# Is the source material important to you?



## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Just curious if anyone else likes to read the source material for operas based on books / plays. I read Sir Walter Scott's _The Bride of Lammermoor_ before my trip to NY to see Lucia and it really did add a lot to my enjoyment, despite being substantially altered. It certainly helps with the romantic aspect of most operas, which tend to be pretty unrealisitic imo -- generally presented as love at first sight or "they fell in love just before the opera starts, trust us"; the love story is more fleshed out in, say, _La Dame aux Camelias_ than in La Traviata. I may be in the minority, though, in this preference. Just curious as to others opinions.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I did read L'Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut before digging Puccini's Manon Lescaut and I don't regret in general, but I must say that changes made in the story and characters in Puccini's opera are hard to tolerate after reading the original which is much diffrent in various ways.

Eugene Onegin... I never finished Pushkin's book but I knew a bit less than half of it before listening to opera by Tchaikovsky. The libretto based on narrative poem is obviously taken out of the blue mostly. I also did read Pushkin's short novels which served as source for Pique Dame. 

I didn't hear Ponchielli's I Lituani but I wanted to because it's source. I managed to get recording but failed with translated libretto and I still don't know the opera based on Konrad Wallenrod by, och, well - my avatar. 

Pelleas, Pelleas, too! And Mellisande. I didn't understand a **** from this play of Maeterlinck but I liked it a lot - the language, it's full of beautiful visions and to enjoy it in some extent you don't need to dig all this symbolic stuff. 

Verdi wrote opera based on Schiller's Rauber. This is one of my favourite plays ever, I simply adore and treasure this work of Schiller and I think Verdi defiled it with rather weak music. It's not even half as good as original play. 

Also the Shakepseare-based operas, but that's obvious... same with Faust.

Faust? Goethe! Werther! Och, yes, but Werther the opera is spoiled mercilessly, it's like peak of ruining work of literature by turning it into libretto. I didn't even care to listen to it. I know it sucks anyway.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Interesting question, Ian.

I'm currently reading a translation of Le Roi S'amuse










and it's fascinating to read the origins of Rigoletto. The only problem is I don't know enough French to understand Victor Hugo & I don't think the translation does it justice.

A very very kind bi-lingual friend has recently done his own translation of the first few pages which has made it so much easier to understand. I'm hoping he will eventually translate the whole play.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Interesting you should mention the translation. I'm planning a big post to gripe about translations in subtitles at some point -- they all too often are a straight gloss, forgoing meter and rhyme, and in my opinion that completely depreciates the impact of the music. A really great book that touches on a lot of the points that are important to me is Douglas Hofstadter's "Le Ton Beau de Marot", a lengthy work based around the challenges of translating a cute trifle of a French poem by an obscure 18th century poet ... and if that sounds boring, it's only because you may not be familiar with Douglas Hofstadter (of "Godel, Escher Bach" fame). It's really a fascinating book that in typical Hofstadter fashion wanders all over the map, always in an engaging manner. *Aramis*, it's interesting that you bring up Eugene Onegin as one of the chapters is dedicated to the translations of the poem, analyzing the different approaches (including Vladamir Nabokov's must-be-seen-to-be-believed effort) (aside: based on the numerous samples Hofstadter includes, I think (and he agrees) that James Falen's translation is the best, so if you've had trouble getting through Eugene Onegin it might be worth trying that version)
e: Ah, then again you'd probably prefer a Polish translation, so never mind


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I also enjoy reading books that have provided source material for operas. So far, I've read Scott's "_Bride of Lammermoor_," Goethe's "_Sorrows of Young Werther_," and Dumas' "_Lady of the Camellias_." It's interesting to see how much the story we know from the operas varies from the original material.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

sospiro said:


> Interesting question, Ian.
> 
> I'm currently reading a translation of Le Roi S'amuse
> 
> ...


