Re: double time signature problem

[David Kastrup]

David Wright <address@hidden> writes:

> BTW does the German used here sound as archaic as Coverdale's
> translation (Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up,
> ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in)

Uh, The Messiah _was_ composed and performed in English.  The libretto
was written by Charles Jennens, and basically uses Bible passages from
the KJV version.

In this quote, I see "ye", 2nd person plural nominative (nowadays, the
accusative is used for everything).  That's all.  Just a tiny bit of
Early Modern English.  All the rest is quite current-day use.  It's
similar with other passages: it uses Early Modern English pronouns and
verb forms (like Shakespeare would) but is pretty standard fare
otherwise.

The problem is that the corresponding Lutheran German _is_ the same as
modern-day German apart from some spelling differences.  German hasn't
seen significant grammatical changes or simplifications since then.

> or does it resemble contemporary usage?

Both.

-- 
David Kastrup