Description
One of the main works of the famous French writer George Sand, “The Musicians’ Guild”, is now finally available in German! A novel that provides fascinating insights into the world of French bagpipers and hurdy-gurdy players in the mid-19th century.
The world-famous writer George Sand spent a large part of her life in Nohant, a small town in Berry, France. Although most of her novels have been translated into German, one of her major works, of all things, the novel “Les Maîtres Sonneurs,” published in 1853, has not been available in German until now.
During research, the editor Christoph Pelgen found a German translation of “Die Musikanten-Zunft” by Claire von Glümer from 1856, which is extremely successful, knowledgeable and coherent and which we have reproduced unchanged in this edition. The charming and readable language of Glümers translation perfectly underlines the atmosphere and fascination of the novel.
The novel “The Musicians’ Guild” about childhood friends Joseph, Steffen and Brülette is set in rural Berry in the late 18th century. George Sand tells of everyday rural life in central France, of the code of honor of muleteers and lumberjacks, of rival musicians, and of her protagonists’ difficult search for happiness and their place in this world. The characters in the narrative, the landscape, the description of everyday life, and the detailed descriptions of music, dance festivals, travel, etc., take us back to an era that has been lost forever.
“People there still believe in all seriousness what is still sometimes believed here,
namely that you have to pledge your soul to the devil if you want to become a musician,
and that Satan will come one day, snatch the bagpipe out of the musician’s hands,
smashes it on his back and then forces him to do himself harm.”
The original title of this book, “The Musicians’ Guild”, was the inspiration for one of the most important festivals for traditional bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy music in central France in the 20th century: The “Rencontres internationales des luthiers et maîtres sonneurs”, held just a few kilometers from Nohant in St. Chartier since 1976 and developed into a Mecca for musicians, instrument makers and dancers. There the music and the old instruments were rediscovered and developed, about which George Sand reports so wonderfully in this novel.
A detailed appendix with explanations and notes completes this edition.
Foreword
I heard traditional dance music from France for the first time in 1987 during my civilian service in Mainz. The melancholy, solemn and rousing sounds of bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and accordion were new territory for me, but from then on they would accompany me my whole life.
Shortly afterwards I bought my first French bagpipes and went to a big festival in St. Chartier (Berry, central France) at the beginning of the 90s. This meeting took place for the first time in 1976, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the company. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the French writer George Sand, who spent a large part of her life near St. Chartier. One of her main works was the inspiration for the name of the festival: “Rencontres internationales de luthiers et maîtres sonneurs” (International Meeting of Instrument Makers and “maîtres sonneurs”). For 25 years I tried in vain to obtain a German translation of this novel. Many of George Sand’s works have been translated into German and are still available in bookshops, but “Les Maîtres Sonneurs” of all books was nowhere to be found. The original French edition was clearly too demanding for my rudimentary knowledge of school French.
In November 2017, during one of my regular searches for news about possible translations of “Maîtres Sonneurs”, I came across a small clue: shortly after the novel was published, there was apparently already a German version – “die Musikanten-Zunft” – in 1856! However, my search for an antiquarian edition of this was unsuccessful. A worldwide check of the copies listed in libraries yielded just three hits: in Chicago, New York and Strasbourg. However, these are not readily available to borrow. Fortunately, the Chicago edition was recently digitized and made available to the public online as a work in the public domain. I read this story about the rival bagpipers of George Sands’ homeland with great fascination and decided to take action myself so that this special novel could finally reach its German-speaking readers in book form after 155 years (a second edition of the translation was published in 1863).
Claire von Glümer’s translation is extremely successful and coherent, so that I didn’t think for a moment about going for a modern translation. George Sand set the plot of her novel in the late 18th century, so she wrote a “historical” novel. The characters in her story, the landscape, her depiction of everyday life and the detailed descriptions of dance festivals, travel etc. seem to belong to an era that has been lost forever.
This is where Glümer’s translation proves to be a stroke of luck: the old-fashioned language and forgotten words draw the reader straight into the action. It is a literary journey through time that awakens a deep longing for a region, a bygone society, for authenticity. George Sand’s heroes are so aptly and pointedly drawn that one listens spellbound to their narrator Étienne (Steffen) Depardieu, developing sympathy and dislike for individual characters.
After finishing the novel, I was overcome with a spontaneous wanderlust for the Berry. You simply have to go there to be close to the scene of the action, to wander through the woods, to follow the path of Steffen, Brülette and Hüriel to the woodcutters in the Bourbonnais.