It certainly does exist in English translation, no?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

There is no doubt in my opinion that going to the source material adds to the enjoyment.
It's just that opera is such an overwhelming part of my otherwise busy enough life that I often don't find the time.
Lately, I've been paradoxically resenting the fact that this website has had so many new and interesting threads. I've watched less opera the last few days because I've been spending a lot of time here. Then, on top of this, I need to add the reading of source material?
Sorry, no time left. I must rely on my readings (which were relatively extensive) from the time when I used to value literature more than opera. Now it's the other way around. 

Oh well, days should have 36 hours. Months should have 45 days. Years should have 536 days. That would make it easier.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> It certainly does exist in English translation, no?


Yes. Sorry I didn't make myself clear - that cover is of the English translation by Frederick Slous & it's not very good.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

I would say not. It is one thing to be inspired by a literary source, but quite another to put it through the mangle of a libretto. The only benefit of a literary source is that it might inspire folks to read the original which, IMO, is a good thing. A great source doesnt always lead to a great opera and a great opera doesnt always lead to a great source. For me, the two are completely independant so it doesn't really matter. It is the same with films. Some really great books have been absolutely murdered by film. 

One other point might be that the opera, no matter how extravagant, can't match the detail of a complete novel. Things have to be cut, for good or bad. One advantage of a literary source (esp. in contemporary times) is that one is familiar with the plot. I think that opera should be about the beauty and tone of the music. I don't worry about 'spoilers' like I do with a movie or a book. The source is, I suppose, one way of setting the tone of the music beforehand.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

It is for me.

I'm always curious about my favorite operas literary source (if any) and, conversely, I'm also very interested in having my preferred novels being adapted to the operatic stage.

Just to mention a funny case, among many, I love Boris Vian's _L'Écume des jours_, a novel published in 1947, after the Second World War, that tried to capture the mood of the times, using the absurd as a tool.

If someone is not familiar with the novel, Colin is a young and rich man living with his servant Nicolás and a grey mouse. He falls hopelessly in love with a girl, Chloé, and he married her. Nicolás also lend some money to his friend Chick, an impoverished engineer, so he can also marry his fiancée, Alise. During Colin's honeymoon, Chloé gets sick, there is a water lily growing in her lung.

Meanwhile, Chick is getting obsessed with the teachings of the philosopher Jean-Sol Partre, and he invest all the money lent by Colin in buying thousands of copies of Partre's works. Alise, understandably dissapointed by this course of events. try to convince Partre to stop publishing, but the scholar refuses her, and Alise murders him and seeks further revenge burning his books in all the booksellers of the city, and dies in the arson. Chick also meets his death in a clash with the police.

After Chloé's death, Colin ponders to take his own life, sitting beside the grey mouse...

Russian composer Edison Denisov, a big fan of Vian and french literature, wrote an opera in 1981 based on this material, to his own libretto (Colin and Chick are tenors, Chloé soprano and Alise mezzo). It was premiered in 1986, at Paris, and since it can be heard only a few times. So few, that I have been unable so far to listen to the whole piece, as there is no recording available.

However, there is a suite of some 30 minutes, by the name of _Colin et Chloé_, but sung in russian. We can hear this suite in the link below:

Colin et Chloé - Denisov

and also a brief fragment of the original, in french:

http://www.musiquecontemporaine.fr/record/oai:cdmc.asso.fr:aloes:0024593?language=fr


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Aramis said:


> Verdi wrote opera based on Schiller's Rauber. This is one of my favourite plays ever, I simply adore and treasure this work of Schiller and I think Verdi defiled it with rather weak music. It's not even half as good as original play.
> 
> Also the Shakepseare-based operas, but that's obvious...


I would say that Verdi's Otello is in its own way as great a work as Shakespeare's Othello (which was, after all, already one of the Bard's more operatic tragedies). As for Falstaff, there can't really be much doubt: it's significantly better than The Merry Wives of Windsor, one of Shakespeare's weaker comedies.


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