Found in Translation

Until the Fat Lady Sings in English

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The great German composer Richard Wagner once said that opera is a
Gesamtkunstwerk, “a total work of art.” In fact, opera is the plural form of
opus, which is Latin for “work.” So, in its truest sense, opera actually refers
not just to a single work, but a collection of them. Isn’t it ironic, then, that an
art form such as opera, which depends so heavily on storytelling, is primarily
performed in languages that aren’t understood by its audiences? Experienced
patrons of the opera know that you follow along by reading the text of the
opera in what is known as a libretto. Husband-and-wife-team Mark Herman
and Ronnie Apter work together to translate these libretti into English for
operas written in Italian, Russian, French, German, or Czech.
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It’s a daunting task according to Apter, a retired professor of literature from
Central Michigan University. She describes libretto translation as poetry
translation with several major differences: The words must be perfectly fitted
to the music, the rhythm of the language and the cadence must be matched to
the melody, and the translator must consider the diction level that the particular
character would use and the physical limitations of what a singer can actually
sing. At the same time, the translation must use modern concepts of translation
while reflecting the historical flavor of the original.
Herman and Apter have both studied voice. After translating a libretto
literally, they work on the lyrical translation of the libretto by singing it to each
other—Herman, the low voices; Apter, the high ones—to find out whether their
translations fit with the music. If a stressed syllable does not fall on a note that
is stressed, the text usually has to be rewritten. If the number of notes in a
certain part does not match the number of syllables of the translation, the
translated text has to be reworked or placed elsewhere where a better match
might be found.
If you’ve been to an opera recently, you probably heard it performed in its
original language, with supertitles containing a distilled version of the lyrics
above the stage or in back of the seat in front of you. Herman and Apter think
this practice takes away from the power of the opera itself, even more than
when you’re watching a movie with subtitles.
Many people think that opera, in order to be authentic, must be performed in
its original language, preferably Italian, French, or German. (There are, of
course, exceptions, such as Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha performed in
Sanskrit.) This belief reached absurd levels in the eighteenth century when
Georg Friedrich Händel, a German composer, wrote Italian operas for an
English-speaking audience in London. Views on the importance of sticking to
the original language evolved, and by the nineteenth century, most composers
assumed their operas would be translated. Unfortunately, as time went on,

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“snob appeal” trumped clear communication, and lyric translation fell out of
favor. So it was a major victory for Herman and Apter when Ricordi, a famed
Italian publisher of operas written by giants such as Verdi and Puccini,
commissioned them to translate a number of libretti not just into English for
the audience to understand, but into versions in English that could actually be
performed.
How do English-speaking singers feel about performing in a language that
they actually know? Theoretically, all opera singers are expected to have
mastered the languages in which they sing. They often haven’t, which can have
a detrimental effect on their credibility as they act out their roles. As a result,
most singers welcome the chance to sing in a language they understand. They
realize that acting is often not the strongest part of their repertoire when so
much work has been dedicated to training and maintaining their voices.
With translation efforts like Apter ’s and Herman’s, will opera ever become
an art form that is fully translated and accessible to the masses, like literature
or film? Probably not, Herman ventures. People have been debating whether to
translate operas for three hundred years. The prejudice against translated
operas, combined with the poor quality of much of what has been translated so
far, might prevent opera from ever being embraced widely by those who do
not understand the original languages.
So, if you’ve ever been to the opera and heard a mezzo soprano singing an
aria in Italian or a tenor brilliantly singing a refrain in German, ask yourself
how much more beautiful the passionate voices and grandiose music would
have been if you could have fully understood the story. Perhaps if it were
translated into more languages, opera would even be embraced by the masses
as, to quote Wagner again, a truly intelligible total work of art.