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For the past twenty-five years, Ellis Finger, director of the Williams Center for the Arts, has sung with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. In recent years, however, Finger has not only sung in the choir but has undertaken the job of translating each Bach cantata the choir performs, so the audience may have an English translation to the German verse. Finger began this labor of love with St. John Passion and has been diligently translating the works of Bach ever since.
While the Bach Choir has previously used translations from the Hanssler edition of Bach’s Cantatas, Finger decided to undertake the retranslation project to bring Bach into contemporary English, making the work more accessible to the public.
Older versions have been strict syllable to syllable translations that completely focused on rhyme scheme. Finger has allowed his work to stray from that restrictive requirement. The goal of his project was to be “clear, direct, idiomatic, and poetic,” with clarity and accessibility as the main goals of the translations.
“We had a very enthusiastic response from audiences, especially from Dr. Michael Marissen, one of today’s most distinguished Bach scholars and a lecturer at the Bach Festival, who commented on the quality of Ellis’ translations,” says Bridget George, executive director of the Bach Choir Organization. “Everyone at the Bach Choir Organization has been extremely grateful for and impressed by Ellis’ new translations for our cantatas. It’s been a great addition to the programs for both the Bach Festival and the Bach at Noon cantata series.”
At this year’s Bach Festival, held in May at the Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, the choir performed seven cantatas, all of which were translated by Finger.
A portion of Cantata 76, Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, as previously translated by Hänssler Press, translates as: “Himself doth God leave not unproven! Both grace and nature to all mankind proclaim: This, all this, did, yea, God achieve so that the heavens waken and soul and body have their motion. God hath himself to you inclined and calls through heralds passing count: Rise, come ye to my feast of love!”
Finger’s more modern translation reads: “God does not leave himself without witness! Nature and mercy speak to all of humanity: God has indeed created the whole of this,
so that the heavens pulse and our spirits and bodies are animated. God himself has extended himself to you and calls out through countless envoys: arise, join me at my banquet of love!”
This transformation into modern diction is exactly what Finger set out to accomplish. The audience and the performers are no longer stumbling over awkward language or meaning of what had previously been read as antiquated verse.
“[I wanted to give an] eloquence that was appropriate to the poetic nature of the original [Bach cantata],” Finger says.
So far, he has translated twenty out of Bach’s two hundred cantatas. On average, he spends about three hours translating each cantata that is needed for the Bach festivals. He will have a busy year ahead, as the Bach Choir of Bethlehem will continue to perform the Bach at Noon Cantata Series on the second Tuesday of every month from 12:10 -1 p.m at the Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem.
In 2006, Finger received the Award for Excellence in Presenting the Performing Arts, which is given by North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA). His other honors include the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence, being named chair of Chamber Music America’s national conference in 2003, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of Chamber Music America, and earning “hub site” designation for Lafayette by the National Dance Project.