Lesson 39 - The Concert

Learn Hebrew Pod - Lesson No. 39

המלחין יוהאן ברהאמס

Just close your eyes and be transported to a whole different time and place . . . the flute becomes a nightingale, the cello a flowing brook, the tympani a crash of thunder.  

היא מנגנת בחליל

And somehow the composer knew exactly the right way to combine the thunderous and the delicate, the highest highs and the lowest lows, as skillfully as nature herself.

Liat and Eran were lucky enough to attend a concert just like that yesterday, as Jonathan gave them tickets to see the Israel Philharmonic perform Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony--the Pastoral Symphony.  And judging by all the humming going on around here--and by the newspaper’s review--everyone had a great time!

המלחין לודוויג ואן בטהובן

Eran and Liat humming out a tune from Beethoven's Sixth Symphony

Liat: ata yode-a… ha-ya li mamash kar…

Eran: ken, gam li… mamash chashavti she-holech laredet geshem…

Jonathan: hey Liat, hey Eran, ma ha-in-yanim?

Liat: hey Yonatan, ma shlomcha?

Eran: hey Yonatan, ma ha-mazzav?

Jonathan: Everything is great guys – ha-kol ne-hedar. So… did you have…

Liat: We had a great time, Jonathan!

Eran: ken! toda raba  al ha-kartisim Yonatan - thank you for the tickets Jonathan, ze ha-ya kol kach kef etmol - it was so much fun yesterday.

Liat: be-emet, haya mamash kef! You know Jonathan, I'm usually (sings a Jazz phrase from 'summertime') a big Jazz fan…

Eran: ve-ani - and I'm (sings a dance music phrase) into Israeli Dance Music…

Liat: But today I went and bought myself a present, a new CD - disk chadash.

Eran: And I actually called the Philharmonic Orchestra, ve hizmanti kartisim - and ordered tickets for their next performance. They are going to play Mahler’s Fourth Symphony.

Liat: So… those tickets you gave us yesterday really expanded our musical taste to include Classical Music.

Eran: toda Yonatan!

Liat: And look guys, I have today's newspaper, they have a wonderful review of the performance we saw yesterday… ach… that was such lovely music - muzika nifla-a.  It really made me feel like spending time in nature. The title of the Symphony, the Pastoral Symphony is perfect!

Eran: nachon? We could actually recognize et ha-zziporim ha-shonot - the different birds Beethoven was imitating using the woodwinds instruments.

Liat: And the thunder and lightning storm, that was so realistic, as Eran just said… we could almost feel the rain pouring…

Jonathan: Guys, I'm so happy you had a great time! Do you know? I actually played this symphony when I was a member of the Young Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra – ha-tizmoret ha-filharmonit ha-zze-ira… I used to play the Double bass - kontrabas!

…

In future lessons we will discuss more thoroughly the passive/active relationship of the different building blocks in Hebrew. For now let’s start by seeing how three verbs that use the same root letters carry different meanings and are conjugated differently according to the building blocks they belong to:

For the root letters:  Sh, M & R – shin, mem, ve-resh.

In Pa-al the verb is active – shamar - kept, guarded, safeguarded.

In Nif-al, the verb is in the passive – nishmar - was kept, was guarded or was safeguarded

In Pi-el, the verb is again active – shimmer - preserved, maintained.

Pi-el is an active building block but the same root in the Pa-al or the Pi-el results in another meaning

As in our example, Pi-el It is often used for intensifying the verb:

shamar, which is in Pa-al – kept.

shimmer, which is in Pi-el – preserved / maintained.

Let's check another word in Hebrew, often used in the Bible: shiber. This is the verb used in the next verse taken from Exodus 32; 19

"And he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them at the foot of the mountain"

Let's listen to the Hebrew version.

Exodus 32; 19 - Shmot, lamed bet pasuk tsha-esre:

"וַיַּרְא אֶת-הָעֵגֶל, וּמְחֹלֹת; וַיִּחַר-אַף מֹשֶׁה, וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ מִיָּדָו אֶת-הַלֻּחֹת, וַיְשַׁבֵּר אֹתָם, תַּחַת הָהָר"

משה אוחז את לוחות הברית