That's not what it means, you illiterate fools

[rsc]

I know I've ranted on this subject before, either here or elsewhere, but the local classical music station keeps reminding me about it.

If I could go back in time and be all-persuasive for one moment, I might be inclined to seek out Steven Sondheim and take him by the lapels and say "You will not call that show A Little Night Music!"

I don't know what Sondheim was thinking, but he's left an awful lot of people with the impression that "A Little Night Music" is an accurate, or at least appropriate, translation of Eine kleine Nachtmusik. It is not. The German word klein (with various inflections) means "small", so it can also be translated as "little", but ein(e) klein(e) cannot ever mean "a small amount of".

Comments

[qnetter]

I don't think Sondheim meant an amount, but a size.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what Sondheim meant, although I find it hard to interpret "a small night music" as a grammatical phrase in English. I'm only blaming him for encouraging the musical and linguistic illiteracy of large numbers of people, some of whom (classical radio announcers, for instance) should know better.

(Oops, that was me.)

[qnetter]

I've always thought it was meant as a small WORK of night music.

Re: (Oops, that was me.)

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, that is what the original German means (although Nachtmusik would be better translated as "serenade"). But "music" is not generally a count noun in English.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Mozart must be rolling in his grave at the horror of it.