# libretto in operas



## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

being new, why are some librettos different in operas. 2 examples. sorry if this is a really elementry question.




1.32 on the vid




and these 2
!:53 on this vid




and this one




thank you


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

ldiat said:


> being new, why are some librettos different in operas. 2 examples. sorry if this is a really elementry question.


Never apologise for what you don't know. How can we learn if we don't ask questions?

Anyway to your question; there are two things here, one is the problem of translating opera into a language in which it was not written and the other problem is translating the libretto into subtitles.

It's not an easy job to do either and if you ever get the chance to read the actual libretto in the original language you will see how difficult it is. It's more about interpretation rather than translation and no two versions will be the same.

One of the best examples of when surtitles got it wrong was in a performance of _Tosca_. (Maybe a myth!) Tosca, who is brunette, is jealous when she sees a painting of a beautiful blonde woman painted by artist boyfriend. She tells him to "Ma falle gli occhi neri!" In other words "Make her eyes dark!" but a surtitler had translated that as "Give her a black eye!"


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

sospiro said:


> Never apologise for what you don't know. How can we learn if we don't ask questions?
> 
> Anyway to your question; there are two things here, one is the problem of translating opera into a language in which it was not written and the other problem is translating the libretto into subtitles.
> 
> ...


Thank you! makes sense


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

ldiat said:


> being new, why are some librettos different in operas. 2 examples. sorry if this is a really elementry question.


For the first pair, English National Opera performed _Giulio Cesare_ in English as _Julius Caesar_, as they do for (almost) all of their productions. (Almost) every opera they produce is performed in English.

For the second one, that is The Metropolitan Opera's holiday presentation of _The Magic Flute_ intended to be better for children, which is both heavily cut and translated into English. They occasionally perform the opera as _Die Zauberflöte_, in a (relatively) uncut version in the original German (using otherwise the same production, sets, costumes, and direction for the singers).

Translation into the local language for performance used to be much more common; local opera singers would not have to learn to sing in many different languages! Sometimes the composer was involved; there are operas by composers such as Donizetti and Verdi that exist in different language variants, though frequently these were adaptations, with changed scenes, characterizations, etc (see _Lucia di lammermoor_ (Italian) vs _Lucie di lammermoor_ (French), and _Don Carlos_ (French) vs _Don Carlo_ (Italian)). This is often how it works for musical theater; _Les Misérables_ was originally written and performed in French; it was then translated (and heavily revised) into English for the West End and Broadway versions. It now exists in performing versions in many different languages, including Japanese, Hebrew, and Swedish.

Tastes have changed and in a more global world it is most common to see operas performed in their original language, though there are exceptions, as you show here.


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

mountmccabe said:


> For the first pair, English National Opera performed _Giulio Cesare_ in English as _Julius Caesar_, as they do for (almost) all of their productions. (Almost) every opera they produce is performed in English.
> 
> For the second one, that is The Metropolitan Opera's holiday presentation of _The Magic Flute_ intended to be better for children, which is both heavily cut and translated into English. They occasionally perform the opera as _Die Zauberflöte_, in a (relatively) uncut version in the original German (using otherwise the same production, sets, costumes, and direction for the singers).
> 
> ...


very interesting, thanks!


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