Episode 50

Happy 2012! We're back from the holidays with German Diction. German actress Susanne Plassman discusses "Kennst du das Land" from Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre and bass Georg Zeppenfeld talks about König Heinrich's Aria from Lohengrin, "Mein Herr und Gott" (scroll down a little beyond halfway to find the aria). The basis for this episode came from bass Thorsten Grümbel, and at his suggestion, we focus on [ʃ], [ç] and [x], as well as when ZU- at the beginning of a word isn't stressed. If you haven't already heard Georg Zeppenfeld sing this role (because I posted it on the Facebook page several weeks ago), here is the YouTube link to the Bayreuth performance last summer--Mein Herr und Gott starts at 5:26. The entire production was broadcast on TV here in Europe, and it's posted on YouTube in it's entirety. There's also a little opera karaoke link, in case you would like to sing this aria yourself! I found some YouTube clips with 2 singers who connect Kennst du (Birgit Nilsson with John Wustman, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf with Gerald Moore), as well as some who separate Kennst/du (Christa Ludwig with Erik Werba, Juliane Banse with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin). The blog Study Hacks has a few postings on Multitasking. There is also an article called The Myth of Multitasking at The New Atlantis. The Diction Police is now on Twitter! Look for me at @dictionpolice. As always, please feel free to leave comments or suggestions here, at the Facebook page, now on Twitter :-) or directly at [email protected]