greg@olivej.UUCP (05/10/84)
I find I always prefer opera in the original language, even if it's one that I have no knowledge of, provided either a libretto with translation or a fairly detailed (scene by scene) synopsis is available that I can read for the performance (or follow with a recording). The main reason is purely musical. Good opera composers, like writers of song repertoire, use the actual text as a component of the music itself. The particular sounds of the vowels and consonants of a language make up as essential a part of the timbre of a work as the choice of instruments for specific parts in the orchestra. Furthermore, the inflections of a language determine (or should if the composer has done his job properly) the rhythms of the vocal line. When you translate, you pull this apart. Even when you don't translate, there are times when you have trouble with this due to the singer's lack of mastery of the language. An example of this is the Boulez recording of Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande" wherein good, but not native French singers (George Shirley, Yvonne Minton, Donald McIntyre in particular - Soederstrom is an exception in this cast) are unable to attain rhythmic precision due to a slight, but in this case critical, hesitancy in handling the French text. Of course there are also the cases where radiant music has been written to a ridiculous text, such as Verdi's "Il Trovatore". In cases like this, it really is better to enjoy the music and the "sounds" of the language rather than knowing the literal meaning of each word. - Greg Paley