Talk:Stimmung

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[edit] English translation of title

i am german and i think a proper translation from "Stimmung" to english would me "Temper" because it has nothing to do with the voice it s a feeling in a situation or something like that... --User:80.171.10.129

Using those horrible automatic translators:

Stimmung translates to english as "Tendency", though Tendency translates back as "Tendenz". Tuning translates as "Abstimmen" while Abstimmen translates back as "Co-ordinate". Perhaps it is a play on words, meaning a tendency to stay in tune? Hyacinth 00:47, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

User:80.171.10.129: Rather than "temper" for Stimmung I would suggest "mood" as it is neutral. While "temper" used to be equally ambiguous it is now generally understood to be negative (someone can be "good-tempered" or "bad-tempered", but "temper" on its own would be "an angry mood" - Wut in German - which I do not think is what you mean). I don't believe however that this, on its own, is the correct translation. And I don't trust myself to say anything nice about machine translation...

The root Stimm- does indeed mean "voice" or "vote", but I think that it's misleading just to offer a translation of "die Stimme" here. As with any case where there is a one-word title with numerous different translations and meanings possible, it is difficult to pick a single main one as the English title.

Translating die Stimmung as "tuning" is better (das Stimmen = tuning, das Gestimmtsein = pitch), especially when dealing with just intonation but again on its own this doesn't seem quite right. Atmosphere or mood also seems to be important for this work with the reference to a "'magic' space" - I would suggest therefore that "In Tune" would be the best option as you can be in tune musically or be, figuratively, in tune with a place, etc.

There's still the question of "voice": while this is not the main meaning, the pun is clearly there in German, but I don't see how it could be carried through in an English title.

That turned out to be a bit longer than I intended, but hey... SteveW 12:55, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Possibly a moot point actually: a quick search on Stockhausen's website finds the title simply translated as 'Tuning' - number 52 in his list of works. My comment on "its title meaning tuning or in tune in German (Die Stimme = voice)" being misleading still stands, however. What do people think is the best way to rephrase this? SteveW 13:01, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I think it's worth pointing out, if only as part of a short sentence, that stimmung is a made-up word (as far as I can tell - I'll let a German-speaking Wikipedia editor do this). The article implies this, but does not state it explicitly. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 19:19, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. I have looked at the article's text, and I can just make out how you might read it that way. I suppose it is possible that the word was "made up" at some point in history (I would have to check the etymological volume of Duden to be sure), but it would have to have been well before the 15th century, since I can think of sources at least that far back using the word. As for present-day usage (well, OK, as of 1978), Cassel's has "Stimmung: f. (Mus.) tuning, key, pitch; (fig.) mood, humour, temper, disposition, sentiment, feeling; state or frame of mind, (Mil. etc.) morale; (Comm. etc.) tendency, tone; impression, atmosphere; (coll.) high spirits." I'll have a think about the wording, and see if I can come up with a better formulation.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 20:17, 10 December 2007 (UTC)