Hi Linda,
While we are not allowed to sing translations right
now, my college is doing a production of the Magic
Flute, in English- the 1951 Shirmer translation, which
to me isn't great, but I haven't seen any others. I
think our prof just didn't want us doing music we
might potentially encounter next semester. Thanks
for you comment though. I myself am I big fan of
translations. My first opera was a translated version
of Madame Butterfly and it was one of the biggest
influences in making me become a singer. In my
opinion music is music and as long as the text is
suitable to the original libretto, I say, TRANSLATE
AWAY!
--- Linda Fox <linda@f...> wrote:
> Trevor Allen wrote:
>
> > Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I
> have
> > already checked out some and they all seem like
> > excellent scenes. The only specification on them
> is
> > that they have to be from an English or American
> > opera. Next semester we will do scenes in foreign
> > languages, so this semester is confined to
> English.
>
> I think, though it is a good idea to get a study of
> English/American
> repertoire anyway, that it's a pity you're not
> allowed to include good
> translations as well. I wonder if this is the same
> in most colleges?
>
> They seem to train students that French, German,
> Italian, Russian opera
> must be sung in the original language or not at all.
> This is not going
> to prove to be the case if you follow a performing
> career unless it
> moves almost immediately into the international
> circuit - I would guess
> (though I might be wrong, and I'd love to hear if
> anyone has any figures
> to demonstrate otherwise) that there as as many
> professional and
> semi-pro companies outside that sphere that do at
> least some of their
> repertoire in translation, and certainly some of the
> leading opera
> composers such as Puccini and Wagner held strong
> views in favour of
> performance in the language of the audience.
>
> Poor translations are unsingable and make everyone
> sound like a
> foreigner; good ones can make you believe the music
> was written to fit
> those words, and such translations do exist.
> --
> Linda Fox
>
__________________________________________________
|
|  |
