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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010Pronunciation of "the"
I think we all pronounce it with a schwa when it doesn't precede a vowel. But recently I heard a recording of Handel's /Israel in Egypt/ in which it was pronounced with a regular short e, as in "bet". Was that actually the pronunciation in the eighteenth century?  SignatureStan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... >I think we all pronounce it with a schwa when it doesn't precede a >vowel. But recently I heard a recording of Handel's /Israel in Egypt/ >in which it was pronounced with a regular short e, as in "bet". I don't think I've heard that piece for years. Looking at the libretto, I wonder whether you perhaps heard a non-rhotic "their". http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/israel.htm For instance a non-rhotic "their" in the following might sound like "the" with the "e" as in "bet": They loathed to drink of the river. He turned their waters into blood. >Was that actually the pronunciation in the eighteenth century? SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:30:51 +0000 from Peter Duncanson (BrE) <mail@peterduncanson.net>: > >I think we all pronounce it with a schwa when it doesn't precede a > >vowel. But recently I heard a recording of Handel's /Israel in Egypt/ [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > They loathed to drink of the river. He turned their waters into > blood. In this recording, the sixth word of that quote was pronounced with the same vowel as "bet". SignatureStan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... >Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:30:51 +0000 from Peter Duncanson (BrE) ><mail@peterduncanson.net>: [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >In this recording, the sixth word of that quote was pronounced with >the same vowel as "bet". Interesting. Perhaps it is a deliberately artificial pronunciation to distinguish "the" from the word "Thee" which is used frequently in the work. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >>Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:30:51 +0000 from Peter Duncanson (BrE) >><mail@peterduncanson.net>: [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >Perhaps it is a deliberately artificial pronunciation to distinguish >"the" from the word "Thee" which is used frequently in the work. But a schwa would be equally good for that purpose. I suspect it's more that singing a schwa can be quite difficult, especially on a longer note, and in order to stop it turning into a rather ugly sound like the "ur" in murder (non-rhotic), the singers may have been told to tip it over a bit towards the "bet" vowel. I can think of choir trainers who might recommend that sort of thing, but the audience is not supposed to notice. Katy > I think we all pronounce it with a schwa when it doesn't precede a > vowel. But recently I heard a recording of Handel's /Israel in Egypt/ > in which it was pronounced with a regular short e, as in "bet". > > Was that actually the pronunciation in the eighteenth century? We may need more data, e.g. name (and nationality) of conductors and singers. Handel's imperfect command of the English language pops up everywhere in his later work. Some conductors ignore this; others give special instructions. When setting a text, Handel may have wrongly assumed THE was always pronounced the same uniform way. (Because of their vowels, English and French are much more difficult to set to music than Italian or Latin. In the Slavic languages, clusters of consonants sometimes present problems not found in Italian.) SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:58:36 -0500 from Don Phillipson <e925 @SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca>: > > I think we all pronounce it with a schwa when it doesn't precede a > > vowel. But recently I heard a recording of Handel's /Israel in Egypt/ [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > We may need more data, e.g. name (and nationality) of conductors > and singers. Yes, I really should have provided that. Chamber Choir of Europe, Orchester der Deutschen Handel-Solisten, Anthony Bramall; Brilliant Classics number 93131 SignatureStan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
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