John G. Deacon about surtitles in opera:

>One of the most interesting differences between cinema and opera is that
>of sync.  where the dubbing in cinema is always out of sync., in opera, it
>is the surtitle that is out of time with the text especially a joke, or
>whatever is happening on stage, resulting in laughter from the audience
>when the joke has been (or, worse, hasn't yet come).  Artists hate this.

Not a problem for me. I have no sense of humour ;-)

What's worse: A laugh "out of sync." or no laugh at all?

>Yes, it probably has produced an increased interest but I suggest it is
>a shallow one and - in so far as Covent Garden is concerned - this appears
>to have come from those for whom opera has become a yuppie type of social
>event.  A likely scenario would be where at about 5 pm in the afternoon a
>secretary is asked "Oh!  By the way, what am I seeing tonight?".  These
>people come totally unprepared for the opera whereas, pre-surtitle, even
>the dumbest of us had to look something up in a book or arrive early enough
>to read the programme.

I don't want to spend 12 hours preparing for an opera....  If it's a
really complex dialogue, the surtitles are indeed a big help.  It's easier
to catch the words if you have them printed as well.

>Luckily the opera houses that have a serious claim to being really
>*international* (Scala, Munich, Berlin, Bayreuth) do not (yet, I believe)
>have surtitles.

They are just conservative, of course.....

>The Met consigned them, very cleverly, to the backs of
>seats in such a way as not to disturb others either from the side or from
>above (it doesn't stop the Met audience frequently clapping in all the
>wrong places but that could be the subject of another mail!).  I expect
>that this seat-back facility is excellent but is a very costly solution to
>the disturbance of sur-titles.

I agree, and it's worth it.

>I concede that for Czech & Russian operas they are a help as the language
>gap is total.  I also agree, and a good example was given, that their use
>in *concert* ("L'Heure espagnole") would have been a success.

Do you wanna keep the surtitles or not? I seems like the audience is your
problem, not the surtitles....

>This subject can be discussed ad infinitum so please allow me simply to
>precis the views expressed *against* surtitles by ENO director David
>Pountney in the April issue of Opera:
>
>a) Opera is a synthesis of music, text, acton and image.  Surtitles
>removes one of these elements.

If you don't understand the text, you will surely lose the text element.  On
the other hand, I prefer operas in their original languages, because the
music is (should be!) closely related to the text phrases (in their orig.
language).  Surttitle is a good compromise.

>b) The surtitle grossly distorts the text it purports to convey.  It
>conveys sense but no rhyme/rhythm.

related to my remark above.....

>c) Opera text comes "hot" from the mouth of the singer.  The surtitle
>is delivered "cold".
>
>d) The "cold" delivery removes all sense of articulation of how a word
>is being used.

The surtitle is an option, you don't have to look. When the drama becomes
intense, I always forget to look at the surtitles....

>e) It is ironic that those operas where titles are most necessary (with
>a lot of text or the setting of a good play) are the ones where the
>surtitles disturb the most.

Why do they disturb more in those cases?

>A most crass example (of (d) above) for a most inappropriate surtitle might
>be the magnificent opening, in Philip II's bedchamber in Don Carlos, where,
>after the beautiful cello introduction, you hear enunciated as no surtitle
>can illustrate "Ella giammai m'amo ..." To read the surtitle "She never
>loved me..." is flat and cold and too ludicrous to contemplate.  Pountney's
>example was Noel Coward's "Englishmen detest a siesta" likely to be
>rendered as "Englishmen do not like afternoon naps".

Get a better translator then...

Actually, I think that surtitles should translate word by word if possible.
It's not the right place for a less correct but more poetic translation.
The poetry is on the stage...

Mikael
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