Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
qui brode des motifs musicaux
English translation:
tapestry of musical motifs /or/ lacing musical motifs over /or/ lacework of...
Added to glossary by
Lara Barnett
Apr 16, 2016 11:48
8 yrs ago
French term
United States
Laudable Lady Linguist
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 3 more.
qui brode des motifs musicaux
French to English
Art/Literary
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
In An Autobiography
Contexte (description of singing that takes place in French Polynesian temples):
Ma grand-mère aimait le perepere, cette voix aïgue (et cet art) qui brode des motifs musicaux au-dessus du chœur.
Merci,
Barbara
Ma grand-mère aimait le perepere, cette voix aïgue (et cet art) qui brode des motifs musicaux au-dessus du chœur.
Merci,
Barbara
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 | tapestry of musical motifs /or/ lacing musical motifs over /or/ lacework of... |
Lara Barnett
|
| 3 +1 | that weaves musical motifs |
Tony M
|
| 3 | stitching (together) musical patterns |
John Marston
|
Change log
Apr 18, 2016 06:30: Lara Barnett Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
19 hrs
Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: Irish, Singaporean, UK, South African, British, Scottish) 
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
42
Selected
tapestry of musical motifs /or/ lacing musical motifs over /or/ lacework of...
I think "An embroidery of..." might sound a bit clumsy here, so maybe you could go for something related to needlecraft and handwork.:
"With its high-pitched vocal tapestry of musical motifs overlaying the choir/chorus, my grandmother loved the perepere."
or
"With that piercing voice lacing musical motifs over the chorus, my grandmother loved the perepere.""
or
"With its high-pitched vocal lacework of musical motifs overlaying the choir/chorus, my grandmother loved the perepere."
"With its high-pitched vocal tapestry of musical motifs overlaying the choir/chorus, my grandmother loved the perepere."
or
"With that piercing voice lacing musical motifs over the chorus, my grandmother loved the perepere.""
or
"With its high-pitched vocal lacework of musical motifs overlaying the choir/chorus, my grandmother loved the perepere."
Example sentence:
"The themes are part of a rich TAPESTRY OF MELODIC MOTIFS which come from many periods of Jewish history and are drawn from the various places in the world where Jews have made their home."
"...intense techno with a hint of melodies LACED THROUGH did not disappoint."
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+1
11 mins
that weaves musical motifs
I guess this is a kind of descant; in any event, I think 'weave' would sound more natural in EN than 'embroiders', even though the latter might better suggest the notion of ornamentation or embellishment.
Personally, I think you'd do well to get right away from any slavishly literal attempt to render the FR structure and try and re-word in a way that will be much more idiomatic in EN.
Personally, I think you'd do well to get right away from any slavishly literal attempt to render the FR structure and try and re-word in a way that will be much more idiomatic in EN.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
writeaway
: themes. patterns, motifs. It's up to the person with the text to decide. hard to judge because no one else's opinion really matters/then what's a motif?
2 hrs
|
|
Thanks, W/A! Quite — though I think I'd steer clear of 'theme', as to me that suggests too much a specific melody; but it really does need to be part of a whole.
|
|
| agree |
Carol Gullidge
: or for something more technically "musical", there's always "embellishment" or "ornamentation". Agree re being too literal, and also with W/A
4 hrs
|
|
Thanks, Carol! I'd argue that 'ornamentation' might perhaps be too specifically technical...
|
6 hrs
John Marston
United States
United States
Native in English
Specializes in field
United States
Conscientious FR>EN Translator
Native in: English (Variant: US)
Works in: French to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
7
stitching (together) musical patterns
Not wildly different from Tony's suggestion, but this is another grammatical formation anyway. I also feel like the slight harshness of "stitch" matches the description of "voix aigue".
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Tony M
: I think 'stitching' suggests too much the idea of 'joining together disparate bits' in a pragmatic way, rather than the joyous art of embroidery; and cf. 'stitching images together' in current technology.
2 hrs
|
Discussion