美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Let's Turkey Trot': Festive Music About Fowl

（单词翻译）

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BALLADE DES GROS DINDONS")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in French).

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

That's an excerpt² from a piece that in English translates to "Ballad¹ Of The Fat Turkeys." It's by the French composer Emmanuel Chabrier. And it is the perfect music to continue a longstanding Thanksgiving tradition - a conversation with classical music commentator³ Miles Hoffman. Now, in the past, Miles has talked with us about such important Thanksgiving musical subjects as plucking, drumsticks and leftovers⁴. This morning, though, we're going to get right to the center of the feast.

Good morning, Miles.

MILES HOFFMAN: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: All right. I assume those are French turkeys in the Chabrier song.

HOFFMAN: They are. But, more importantly, they're very bourgeois⁵ turkeys.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

HOFFMAN: They only care about walking around looking important and respectable, sticking their bellies⁶ out. It's actually a very funny song. And the text is by Edmond Rostand, the same man who wrote "Cyrano De Bergerac."

MARTIN: So some French turkeys - a little odd to start off our conversation about an American holiday - Thanksgiving. So what do you have for us that features American turkeys?

HOFFMAN: Let's go to 1909, Rachel - either in San Francisco or Chicago, depending on which sources you consult. The turkey trot⁷ was invented.

MARTIN: Oh.

HOFFMAN: It was danced to ragtime⁸ music. And the dance was considered so risque, so downright depraved, that the Vatican denounced it, which, of course, helped make it very, very popular.

MARTIN: This is all very fascinating because I always thought the turkey trot was just is the name of the 5K that my family runs on Thanksgiving morning.

HOFFMAN: (Laughter).

MARTIN: So despite concerns about moral corruption⁹, I think we should probably hear a turkey trot, right?

HOFFMAN: Well, yeah. Let's find out what happens. But we'll skip from 1909 all the way to 1980 and to a turkey trot by none other than Leonard Bernstein. This is the turkey trot movement from Bernstein's "Divertimento For Orchestra."

(SOUNDBITE OF LEONARD BERNSTEIN'S "DIVERTIMENTO FOR ORCHESTRA")

HOFFMAN: A slice of the turkey trot from Leonard Bernstein's "Divertimento For Orchestra."

MARTIN: That didn't feel depraved to me at all. It felt very sweet.

HOFFMAN: You don't feel corrupted¹⁰.

MARTIN: (Laughter) Not really. OK. So all corruption aside, what do we do about people who don't really dig turkey?

HOFFMAN: Well, I was thinking we could listen to something from Maurice Ravel's "Mother Goose" suite¹¹. Actually, we'd be cheating if we did that because Mother Goose herself doesn't even make an appearance in the music. She's the imaginary author of the "Mother Goose" tales, not a character in them.

MARTIN: OK. Any other musical geese come to mind?

HOFFMAN: Well, no, I'm afraid (laughter). But I've got a chicken. This is "The Hut On Fowl¹²'s Legs" from Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition."

(SOUNDBITE OF MODEST MUSSORGSKY'S "THE HUT ON FOWL'S LEGS")

HOFFMAN: That's "The Hut On Chicken Legs" (ph) - or fowl legs. The hut was the home of Baba Yaga, an evil witch in Russian folk tales. So the chicken legs are really just a kind of architectural accent.

MARTIN: Architectural accent, all right. So pick something that we can play to wrap up this fowl conversation. And don't take that personally.

HOFFMAN: I have one more turkey trot from none other than Little Eva - "Let's Turkey Trot."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET'S TURKEY TROT")

LITTLE EVA: (Singing) Come on, let's turkey trot. Let's get it while it's hot.

MARTIN: Oh, I love it.

HOFFMAN: Immortal¹³ poetry, I think.

MARTIN: Right, immortal poetry. Miles Hoffman is the violist of the American Chamber¹⁴ Players and the Distinguished¹⁵ Visiting Professor of Chamber Music at the Schwob School of Music in Columbus, Ga. Hey, Miles. Happy Thanksgiving.

HOFFMAN: You too. Have a wonderful holiday, Rachel.