The intertwined nature of music, language and culture in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle
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Gyöngyvér Bozsik
Abstract
Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle is characterized by a unique approach to the relationship between language and music: the latter endeavours to follow the natural flow of the Hungarian language, making the interpretation of its multi-layered meaning easier for the Hungarian audience but nearly incomprehensible for speakers of other languages. The nature of storytelling also follows ancient Hungarian traditions, rendering the translator’s task even more challenging.
The paper investigates a number of contextual and musical aspects of opera translation through a case study of five English translations of Bartók’s classic. It discusses the multiple layers where music, language and culture are intertwined in this specific genre, and calls attention to often neglected musical and linguistic aspects of opera translation.
Abstract
Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle is characterized by a unique approach to the relationship between language and music: the latter endeavours to follow the natural flow of the Hungarian language, making the interpretation of its multi-layered meaning easier for the Hungarian audience but nearly incomprehensible for speakers of other languages. The nature of storytelling also follows ancient Hungarian traditions, rendering the translator’s task even more challenging.
The paper investigates a number of contextual and musical aspects of opera translation through a case study of five English translations of Bartók’s classic. It discusses the multiple layers where music, language and culture are intertwined in this specific genre, and calls attention to often neglected musical and linguistic aspects of opera translation.
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
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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
-
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
