' HUGH MACDONALD argues the case for performing operas in translation'

[Bert Coules]

And he sometimes forgot the words and invented alternatives

A singer who regularly appeared in supporting roles at Covent Garden told me once that when his memory failed him in Russian operas he used to sing "Please pass another packet of Polo mints". And no-one ever noticed...

[Curalach]

In the early years of Scottish Opera, when the company was musically and administratively well run, when the singers included most of Chris Newman's roll-call and before it burdened itself with running a theatre and its own orchestra, it had a very workable policy on original language-v-English translation.
Basically, where humour was important to the story it was given in translation, otherwise it was given in the original. There were exceptions but it worked for me at the time.
This was before surtitles had been invented.

[Donnie Essen]

You might find yourself smiling (or if you're like me, possibly wincing) at some aspects of the production, but that, alas, is another matter. I'm still puzzling over the significance of the railway track in act three. Maybe, as a friend of mine suggested, it's the Holy Rail...

Hrm. I got the impression this was a well-regarded 'classic revival'. Maybe that was from ENO's own ads, though. I'll get by. I usually do, with these things. I recall the Royal Opera House's last time out of Parsifal, the production got mocked, particularly the crutch with a little wheel on it that Amfortas was moving about with. But my woman, she wept plenty. What pushed her over the edge? The singing, the conducting, the drama? No, the wheel. It was the wheel.

[Bert Coules]

Curalach, that's an interesting policy and one I didn't know about. Thanks for the info. As MacDonald says in the full article, seeing an opera with a witty text performed to an uncomprehending audience is a depressing experience and surtitles, if anything, make it worse, leading as they do to reactions either in advance of or dragging behind the actual delivery of the lines.

[Bert Coules]

Hrm. I got the impression this was a well-regarded 'classic revival'. Maybe that was from ENO's own ads, though.

It certainly is:

Nikolaus Lehnhoff's Parsifal was instantly acclaimed as one of the great Wagnerian stagings of our time.

That's, shall we say, a slight exaggeration.

[aeolium]

I'm strongly in favour of opera in the original language since the music has primacy, the composer has taken the trouble to set those words precisely to the music and altering them can almost have the same effect as changing the instrumentation in the score. On the other hand, I can see the advantages of opera in translation, especially in outreach or in touring opera productions where a higher proportion of the audience may be new to opera or experiencing that opera for the first time. And I am always impressed if I hear a translation which convinces on its own terms.

The best essay I have read about opera in translation - not an argument for or against - is that by Auden (in collaboration with Kallman) called "Translating opera libretti". They say "Since the music is so infinitely more important than the text, the translation must start with the premise that translation must demand no change of musical intervals or rhythms in order to fit it...The translator of a libretto, therefore, has to produce a version which is rhythmically identical, not with the verse prosody of the original as it would be spoken, but with the musical prosody as it is sung". They go on to show why this means that in some cases significant deviations from the meaning of the original are required in translation to avoid musical compromises. I do recommend this essay - which discusses translations for Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte and Die Sieben Todessünden - for its interesting insights into translation and the characteristics of different languages.

[sigolene euphemia]

For me, music came first. I started appreciating opera as a little kid by listening to the Texaco Met Broadcasts ...

Ahh Texaco. It was such a signature to me to listen to the MET with Texaco now the brothers of homebuilders...and PBS Mystery was Texaco as well.

Eudy, do you recall the glass bottle of Prell shampoo with the pearl, placed in it to show you it was thick, luxurious... do you know it was one of the few shampoos that foams when used in ocean salt water ? Harsh stuff.

well way off subject gotta dash - -
s.

ps - this is probably a good example of why FoR3 should consider not de - connecting our personal attic...this belongs there.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

My Goodall Mastersinger CDs arrived today. I did wonder whether I should find the English translation inferior and distracting. Not a bit of it. But I'm less happy with Puccini operas in English.

