I'm mad at the SF Opera for putting up what it call OperaVision, a screen, that uses many cameras, that allows those in the upper reaches of the balcony tothe performance warts and all, while ruining the enjoyment of the wondrous illusion, the greatest willing suspension of disbelief, for those of us in balcony circle. We are qickly brought to earth and have our illusions destroy by blinding lights and colors.
It is just another step in the inevitable march to dumb down the opera (and all else) for the MTV generation Kicking and screaming, I finally have made my peace with supertitles, although the translations are so often bad.

I just saw Samson & Delilah and her exquisite aria, "Mon coeur s'oeuvre a ta voix: was, as usual, translated as "My heart at thy sweet voice." I've clearly heard a singer sing "La Main: and it's translated as "my hands". I know that it is just as bad if not worse in Italian, which is so incredibly easy to rhyme.Any thoughts about why the simple mistranslations occur; why we are constantly dumbing dowm all theater, etc?

Linda,

You are right in that opera translations that, - because of this overwhelming need to rhyme, I guess, - take a great deal of liberty with the original words that often were much more concise and were composed for singing purpose. Opera is always about passion. A translation often seems like such passion diluted.

However below are the lyrics to "Mon coeur..." I can't find the word "la main".

Mon Coeur s'ouvre a ta voix
comme s'ouvrent les fleurs
aux baisers de l'aurore.
Mais o mon bien-aime,
pour mieux secher mes pleurs,
que ta voix parle encore.
Dis Moi qu'a Dalila tu reviens
pour jamais.
Redis a ma tendresse
Les serments d’autrefois,
Ces serments que j’aimais
Ah responds a ma tendresse
Verse-moi, verse moi l'ivresse.
Responds a ma tenfresse.
Dalila, Dalila, je t'aime.
Ainsi qu'on voit des bles les
epis onduler
sous la brise legere,
ainsi fremis mon Coeur,
pret a se consler.
A ta voix qui m'est chere.
La fleche est moins rapise a porter le trepas,
que ne l'est ton amante a voler
dans tes bras.

But in "real-life" French, "les mains" couldd indeed be translated as my hands. "Je me lave les mains - I wash my hands".

Lastly a little "equal-time mistranslation": For the longest time, the program notes at the Opéra Garnier here had this hilarious translation mentioning "Carmen the cigar-makeress" (and other choice bits I have forgotten) all over the place !

I suppose I'm one of the resident SlowTrav opera professionals.... (I sing and direct.) (If my friend Opera Darren sees this, maybe he'll comment.)

That's interesting, Linda re: the big screen thing that they're doing at SFO. I understand your feelings. I'm curious - regarding the position of the screen is displayed, is it difficult to avoid it and just look at the stage? If it really gets in the way, that sounds like a drag. That's what opera glasses are for - if you want to see a closeup, you can use them, right?

I'm afraid I come out mostly on the other side of the supertitle argument. I perfectly understand those who find them a bit intrusive. But, OTOH, many people (and not just those who are new to opera or don't know foreign languages) really appreciate having detailed translations. I can't begin to tell you how much they help when I'm seeing Wagner, for instance.

But please know that supertitle translations are not done with a rhyme scheme in mind. That's the point - they are not meant to be sung translations, so the translators have more liberty to translate closer to the actual meaning of the original. Now you might quibble with a translator's choices (I routinely do) but, for the most part, they are well-done (IMO) by professionals who really know their stuff.

But yes, there's a strong movement, lead by Peter Gelb at the Met quite successfully, to bring more people to opera and they're trying to do so many different ways. In the process, the producers are alienating some people, but... I suppose you just can't please everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by David:


I'm afraid I come out mostly on the other side of the supertitle argument. I perfectly understand those who find them a bit intrusive. But, OTOH, many people (and not just those who are new to opera or don't know foreign languages) really appreciate having detailed translations. I can't begin to tell you how much they help when I'm seeing Wagner, for instance.

Interesting discussion! I have been attending performances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for many years -- my parents began taking my sisters and me when we were quite young. They used to make us read the libretto (or part of it) before each performance. That was painful, but I came to adore opera as a listener and, later, amateur musician.

I was HORRIFIED when the Lyric introduced supertitles years ago. But I quickly came to appreciate them -- they can make all the difference in appreciating opera (especially Wagner, as David writes). One can ignore them, too.

And, most importantly for me, supertitles made my own daughter's introduction to opera that much easier.

Just saw this thread - David - for more information about the added screens - here is what the opera's website says. As we have a series this season where they are not being used I cannot speak to their impact, but there are at least two of them at the balcony level.

As for translations - I know from my experience as administrator for a local company that there are many reasons to provide a non-literal translation - everything from wanting to minimize the snickers that come from literal translations of inane texts - to needing to fit more text on a narrow strip of screen than can be done without some tweaking. But overall, I find a well done supertitle adds to the experience - it certainly did for me in last night's Tannhauser production.

Judy

Thanks for that, Judy. I can see how those screens might be annoying. OTOH, some people might like them -- who knows? I might like them if I saw them, but I think I probably wouldn't.

Re: supertitle translations, in my experience, actually, text is often condensed when they are in supertitles so that they will fit and also so that they plain just won't give you too much to read. I once interviewed with a company that did English subtitles for French films and it was very interesting to learn that the _shorter is better_ standard is used.