The music within the novel, the bourrée-dancing peasants and woodcutters as well as the rituals of the bagpiper brotherhood, which has almost secret society characteristics, are so vividly described that this work must be credited with a significant share in the revival and development of current French “bal folk” music. As a multiplier, the festival in St. Chartier has made central French music known throughout Europe and beyond over a period of 32 years. The book “Les Maîtres Sonneurs” has become a cult novel on the scene thanks to the festival, even though it has probably been read by very few people (especially us Germans, Austrians and Swiss). A new edition was long overdue.
I have decided to use the translation from 1856 unchanged so as not to disturb the overall picture. Today’s readers will immediately notice supposedly incorrect spellings, which are simply due to the fact that the translation of the novel was produced before the standardization of German spelling. However, the initial surprise quickly gives way to a certain fascination. I have commented on the words and phrases that are no longer in use today, as well as place names and special features of Glümer’s translation, in the extensive notes section at the back of the book, directly after the novel.
Fortunately, I was able to reconstruct the missing text of the Chicago digital copy (Erster Theil, pp. 223 and 224; tear-off in the lower third of the page) using an old copy of the lost Marburg edition of 1863. The hurdy-gurdy maker Helmut Gotschy came into possession of it in the early 1970s and kindly made it available to me.
If you are curious about the history of the “Musikanten-Zunft” after reading the novel, there is a detailed afterword at the end of this book with information about the author, the translator and the editing process of the work.
I have been working on the preparation of the “Musicians’ Guild” since November 2017. I have read dozens of other novels by George Sand in order to get an overall picture of her oeuvre and to be able to place “Maîtres Sonneurs” within it. In addition, I have read various biographies about the author, articles in specialist books, recipes from her hand, the outstanding book by Kerstin Wiedemann “Zwischen Irritation und Faszination – George Sand und ihre deutsche Leserschaft im 19. Jahrhundert” (Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen, 2003)… It is now time to finish the work and hand the book over to a new readership.
From the outset, the only partner I considered for this project was the “Verlag der Spielleute” (a specialist publisher for drone music). I am very grateful to Michael Hofmann, a publisher and friend who shares my passion for traditional music, the St. Chartier Festival and the world of bagpipes like no other. Working together on the new release of “Musikanten-Zunft” was great fun!
I would also like to thank my friends Ulli Rüdiger, Christoph Egerding-Krüger, Sven Puchelt and Corinna Popp as well as my brother Dr. Franz Stephan Pelgen. Your support with translation questions, technical terms from the printing industry and book science, your proofreading help and your open ear have helped me a lot. Thank you! Special thanks are due to my wife Ilknur, who was my first listener and reader and who had my back so that I could fully immerse myself in this adventure “George Sand and the Lost Musicians’ Guild”.
Christoph Pelgen
Wendelsheim, May 23, 2018
Text on the back of the book
At last, one of George Sand’s major works is back in German! The only (successful and charming) translation to date, from 1856, has more than earned this new edition after more than 150 years.
The setting for the novel about childhood friends Joseph, Steffen, and Brülette is rural Berry in the late 18th century. George Sand tells of everyday rural life in central France, of the code of honor of muleteers and lumberjacks, of rival musicians, and of her protagonists’ difficult search for happiness and their place in this world.
A detailed appendix with explanations and notes completes this edition.
Author:in
Christoph Pelgen
Born. 1967 in Wiesbaden, grew up in Rheinhessen. First music lessons at the age of six (flute), followed by guitar and clarinet. Self-study of bagpipes, bombarde, mandolin…
Between community service and carpentry apprenticeship, 1989/90 in search of my own self, a common European culture and the music that fascinates me, on foot from the Southern Palatinate to Santiago de Compostela on the Way of St. James.
Then I moved to Tübingen, where I found my musical family in the group La Marmotte in the fall of 1990.
Independent musician since 1993, numerous CD productions, performances as a bagpipe player at the Staatstheater Stutt gart, with the medieval
rock band Adaro, with Estampie and L’ham de foc, bagpipe teacher, ensemble leader and band coach. Founder of the “Wurmlinger Zupfkapelle Hilaritas” and the 20s band “Die Croonies”, passionate music collector and ukulele enthusiast.
My declared aim is to find my own means of musical expression by studying traditional melodies from every region. Music as a feeling, not as a competition – that’s what moves me.
