Ben Dreyer (n.d.)

Abstract This chapter contains a newly crafted English translation and International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcription of a poem by Ben Dreyer, “Little Bushveld House.” It was set to music by composer and organist S. le Roux Marais, whose compositional style favored that of the German Romantic Lied. Marais was a pioneer in the development of the Afrikaans art song. He was a prolific composer who wrote approximately 108 songs, of which about 57 were published. “Little Bushveld House” is the second song in Marais’s song cycle “Six Art Songs” for medium-high/high voice. Illuminating footnotes are provided to enhance the reader’s comprehension of the unique biodiversity of the Southern African landscape and multicultural distinctiveness of its people. Topics include nature and rural life in the Bushveld.