The late Isobel Baillie was once questioned about why she sang English translations, rather than the original language. She replied that she sang frequently in French, German and Italian, when in countries where they spoke these languages. A strong and logical argument.

[Bert Coules]

Alpensinfonie, I think it was Derek Hammond Stroud who once said in a talk to the Wagner Society that the ideal is to have an opera sung in its original language, by a speaker of that language, to an audience whose native language it is. I certainly wouldn't argue with that, nor with the point of view that anything else is inevitably a compromise. It's exactly where and how the compromises have to be made that fuels this seemingly everlasting discussion, of course. For me, an English singer performing in English to an English-speaking audience is the nearest one can get to the ideal, even if it means translating the text. Others disagree.

As Chris has already mentioned, Wagner was in favour of his works being given in the language of the audience "because only then can the proper impact and emotional involvement be achieved" (I'm quoting from memory, but that's close). Crucially, he was also perfectly willing to alter vocal lines, note values and rhythms if the new language was better served by so doing. I agree with aolieum's recommendation of that WH Auden essay, but Wagner and I differ with Mr Auden there. It's not often I find myself in such august company.

I'd also recommend Andrew Porter's very thoughtful and detailed article on translating the Ring. It's appeared in several places over the years, including as the introduction to the published version of his Ring text. His devotion to the original and his effort to preserve as much of its sound and shape as possible should serve as a shining example to all translators.

I'm delighted to hear that you're enjoying the Mastersingers.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Some years ago, I was discussing this point with a composer whom I was assisting with the orchestration of a vocal work, which had a performance scheduled in Holland. His top priority was to find a translator. He wasn't at all precious about the authenticity of the English text.

Andrew Porter's translation of the Ring is something I've yet to experience, but I'm tempted to go for the Goodall Ring, having listened to The Mastersingers Act I.

[Bert Coules]

Nice story. I think it's often the case that supporters of particular composers and their works are far more reluctant to embrace changes than the creators themselves.

Porter's Ring text isn't perfect - what is? - but it's an improvement on the sometimes rather archaic and stilted translation used for the Mastersingers, which was a minimal revamp of a version decades old. Take the plunge!

[RobertLeDiable]

Hugh Canning delivered a diatribe against opera in the original language the other day, when reviewing the ROH Hansel und Gretel. In that production, which the ROH markets as a family show, the main roles were taken by native English speakers and I think he was right to protest that it should have been in English. However, his argument, and the reasoning of others like Macdonald, that all opera in the UK should be sung in English clearly isn't practical. Not at Covent Garden anyway. How many non-English speaking international opera stars are going to learn their roles in English just for London? How many busy British, antipodean or North American 'big name' singers are going to learn their roles in English just for London?

You'd end up with a very much smaller pool of singing talent coming to this country and would have to accept that you would lose access to most of the leading international singers. If you're content for the ROH to give up its role as one of the top five international houses, fine - but that would be a pity, surely.

[RobertLeDiable]

And, by the way - that argument would logically have to be applied to other countries - with Germany, for example, demanding that all singers, including foreign ones, should be required to relearn their Verdi or Puccini roles in German when they sing in Berlin or Munich. Daft.

[Bert Coules]

However, his argument, and the reasoning of others like Macdonald, that all opera in the UK should be sung in English clearly isn't practical.

Agreed, and if he really is saying that then I think he's weakening a very strong argument, which is that opera in the vernacular doesn't have to be universal but should at least be available and ought to be regarded as the preferred approach for home-grown performances, rather than the automatic (or near-automatic) assumption that works should be presented in the original language.

It would be nice to think that Covent Garden is a model of musical drama rather than a showcase for international singers, but of course it isn't and, on the whole, can't be. And if what you want is the world's leading performers jetting in for what are sometimes hastily rehearsed singer-orientated productions, then fine. But it would be pleasant to see the Garden's language policy being the exception rather than the norm.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

German and French opera seems (to me) to make the transition to English rather better than Italian opera. I really don't like listening to Puccini in English.