Janacek In English: Acceptable (or Preferable)?

[Serial_Apologist]

That would have been Richard Lewis, O Serial One. It's an absolutely stunning performance, well recorded by BBC, in a superb translation by Bernard Keeffe. You can find it here on mpLIVE, from Lord Harewood's collection, together with excellent, much loved Tippett.

http://www.theclassicalshop.net/Deta...logueNumber=LM 7403

Amazing that you (or anyone for that matter) managed to find it - thanks a lot, verismissimo!

[JFLL]

That is surely where the skill of the translator comes in. A good English language version will follow as best it can the rhythms, pitch and stress patterns of the original text.

Yes, true, but what the translator can often not reproduce is the consonant or vowel quality of the original words, and I feel sure that the composer must have taken that into account when setting the text. The closer the receiving language is to the original, the less one notices the difference, and I suspect that's why Italian opera never sounds right in English, whereas German opera loses less. On the other hand, sometimes it doesn't seem to matter much – the German version of The Bartered Bride seems to me as enjoyable as the original (though not having perfect Czech I can't really judge.)

But another point is that nowadays, in an opera house with surtitles, one can have one's cake and eat it.

[verismissimo]

Amazing that you (or anyone for that matter) managed to find it - thanks a lot, verismissimo!

Not really. I did have something to do with it being released! Thanks anyway.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Many English-language opera productions I've attended sound as if they might as well be in Czech!

[Sydney Grew]

Isobel Baillie sang in English in Britain, German in Germany, French in France, etc. Sound sensible to me.

To me it simply confirms that the singing of words is not a truly musical activity (which is probably part of what Schönberg was getting at in 1908 when he wrote what he insisted was his second "quartette").

[gurnemanz]

Isobel Baillie sang in English in Britain, German in Germany, French in France, etc. Sound sensible to me.

The Beatles spent some time in Hamburg.

[Resurrection Man]

Some people get very snobby about singing opera in English. Being able to understand what is going on is always preferable to not knowing what is going on. With regards to Janacek's operas how many non-Czech singers out there are able to sing well in Czech?

I don't agree at all. Why is it being snobby if you happen to prefer an opera sung in the original language? I would argue that you don't necessarily need to understand what is going on. It is the totality of the sound that works for me. Wagner in English is an anathema.

[teamsaint]

To me it simply confirms that the singing of words is not a truly musical activity (which is probably part of what Schönberg was getting at in 1908 when he wrote what he insisted was his second "quartette").

It really makes you wonder why all those musicians bothered writing music with words attached. Often bothered me, that !!

Obviously there is some deep meaning of the word "music" that I have failed to grasp. Mind you, that's true of the X factor, wonder what Schoenberg would have made of that?

[gurnemanz]

I don't agree at all. Why is it being snobby if you happen to prefer an opera sung in the original language? I would argue that you don't necessarily need to understand what is going on. It is the totality of the sound that works for me. Wagner in English is an anathema.

I agree completely about the "totality" of the sound. Why would you not want to hear what the composer intended you to hear? There aren't that many operas in Czech in the standard repertoire. The sound of the music plus the original language is what makes it a special experience.

[amateur51]

I don't agree at all. Why is it being snobby if you happen to prefer an opera sung in the original language? I would argue that you don't necessarily need to understand what is going on. It is the totality of the sound that works for me. Wagner in English is an anathema.

Does this argue for performances sans scenery, sans costume then?

I know that I now prefer Wagner's Ring operas to be performed in this way, as in Opera North's current cycle. They cost less to put on as a result, you don't have to have scene changes so the piece moves along at a (relatively) cracking pace, and with surtitles I can concentrate on the sound and the meaning (which is important to me).There is also the added advantage of not being led astray/baffled by the design & direction

That is not to say that fully-staged performances can not be wonderful - of course they can

[JimD]

And less of what opera singers call 'acting'.

[amateur51]

And less of what opera singers call 'acting'.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't agree at all. Why is it being snobby if you happen to prefer an opera sung in the original language?

Which I do. Quite so; this opinion would only be "snobby" if someone holding it sneered/looked down on anyone who expressed a preference for opera in English - which I don't think anyone has done on this thread thus far.

[Bryn]

Which I do. Quite so; this opinion would only be "snobby" if someone holding it sneered/looked down on anyone who expressed a preference for opera in English - which I don't think anyone has done on this thread thus far.

If only Adès's The Tempest was sung in some language other then English. That way I might find it easier to avoid wincing at the crass doggerel of its libretto.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If only Adès's The Tempest was sung in some language other then English. That way I might find it easier to avoid wincing at the crass doggerel of its libretto.