Sharing the magic of music - There is no other way but Gods - King Stephen I.

Todays music is very likely completely unknown to you, it is a song from the hungarian rock opera King Stephen the first so this is not only a music post but a quick history class as well. It is about a very important part of our history - when the hungarians became christians. King Stephen or as we call him, István, a király, was christian (roman catholic), his relative, Koppány was still a pagan although he was baptized (eastern orthodox) for political reasons and symphatised with the Byzantine Empire, (also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire) while the young king Stephen was an ally of the germans, he even married a bavarian princess, Giselle of Bavaria. We see the scene when Stephens father has died (it is actually the funeral) and of course they start to fight who is to become the new monarch. Things are about to change in Hungary and Stephen stands for the new thing, the new order where the eldest son inherits the throne after his fathers death while Koppány stands for the older order where the eldest and wisest man of the family inherited the throne after the last monarch died. It is not clear how but Koppány was relaed to Stephens father, Géza.
So, enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXirFZh8ag0
It's not the best quality but the recording is about 30 years old.
The Lady at 0:31 is Bajorországi Gizella aka Giselle of Bavaria, Stephens wife and the people dressed in purple are the priests who are with Stephen. I think their looks tell quite well, who is the young prince brought up to be the first catholic king of Hungary and who is the pagan leader. :)
Here are some extre information if you are interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnatic_seniority

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primogeniture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopp%C3%A1ny

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_I_of_Hungary


Here is my translation of the text (it is a word to word translation mostly so there may be some parts that do not make any sense in english, if something is not understandable, just ask, if is somehow funny, just tell me :) ):
STEPHEN:
My Lord, you called my father to you
My Lord, this sorrow is inmeasurable
The tomb is so silent, there are no words to speak
The heart is broken under this weight.

Now my father is here
his spirit is up with the stars
the land is abandoned, he was so wise
And I do not know yet what he knew

My Lord, you thought calling him to you is the right thing
The will that can make decisions like that is holy/ hallow???
And I, when I ask why this sudden,
there is silence, no one answers

But I, Stephen, your descendant,
I swear that you can count on me
This tomb is not the end, I guard your soul, (I'm not sure what it means, maybe that he keeps his fathers memory alive)
As long as I live, I will continue your work.

KOPPÁNY:
Not so fast Stephen, 
What do you think you are doing?
You are so week, every wind can carry you away (it is only a metapher to show that he is too young and weak to be king)
This land needs a strong man as a guardian
think it over and admit, Vajk, you are not the right one and be modest! (Vajk is the name Stephen had before he became a Christian)

According to Ancient Law Géza's throne is rightfully mine
Árpád's blood, hey!
According to Ancient Law, I'll be elected king
Even you have to respect the law of our ancestors!

CROWD:

||: Koppány, Koppány!
Koppány, Koppány!
Koppány, Koppány!
Koppány, Koppány! :|| ||: ... :||

STEPHEN:
Beware, Koppány, you took an oath to my father
to accept your place
you gave up on Ancient Law so I can be king
was it only cowardice?

KOPPÁNY:
Géza's dead
and his throne is rightfully mine
Árpád's people, hey!
Nobody can trample on our Ancestors Law 
10 000  armed men will elect me if needed

CROWD:

||: Koppány, Koppány!
Stephen, Stephen!
Koppány, Koppány!
Stephen, Stephen! :||

STEPHEN:
My Lord, you know the secrets of my soul
You know that I do not hunger for power
Help me now, My lord, help my people, 
help me protect this land

There is no other way but Gods, whatever it may bring
There is no stronger power in this world
I swear on my fathers grave, I'll be faithful to Him
and I won't back off fighting


The hungarian text for those who are interested. I put it into google translator out of curiosity and it made up some really... interesting things. It's because hungarian is so different from english and this text uses lots of metaphers and symbols and even ancient or at least words and phrases that are not often used.

ISTVÁN:
Uram, magadhoz szólítád az én atyám.
Uram, oly mérhetetlen bánat szállt reám.
A sír oly hallgatag, a szó is fennakad,
A szív majd megszakad e súly alatt.

Ím, hát itt fekszik előttem jó atyám.
Lelke fenn jár már a csillagok nyomán.
A föld most elhagyott, e népnek bölcse volt,
És én még nem tudom, mit ő tudott.

Uram, te jónak láttad elszólítani.
Szent az akarat, mely így tud dönteni.
És én, ha kérdezem, mért ily hirtelen,
Hallgat, s nem felel senki sem.

De én, István akit nemzettél atyám,
Én most esküszöm, hogy számíthatsz reám.
E sír el nem temet, én őrzöm lelkedet,
Míg élek, folytatom a művedet.

