Donna Donna (דאַנאַ דאַנאַ "Dana Dana", also known as דאָס קעלבל "Dos Kelbl" — The Calf) is a Yiddish theater song about a calf being led to slaughter. The song's title is a variant on Adonai, a Jewish name for God.
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Dana Dana was written for the Aaron Zeitlin stage production Esterke[1] (1940–41) with music composed by Sholom Secunda. The lyrics, score, parts, and associated material are available online in the Yiddish Theater Digital Archives.[2] The lyric sheet is in typewritten Yiddish[3] and handwritten Yiddish lyrics also appear in the piano score.[4] The text underlay in the score and parts is otherwise romanized in a phonetic transcription oriented toward stage German.[5][6]
The orchestra plays the Dana Dana melody at several points in Esterke. The original is 2/4, in G minor for a duo of a man and a woman, choral with the orchestral accompaniment. Secunda wrote "Dana-" for the orchestral score and "Dana Dana" for the vocal scores. The Yiddish text was written with roman alphabet. He wrote for the choral score "andantino" (somewhat slowly) and "sempre staccato" (play staccato always). The melody of the introduction was also used at the end of the song. He wrote "piu mosso" (more rapidly) for the refrain and some passages that emphasize the winds. First, a woman (Secunda wrote "she") sings four bars and then the man (Secunda wrote "he") sings the next four. They sing together from the refrain. Although singing the third part of "Dana Dana" (="Dana Dana Dana Dana...") the man sometimes sings lower than the melody using disjunct motions. The melody is refrained. Then "he" sings the melody, and "she" sometimes sings "Dana", other times sings "Ah" with a high voice or technical passage. Secunda wrote "molto rit." (suddenly much more slowly) for the ending of the first verse. There are some difference between the original and the melody that are well known. Secunda wrote "ha ha ha" for the choral score with the broken chords.
Secunda translated Dana Dana into English (changing the vocalization of dana to dona), but this version failed to gain popularity. The lyrics were translated again in the mid-1950s by Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz, and the song became well known with their text. It became especially popular after being recorded by Joan Baez in 1960, Donovan in 1965 and Patty Duke in 1968.
Dana Dana has been translated into and recorded in many other languages including German, French, Japanese, Hebrew, Russian and Vietnamese. It has been sung by performers including Nechama Hendel, André Zweig, Chava Alberstein, Esther Ofarim, Theodore Bikel, Karsten Troyke, Sumi Jo, Claude François, and Hélène Rollès together with Dorothée.
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Original Yiddish1 אויפן פירל ליגט דאָס קעלבל, לאכט דער װינט און קאָרן, דאנא, דאנא, דאנא, דאנא, שרײַט דאָס קעלבל, יאָגט דער פּויער, לאכט דער װינט און קאָרן ...... בידנע קעלבער טוט מען בינדן, |
Phonetic romanization Oyfn firil ligt dos kelbil Lacht der vint in korn Dana, dana, dana, dana, Shreit dos kelbl zogt der poier Lacht der vint in korn ... Bidne kelber tut men bindn |
Translation by Secunda On a wagon bound and helpless The wind laughs in the cornfield Dona, dona, dona, dona, Now the calf is softly crying The wind laughs in the cornfield ... Calves are born and soon are slaughtered |
Translation by Kevess & Schwartz On a wagon bound for market How the winds are laughing Dona, dona, dona, dona, "Stop complaining," said the farmer, How the winds are laughing ... Calves are easily bound and slaughtered |
1 This is given as it appears on the lyric sheet cited in the introductory paragraph, including apparent misprints. The following phonetic transcription appears at several points in the score.
