John Benjamins Publishing Company
Tradition and transgression
Abstract
This chapter interrogates W. H. Auden’s ambiguous relationships with translation and examines his opera translations. A virtuoso writer who reveled in language complexities, Auden transgressed both translational rules and public expectations: audiences, music and theatre professionals of his time were all dismayed by his libretti. Yet he was also guided by established traditions and, in particular, by pre-20th-century English literary canons. For educated people of his generation in Britain, references to the values of colonial England were shaken, but not dissolved. Hence, the tendency for Auden to use pastiche and satire as instruments for both criticism and preservation of tradition. Auden also pioneered collaborative translation, writing with his partner Chester Kallman. He thus preempted trends in translation which are key to 21st-century productions.
Abstract
This chapter interrogates W. H. Auden’s ambiguous relationships with translation and examines his opera translations. A virtuoso writer who reveled in language complexities, Auden transgressed both translational rules and public expectations: audiences, music and theatre professionals of his time were all dismayed by his libretti. Yet he was also guided by established traditions and, in particular, by pre-20th-century English literary canons. For educated people of his generation in Britain, references to the values of colonial England were shaken, but not dissolved. Hence, the tendency for Auden to use pastiche and satire as instruments for both criticism and preservation of tradition. Auden also pioneered collaborative translation, writing with his partner Chester Kallman. He thus preempted trends in translation which are key to 21st-century productions.
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
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