KOPPÁNY:
Megállj István!
Mondd csak, mit képzelsz magadról?!
Gyenge vagy még, elfúj minden szél.
Erős kézzel kell az országot vigyázni.
Szállj magadba, Vajk, és légy szerény!

Ősi joggal engem illet Géza trónja,
Árpád vére, hej!
Ősi joggal engem választ most az ország.
Őseink törvényét néked is tisztelned kell.

TÖMEG:
||: Koppány, Koppány!
Koppány, Koppány!
Koppány, Koppány!
Koppány, Koppány! :|| ||: ... :||

ISTVÁN:
Koppány, vigyázz! Esküt tettél jó atyámnak,
Elfogadtad akkor a helyed.
Ősi jogról lemondtál az én javamra,
Gyávaságból tettél volna így?

KOPPÁNY:
Géza meghalt és a trónja engem illet,
Árpád népe, hej!
Ősi törvényt sárba nem tiporhat senki.
Tízezer fegyveres választ meg engem, ha kell.

TÖMEG:
||: Koppány, Koppány!
István, István!
Koppány, Koppány!
István, István! :||

ISTVÁN:
Uram, te ismered a lelkem titkait,
Tudod, hogy engem hatalomvágy nem vakít.
Segíts most Istenem, segítsd meg nemzetem,
Segíts az országot megvédenem!

Nincs más út, csak az Isten útja, bármit hoz reánk.
E földön nála nincs nagyobb erő.
Atyám sírjára esküszöm hogy hozzá hű leszek,
És nem hátrálok meg a harc elől.

Sharing the magic of music - Bote in der nacht - Ships in the night

 Hi!
As you can see, I'm back from my trip to the scandinavian lands, maybe I'll even share some photos and memories later.
Todays song is a duett from one of my favourite musicals, Elisabeth, and it is called "Bote in der nacht" - literally Ships in the night. It is a duett sung by Elisabeth and her husband Franz Joseph, the later still beeing hopeful, while Sissi tries to make him believe that they do not suit, a beautiful and emotional moment, I think.
I have two translations for this song, the first is a word by word translation of the  original german lyrics the second is a word by word translation of the hungarian translation, hungarian version of the song - because I heard it first in hungarian. I try to do my best and stay as close to the original meaning as possible but english is not my mother tongue so there may be some phrases that sound odd to a nativ speaker. Just let me know and I'll try and explain and figure out how to formulate it better.
You can listen to one of the german versions here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjFjJ5VeU2s

I say one of the german versions because there were several  german productions of the show, in Vienna, in Essen, in Stuttgar and more. The actress playing and singing Sissi is the original Sissi, her name is Pia Douwes. She was the very first actress to take this role in the musical and reprised it several times.
Here is another german version with english subtitles that was NOT made by me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3qYG8wNAJM
Maya Hakvoort is singing Sissi here, another actress famous for this role but there are so many of them!

Here is my translation, based on the first german video:

Franz Joseph: You know why I’ve come?

Elisabeth: No but I have a suspicion.

Franz Joseph: Come home Sissi. We belong together. I still believe that. I love you And Love can, as they say, heal all wounds.

Elisabeth:        Love can do a lot but sometimes Love is not enough.

Belief is strong but sometimes belief itself is nothing but deception.

We wanted wonders but they did not happen

It’s time to finally admit it to ourselves:

We are like two ships in the night,

each has its own destination and its own cargo.

We meet on the sea and then it is hard to say goodbye

but we can’t choose what forces us to go on

(there might be a mistake, that’s why it is so different in the)

Franz Joseph:    You want everything but sometimes just a little is so much

Elisabeth:           Your dream is too small for me

Franz Joseph:    Be close together in the dark – isn’t that enough as a goal?

Elisabeth:           I don’t want to be your shadow

Together:           If you could see only once through my eyes

then you would no longer misunderstand me!

We are like two ships in the night,

each has its own destination and its own cargo.

We meet on the sea and then it is often hard to say goodbye

Why is it made so hard for us to be happy?

Elisabeth:           You and me, two boats in the night

Franz Joseph (at the same time): Understand me… I need you… I love you

Franz Joseph:    Why can’t you be with me?

Elisabeth:           each has its own destination and its own cargo

Franz Joseph (at the same time): Understand me… I need you… I love you

Franz Joseph:    Why are we alone?

Together:           We meet on the sea and are even more lonely than before

Why is it made so hard for us to be happy?

