From this point on, the spit valves should be emptied with ever‐increasing emotion

[lillibet]

Courtesy of languagelog, David Pesetsky's "translation" of the performance instructions in Mahler's 1st Symphony.

I confess that my German is so rudimentary that I didn't really get it until "viola solo".

Comments

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Hilarious!

[ceo]

I neither read German nor have heard Mahler's 1st Symphony, and that's completely hilarious.

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

I've performed Mahler's 1st a couple of times, and I think that's a hoot!

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

I love Mahler's First, and I read enough German to get many of the jokes. Gemächlich, for instance, means "leisurely" or "comfortably," which he translates as "intense inner torment."