Janacek In English: Acceptable (or Preferable)?

[Guest]

I am a long-standing opponent of operas being performed in anything other than the original language of their libretti.

However, I find I can make an exception in the case of Janacek. Opera North's excellent production of Makropulous (which I saw last Thursday) was very effective - perfectly sung and decently translated (though the surtitles meant you didn't have to follow the singers' diction too closely). I think the distinction may be that Janacek wrote for singing ACTORS rather than singers.

I've also enjoyed a production of Berg's Wozzeck, that was given in English.

Singing romantic opera in English, though, is, I think, invariably disastrous: several people have commented on how close translated early Verdi sounds to Gilbert and Sullivan.

[Richard Tarleton]

I am a long-standing opponent of operas being performed in anything other than the original language of their libretti.

However, I find I can make an exception in the case of Janacek. Opera North's excellent production of Makropulous (which I saw last Thursday) was very effective - perfectly sung and decently translated (though the surtitles meant you didn't have to follow the singers' diction too closely). I think the distinction may be that Janacek wrote for singing ACTORS rather than singers.

.

With Janacek I think it is not unreasonable to be guided by the late Charles Mackerras. He recorded Janacek with largely Czech casts, but when performing him with (say) WNO, he insisted on English. I've heard Jenufa done both ways by WNO, on the English occasion cond. Mackerras, also Vixen in English with Mackerras. The English Jenufa (which I saw second) was much better, though this was partly due to the much-missed Susan Chilcott in the title role.

[Stanfordian]

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?

[Serial_Apologist]

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?

My first ever hearing of "The Diary of One Who Disappeared" was on a b/cast on the early 60s, in a powerful English verse translation, and, for all that I had read about the vitalness of Janacek's translocation of spoken dialect into musical line, an identification with the boy made one of the greatest of all the impacts at the time on my adolescently supercharged hormonal disposition.

[Belgrove]

I too saw Opera North's Makropolous Case on Thursday with friends who are fairly new to opera going. They were enthusiastic about it and found the unfolding of the fantastical tale engrossing. Their comment was that it was more a play that was set to music, and that it was in English helped them appreciate it. They much preferred this to more traditional operatic fare, enquiring what this type of opera is called - I could only venture "20th century". Insofar as my Czech is not, nor ever is likely to be, up to scratch, I'm happy to experience it in English. Indeed this is preferable to not experiencing it at all.

This was the first time I have seen the work in the theatre, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was, however, a little let down by the last act, which (musically) failed to attain the transcendent heights that are often claimed for it. Emilia Marty's acceptance of death comes rather too quickly, the psychology of her state not being explored satisfactorily, in my view.

Regarding Mandryka's comment about Wozzeck in English, I have accompanied operatic novices to see Lulu sung in both English and German, and they have stunned by it, not believing that opera can be so powerful. That is a testament to Berg's dramatic sensibility. So maybe if the work is dramatically sound and compelling, the language in which it is sung does not become an issue.

[Flosshilde]

I would agree with Belgrove's last sentence (which doesn't mean that I disagree with the poreceeding ones) with the addition of the importance of good acting. If all the singer does is stand around, or make a few stock gestures, it doesn't matter how dramatically compelling the work is.

[gurnemanz]

Although as a general principle I would prefer the words the composer set, I would also not be dogmatic about opera in English. I do not know Czech, so have no actual expertise, but have gained the impression that Janacek is something of a special case in the way that the music integrates with rhythms, pitch and stress patterns of indigenous speech to form an organic whole that no translation could hope to recreate.

[kernelbogey]

I am deeply fond of Janacek - the Sinfonietta, Glagolitic Mass, On an Overgrown Path - but the operas are a bit of a blind spot for me. I will have to acquire some on CD and listen again. I recently saw the Glyndebourne Vixen, which I greatly enjoyed, and hope to see it on tour next year, when it is likely to come to Woking.

Something about the vocal line which I just don't get. This thread inspires me to try again.

[Bryn]

Although as a general principle I would prefer the words the composer set, I would also not be dogmatic about opera in English. I do not know Czech, so have no actual expertise, but have gained the impression that Janacek is something of a special case in the way that the music integrates with rhythms, pitch and stress patterns of indigenous speech to form an organic whole that no translation could hope to recreate.

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.

[Serial_Apologist]

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.

Indeed, Bryn - as my own experience confirmed.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

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

[makropulos]

With Janacek I think it is not unreasonable to be guided by the late Charles Mackerras. He recorded Janacek with largely Czech casts, but when performing him with (say) WNO, he insisted on English. I've heard Jenufa done both ways by WNO, on the English occasion cond. Mackerras, also Vixen in English with Mackerras. The English Jenufa (which I saw second) was much better, though this was partly due to the much-missed Susan Chilcott in the title role.

Absolutely agree with you about this - and indeed with the pragmatic Charles Mackerras view - always intended to serve the music and the drama in the best way under particular circumstances.
Janacek works brilliantly in good English translations (the old SWO/ENO Katya, Makropulos and Broucek, for instance, and the Norman Tucker Vixen - and others besides).

[Vile Consort]

I had a ticket but decided not to go when I realised it was being sung in English. Then again, buying tickets for events then not going is becoming something of a habit.

[gurnemanz]

I had a ticket but decided not to go when I realised it was being sung in English. Then again, buying tickets for events then not going is becoming something of a habit.

Twice in my life, my wife and I have had tickets for a concert and forgotten to go. No. 1 was Theo Adam singing Winterreise in Leipzig about 30 years ago or more. I thought he mainly did opera and will never know what he made of it. The next one we forgot was with Robert King and his Consort at a church in Devises down here in Wilts. Shortly afterwards he was sent to prison for indecent assault.

[verismissimo]

My first ever hearing of "The Diary of One Who Disappeared" was on a b/cast on the early 60s, in a powerful English verse translation, and, for all that I had read about the vitalness of Janacek's translocation of spoken dialect into musical line, an identification with the boy made one of the greatest of all the impacts at the time on my adolescently supercharged hormonal disposition.

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