" (Love's Joy) and "Liebesleid" (Love's Sorrow), that are often performed as a pair. I've written before about how non-German speakers tend to confuse ie and ei, sometimes writing "Liebesleid" as "Liebeslied" (Love's Song).

Following the New Year's Eve "Live From Lincoln Center" gala concert in which both pieces were performed, I saw yet more variation in the reviews posted on the websites I frequent. One person flipped the first but not the second pair of vowels, referring to "Leibesleid"...Leib means body. But my favorite has to be that of my friend who typed "Liebesfraud", which I described as something a jilted lover would talk about.

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