The theme for Battle on the Bay 2015 is "Normans," so I started poking around for a good verse translation of "The Song of Roland." My copy from college is nice, and even poetic, but the poetry is free verse-like.
The first one I came across was this new translation, which comes in "normal edition" and "performance edition" - with the text broken up by speaker, for multi-person staging. I looked at the Kindle previews and it seemed okay. But in the course of looking for some reviews of it, I came across a mention of the poetic edition that preceded it.
Dorothy Sayers, it turns out, before inventing Lord Peter Whimsey, had an advanced degree in Old French. And her verse translation of "The Song of Roland" is the Penguin Classics edition! Some reviewer dinged it for the archaic terms she uses on occasion. Now, I don't have any problem with "bliaut," but I admit that using "County" instead of "Count" (e.g., County Roland) threw me. But you know what? That's readily fixed by changing "County" back to "Count." It may throw off the syllable count of the line, but since there's no fixed meter, the audience will never know.
I've taken laisses 128 - 138 and edited them way down, to about 780 words. (My 10-min "Beowulf" is 830 words, so this should be a reasonable length. We'll see how it goes as I rehearse it.) "Roland" uses a lot of repetition as an emphasis device, so I cut a good deal of that out (but not all of it). I edited out other references that didn't seem critical to get the word count down.
This part of the text is toward the end of the great battle, when all but 60 knights of France have fallen. Roland asks Oliver how they can possibly inform Charlemagne of what's going on, and Oliver tells him off. (At the start of the battle, Oliver had suggested they signal the king, and now it's too late). Archbishop Turpin reconciles them, and Roland blows Oliphant three times. Each time, we cut away to Charlemagne, who hears it, but treacherous Ganelon downplays it. Finally, another advisor tells Ganelon to cut the crap, and Charlemagne's troop (in a really scenic set of laisses) turns around and heads back - but they will not come in time!
I am thinking harp accompaniment for this one - more appropriate for Norman era than the lyre. A vielle would be the best, but I don't do bowed strings. Maybe I'll try a tune to sing it to. Something to work on at Pennsic!
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