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French to English: excerpt from inlay card "Soundtrack to Les Liaisons Dangereuses" (ASIN: B0000C8WXU) General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Music
Source text - French Si l’on devait retenir une seule œuvre de la littérature pour violon, il y a fort à parier que, pour beaucoup de violonistes, ce serait les Sonates et Partitas de Jean-Sébastien Bach (1685-1750).
Ce choix se justifierait par la haute maîtrise technique qu’elles requièrent; maîtrise qui doit en permanence se plier aux exigences purement musicales de ces six chefs d’œuvres qui ne sont pas sans comporter de redoutables problèmes d’interprétation. Un violoniste n’en vient jamais à bout. Tout juste peut-il prétendre approcher chaque fois davantage leur fascinante richesse.
C’est vraisemblablement à Coethen où il résida de 1717 à 1723 que Bach composa les Sonates et Partitas pour violon seul. Cette période vit naître nombre de chefs-d’œuvre instrumentaux tels que les Concertos Brandebourgeois, le Clavier bien tempéré ou bien encore les Sonates pour violoncelle seul. Entré au service de la cour du Prince Leopold d’Anhalt-Coethen, grand amateur de musique, le compositeur allemand qui écrivait essentiellement pour la liturgie luthérienne trouva là un lieu propice à l’éclosion de nouvelles facettes de son génie. D’autres avant lui avaient traité le violon de façon polyphonique. L’un d’eux, Johann Paul von Westhopff familiarisa Bach avec la technique de la double corde qui vint s’ajouter à la connaissance déjà poussée que le musicien avait du violon, instrument qu’il pratiquait lui-même.
Comme l’ensemble du corpus, la Deuxième Partita en ré mineur BWV 1004 s’appuie sur une écriture suggestive ; les harmonies sont en quelque sorte imaginaires et demandent à être reconstituées ou complétées intuitivement par l’auditeur. La Partita en ré mineur répond dans sa forme à la suite de danse : une Allemande vive aux amples volutes de doubles-croches ouvre l’œuvre, suivie d’une bondissante Courante en triolets, d’une Sarabande radieuse ponctuée de profonds accords, d’une sémillante Gigue et enfin d’une majestueuse Chaconne. Dans ce dernier mouvement, vaste ensemble de variations, Bach déploie une science inouïe grâce à laquelle le violon s’élève au-delà de ses possibilités. Dans le domaine du violon seul, tout semblait donc avoir été écrit, mais pourtant…
« Le génie de Bach effraie celui qui serait tenté de suivre une voie identique. Il sait qu’il y a un sommet difficile à atteindre. Comment se dégager d’une influence dominatrice qui fera, fatalement, que si l’on veut écrire pour instrument, on écrira à la manière de… » Cette confession d’Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), immense violoniste belge et compositeur, en dit long sur les doutes qui durent l’assaillir avant d’entreprendre l’écriture de ses Six Sonates pour violon seul. Durant l’été 1923, elles jaillirent pourtant d’un seul trait sous sa plume alors qu’il se trouvait dans sa villa de Zoute. Sans doute avait-il admis que cette « influence dominatrice » pouvait être une muse davantage qu’une entrave à sa créativité. Ce sont bel et bien six joyaux que ce pionnier de l’école moderne du violon offrit à son instrument. Toutes sont dédiées à de grands violonistes.
Translation - English If asked to select one sole work written for violin, you can be certain that many violinists would choose Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas.
Their choice is justified by the high degree of technical expertise they demand, an expertise that must always bow to the purely musical requirements of these six – admittedly difficult to perform – masterpieces. A violinist never completely fathoms them, and can only hope to discover something new about their fascinating richness with each performance. It was probably at Coethen, his place of residence from 1717 to 1723, that Bach composed the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. This period saw the creation of several masterpieces, such as The Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-tempered Clavier and The Suites for solo cello [sic – an editing error]. Having previously written mainly for the Lutheran liturgy, Bach discovered an atmosphere in which his genius could blossom in new directions when he entered the service of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Coethen, a great patron of music. Others before Bach had treated the violin in a polyphonic way; one of them, Johann Paul von Westhopff, familiarised him with the technique of double-stopping, thereby adding to the musician’s already detailed understanding of the violin, an instrument he played himself.
As with the whole corpus, the second Partita in D minor BWV 1004 accentuates Bach’s suggestive writing; the harmonies are to some extent imaginary, and need to be intuitively completed or reconstituted by the listener. This Partita follows the structure of a suite of dances: first a lively Allemande with flourishes of semi-quavers, then a bouncy Courante in triplets, followed by a glorious Sarabande with phrases of profound chords, a spirited Gigue, and finally a majestic Chaconne. In this last movement, a great series of variations, Bach displays an unheard-of mastery, enabling the violin to rise above and beyond its limitations. As far as solo violin music was concerned, everything seemed to have already been written. And yet…
“Bach’s genius is daunting for anyone attempting to follow in his footsteps. You know that his standard is difficult to achieve. How do you rid yourself of the dominant influence that risks (occasionally fatally) making you write for an instrument in the style of…?” This confession by Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), one of Belgium’s foremost violinists, says much about the doubts he must have had just before writing his Six Sonatas for solo violin. In the summer of 1923, however, they flowed seamlessly from his pen while he was staying in his Zoute villa. No doubt he admitted that this “dominant influence” could be a muse as well as a hindrance to his creativity. This pioneer of the modern school of violin has given us six real gems. All of them are dedicated to great violinists.