Franz Joseph: I love you

Elisabeth:           Understand, there are things that simply can’t be

The hungarian version can be found here(music only):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgn2DukAbik
 Janza Kata as Sissi - she was Jasmines hungarian singing voice in Aladdin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kKsD9CxKCA
 Vágó Bernadett as Sissi - she plays Belle in the hungarian musical version of Beauty and the beast and also voiced Anna from Frozen and Tiana from Princess and the frog.
I have a few more but either Franz Joseph or Sissi are sung by an actor or acress that can be heard in these two as well and I wanted to show as many different ones as possible :)

And here is my translation of the hungarian lyrics:

Franz Joseph: You know why I’ve come?

Elisabeth: No but I have a suspicion.

Franz Joseph: Come home Sissi. We belong together. I still believe that. I love you And Love can, as they say, heal all wounds.

Elisabeth:           There are feelings and strength in our hearts but there are things it can’t resolve

our faith is strong but it can’t disengage us

maybe we waited for a miracle but there is no reason to do so anymore

Even if we shared a path in the past it has already ended.

Like two galleys on the sea of the night                               (Like two galleys was later changed to Tired galleys)

but our fates are different now

you go that way, I go this way

The flood carried us close but fate parts us already

and there is no way out, no hope

Franz Joseph: If you aim too high, that is not even worth a little              (I guess he means if she wants too much she will never ever be satisfied)

Elisabeth: Maybe you are defeatist

Franz Joseph: To take care of each other, that should be the only goal

Elisabeth: How very primitive

Together:           Please try to see through my eyes once, then maybe we would understand each other

Like two galleys on the sea of the night                               (Like two galleys was later changed to Tired galleys)

but our fates are different now

you go that way, I go this way

The flood carried us a little closer but fate parts us already

Why has the light in us faded so much?

Elisabeth:           You and me two galleys on the sea of the night

Franz Joseph(at the same time): Don’t hurt me… Don’t leave me… Don’t cast me away

Franz Joseph: I would love you

Elisabeth:           but our fates are different now

you go that way, I go this way

Franz Joseph(at the same time): Don’t hurt me… Don’t leave me… Don’t cast me away

Franz Joseph:    Loneliness does not help

Together:           The flood carried us a little closer but fate parts us already

Why has the light in us faded so much?

Franz Joseph: Don’t cast me away

Elisabeth: Please, believe, what’s gone, is no more

 

And, for those, who are interested, here is the original german text, written by Michael Kunze

source: https://genius.com/Elisabeth-boote-in-der-nacht-lyrics

Franz-Joseph:
Du weißt, warum ich gekommen bin?
Elisabeth:
Nein. Aber ich ahne es
Franz-Joseph:
Komm heim, Sissi. Wir gehören zusammen. Ich glaube immer noch daran. Ich liebe dich. Und Liebe, sagt man, kann alle Wunden heilen
Elisabeth:
Liebe kann vieles, doch manchmal ist Liebe nicht genug
Glaube ist stark, doch manchmal ist Glaube Selbstbetrug
Wir wollten Wunder, doch sie sind nicht geschehn
Es wird Zeit, dass wir uns endlich eingestehn:
Wir sind wie zwei Boote in der Nacht
Jedes hat sein eig‘nes Ziel und seine eigene Fracht
Wir begegnen uns auf dem Meer, und dann fällt der Abschied uns schwer
Doch was uns treibt, liegt nicht in uns’rer Macht
Franz-Joseph:
Du möchtest alles, doch manchmal ist wenig schon sehr viel
Elisabeth:
Dein Traum ist mir zu klein
Franz-Joseph:
Sich nach zu sein im Dunkeln - genügt das nicht als Ziel?
Elisabeth:
Ich will nicht dein Schatten sein
Elisabeth & Franz-Joseph:
Könntest du einmal nur durch meine Augen sehn!
Dann würdest du mich nicht länger mißverstehn
Wir sind wie zwei Boote in der Nacht
Jedes hat sein eig’nes Ziel und seine eigene Fracht
Wir begegnen uns auf dem Meer, und oft fällt der Abschied uns schwer
Warum wird uns das Glück so schwer gemacht?
Elisabeth:
Du und ich, wir sind zwei Boote in der Nacht
Franz-Joseph (gleichzeitig):
Versteh‘ mich...
Ich brauch‘ dich...
Ich lieb‘ dich...
Kannst du nicht bei mir sein?
Elisabeth:
Jedes hat sein eig’nes Ziel und seine eigene Fracht
Franz-Joseph (gleichzeitig):
Versteh‘ mich...
Ich brauch‘ dich...
Ich lieb‘ dich...
Warum sind wir allein?
Elisabeth & Franz-Joseph:
Wir begegnen uns auf dem Meer und sind mehr allein als vorher
Warum wird uns das Glück so schwer gemacht?
Franz-Joseph:
Ich lieb‘ dich!
Elisabeth:
Begreif doch:
Was nicht sein kann, kann nicht sein