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Article published In: Target
Vol. 9:2 (1997) ► pp.234–269

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Intercode Translation

Words and Music in Opera

 | SIGV The Hague & University of Innsbruck
Published online: 1 January 1997
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.9.2.03gor
Abstract
Opera is a synchronization of different media of artistic expression, with a dual emphasis on music and drama. Operatic scholarship has voiced different views on the fusion of verbal and musical discourse, the two extremes being logocentrism and musicocentrism. The interlingual translation of the verbal subtext is a complex enterprise subject to multiple constraints. By focusing on its intricacies in some detail (the anatomy of the human vocal apparatus, high/ low pitches, stress, prosodic and intonational patterns, rhyme, etc., together determining the singability of the libretto), I hope that the discussion will shed light on the manifold problems involved in opera translation. The theoretical remarks are exemplified in an analysis of selected passages from Das Rheingold, by Richard Wagner.
Résumé
L'opéra est une synchronisation de différents moyens d'expression artistique avec un double accent sur la musique et le drame. Les études scientifiques sur l'opéra ont exprimé différents points de vue sur la fusion du discours verbal et musical; les conceptions extrêmes ont été le logocentrisme et le musicocentrisme. La traduction interlinguale du subtexte verbal représente une tâche complexe soumise à des contraintes multiples. En mettant l'accent sur la complexité de cette tâche, en ce qui concerne les détails tels que l'anatomie del'appareil vocal humain, les tons hauts et bas, l'accent tonique, les structures de la prosodie et de l'intonation, la rime, etc., tout ce qui ensemble détermine la qualité "chantable " du livret, nous espérons par la présente discussion mettre en lumière la complexité des problèmes inhérente à la traduction en matière d'opéra. Pour illustrer et vérifier ces remarques nous prenons comme exemple d'analyse Das Rheingold, de Richard Wagner.
Article outline
  • Introductory Remarks
  • Words and Music
  • Intersemiotic Translation
  • Opera Translation
  • Richard Wagner
  • Wagner's Das Rheingold
  • Concluding Remarks
  • Notes
  • References
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