Dutch to English: excerpt from Catechism leaflet for Dutch church in Leiden General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Religion
Source text - Dutch - Een offer uit liefde
Jezus vervulde de Wet en de Profeten vooral door zichzelf uit liefde op te offeren voor de mensen. Vanaf het moment dat Jezus zich overgaf om aan het Kruis ‘geofferd’ te worden, zijn we voor altijd met God verzoend. Daarom zijn bijvoorbeeld de joodse wetten over brand- en slachtoffers niet meer van belang voor ons. In het Oude Testament konden de joden door die offers verzoening krijgen van God. Jezus vervulde al die offers voor altijd. Hetzelfde geldt voor een aantal andere wetten. Maar de Tien Geboden zijn bijvoorbeeld nog net zo geldig als toen ze door God aan Mozes werden gegeven.
- Het dubbelgebod
De Bijbel moet in zijn geheel worden gelezen. Het Nieuwe Testament schijnt een nieuw licht op het Oude Testament: het helpt om die oude teksten te lezen op de manier zoals God het bedoeld heeft. Jezus gaf ons het belangrijkste gebod, dat we het dubbelgebod noemen. Het eerste is: “U zult de Heer uw God liefhebben met heel uw hart en met heel uw ziel, met heel uw verstand en met heel uw kracht”. Het tweede is: “U zult uw naaste liefhebben als uzelf. Een ander gebod, groter dan deze twee, is er niet” (MAR 12,30-31).
Met het Oude Testament in de hand kan iemand bijvoorbeeld de rechtvaardigheid van vergelding verdedigen (DEUT 19,21), maar Jezus leert in te zien dat iemand liefdevol vergeven meer waard is. Hij offerde uit liefde zijn leven op. Daarmee is die liefde het belangrijkste gebod geworden voor alle mensen, ook als je ‘recht’ op vergelding hebt. Daarom zei Jezus: “Heb je vijanden lief!” (LUK 6,27).
- Laatste woord aan de Kerk
God en de naaste liefhebben. Dat is de essentie van het christen zijn. We staan hierin niet alleen en vormen een gemeenschap van gelovigen, die proberen om van iedereen te houden. Deze gemeenschap is de Kerk, die geleid wordt door de Heilige Geest met zijn wijsheid. Daarom kunnen we vertrouwen op het oordeel van de Kerk die ons leert welke geboden van het Oude Testament wel en welke niet voor ons van toepassing zijn.
Translation - English - A sacrifice out of love
Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets predominantly through offering himself up for humankind, out of love. From the moment that Jesus gave himself up to be ‘sacrificed’ on the Cross, we have been reconciled with God for ever. For that reason the Jewish laws about burnt offerings and sacrificial offerings, for instance, are no longer important for us. In the Old Testament Jews could gain atonement from God through these offerings. Jesus fulfilled all these sacrifices for all time. The same is true for a number of other laws. However the Ten Commandments, for example, are still as valid as when God gave them to Moses.
- The double commandment
The Bible must be read in its entirety. The New Testament throws new light on the Old Testament: it helps us to read the old texts in the way God meant them. Jesus gave us the most important commandment, which we call the double commandment. The first is: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength”. The second is: “you shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).
With the Old Testament to hand someone can defend the justice of exacting retribution, for instance (Deuteronomy 19:21), but Jesus teaches us to see that charitably forgiving someone has more merit. He sacrificed his life out of love. In this way love became the most important commandment for all mankind, even when you have the ‘right’ to retribution. That is why Jesus said “love your enemies” (Luke 6:27).
- Last word to the Church
Love God and your neighbours: that is the essence of being a Christian. In this, we do not stand alone, but rather form a community of believers, who try to love everyone. This community is the Church, which is led by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. For that reason we can trust the judgement of the Church, which teaches us which commands of the Old Testament are relevant to us, and which are not.
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Master's degree - University of East Anglia
Experience
Years of experience: 22. Registered at ProZ.com: May 2012.
To produce truly great work a translator needs to have:
A LOVE OF LANGUAGES
My interest in languages was sparked at school, and cemented by the three years I lived in the French-speaking part of Switzerland during my teens, where language lessons were supplemented by total immersion in the culture.
I gained a BA Joint Hons French and German at the University of Nottingham in 2002 (including one semester at the University of Mainz's Faculty of Applied Linguistics and Cultural Studies in Germersheim, Germany, and one semester at the University of Avignon, France) and achieved an MA in literary translation at the University of East Anglia in 2003.
During my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees I also enjoyed learning and studying Dutch and Occitan (Provençal).
A LOVE OF TRANSLATION
From my university days onwards I have done numerous small translations, in particular in the fields of music and religion.
I am a voracious reader, and enjoy creative writing, both of which inform my translation work. This is obviously the case in the field of literature and poetry, but equally true in all areas. I relish finding le mot juste.
A LOVE OF PRECISION
I have 18 months' experience at a translation company as an in-house translation checker (proofreader). The company dealt mainly with engineering and chemical patents; this extended the range of subjects I feel comfortable tackling, and honed my already excellent attention to detail.
A LOVE OF A JOB WELL DONE
I am available for work at any time, but would prefer deadlines of longer than one week. This enables me to give each and every job the time and consideration it deserves.
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