The Two Sisters / Das Klegende Lied

[jazzy_dave]

Peggy Seeger - The Two Sisters

This is one of those classic folk songs that Peggy Seeger recorded in London after fleeing America with Alan Lomax during the McCarthyism hysterical witch hunt of looking for so called “communists.”
Though collected in the Virginia mountains this song in one of many variations of a European song that in this case relates to how one sister murders the other, how a minstrel comes along and fashions an instrument out of her bones and hair, and of how, when played, the instrument tells the story of the murder. With a change of gender and of the instruments, it is the same story in which Gustav Mahler based his early cantata Das Klagende Lied.

Gustav Mahler - Das klagende Lied - Part 1: Waldmärchen

Das klagende Lied (Song of Lamentation) is a cantata by Gustav Mahler, composed between 1878 and 1880 and greatly revised over the next two decades. In its original form, Das klagende Lied is the earliest of his works to have survived (a fragment, the Piano Quartet movement in A minor, is believed to date from 1876).

Part I: Waldmärchen (Forest Legend)

A beautiful yet scornful queen decides to hold a contest, the winner of which will be awarded her hand in marriage. The knight who finds a red flower in the forest, she announces, will be judged the winner. Two brothers, in particular, one kind and chivalrous, the other wicked and blasphemous, venture into the thicket to find the elusive flower. The gallant brother quickly finds the flower, places it in his cap, and dozes off in the field. Coming upon this scene, the wayward brother draws his sword and kills his sibling, seizing the flower for himself.

Part II: Der Spielmann (The Minstrel)

A minstrel, wandering through the forest, stumbles across a bleached bone in the shade of a willow tree and carves it into a flute. The slain brother sings through the flute, telling the minstrel the details of his unfortunate death. The minstrel resolves to find the queen and inform her of what he has learned.

Part III: Hochzeitsstück (Wedding Piece)

On the same day, the minstrel is to arrive at the castle to divulge his discovery, a celebration in honour of the queen's marriage takes place. The murderer-knight, quiet and pale, reflects morbidly on his rash course of action. The minstrel arrives and plays the slain knight's bone-flute. The king-to-be confiscates the flute, but upon playing it himself is accused by his brother of ending his life early for an unjust reason. Pandemonium ensues: the queen faints, the partygoers flee, and the castle collapses.

So one folk tale with different interpretations.

ENJOY