Opera and intercultural musicology as modes of translation
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Helen Julia Minors
Abstract
This chapter proposes that both opera and intercultural musicology can be understood as modes of translation, in which these modes are ways of delivering meaning within a multimodal multilayered context, using the media (the art form) within a genre (a style, a way of doing things). With reference to an operatic production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Sferisterio Macerata Opera Festival (2013), evidence of an intercultural artistic agenda is explored through reference to primary source interviews with the artistic director, the festival director and the surtitle translator. Translation is a necessary act for the spectator and production team in ensuring diversity and accessibility of opera across cultural borders. This translation process is multimodal. Intercultural musicology seeks to assess the interplay between the different cultural components of artistic works to explore this multimodal artistic translation.
Abstract
This chapter proposes that both opera and intercultural musicology can be understood as modes of translation, in which these modes are ways of delivering meaning within a multimodal multilayered context, using the media (the art form) within a genre (a style, a way of doing things). With reference to an operatic production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Sferisterio Macerata Opera Festival (2013), evidence of an intercultural artistic agenda is explored through reference to primary source interviews with the artistic director, the festival director and the surtitle translator. Translation is a necessary act for the spectator and production team in ensuring diversity and accessibility of opera across cultural borders. This translation process is multimodal. Intercultural musicology seeks to assess the interplay between the different cultural components of artistic works to explore this multimodal artistic translation.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Open perspectives
- Opera and intercultural musicology as modes of translation 13
- Surtitles and the multi-semiotic balance 35
- Tradition and transgression 53
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Across genres and media
- When Mei Lanfang encountered Fei Mu 75
- Fluid borders: From Carmen to The Car Man . Bourne’s ballet in the light of post-translation 95
- Aesthetics of translation 117
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Text and context
- Translations, adaptations or rewritings? 135
- The voice of the translator 159
- “Ordne die Reih’n” 175
- The migration of Madama Butterfly 195
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From text to stage
- The intertwined nature of music, language and culture in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle 219
- Translating Wagner’s Versmelodie 243
- Operetta in Turkey 271
-
Libretto translation revisited
- Two English translations of Jaroslav Kvapil’s Rusalka libretto 291
- Intertextuality in nineteenth-century Italian librettos: To translate or not to translate? 315
- Multilingual libretti across linguistic borders and translation modes 337
- About the contributors 359
- Index 365
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Open perspectives
- Opera and intercultural musicology as modes of translation 13
- Surtitles and the multi-semiotic balance 35
- Tradition and transgression 53
-
Across genres and media
- When Mei Lanfang encountered Fei Mu 75
- Fluid borders: From Carmen to The Car Man . Bourne’s ballet in the light of post-translation 95
- Aesthetics of translation 117
-
Text and context
- Translations, adaptations or rewritings? 135
- The voice of the translator 159
- “Ordne die Reih’n” 175
- The migration of Madama Butterfly 195
-
From text to stage
- The intertwined nature of music, language and culture in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle 219
- Translating Wagner’s Versmelodie 243
- Operetta in Turkey 271
-
Libretto translation revisited
- Two English translations of Jaroslav Kvapil’s Rusalka libretto 291
- Intertextuality in nineteenth-century Italian librettos: To translate or not to translate? 315
- Multilingual libretti across linguistic borders and translation modes 337
- About the contributors 359
- Index 365
