Bruce E. McKinney wrote:

>The score in fact gives two English translations of the prologue.  The
>one you are curious about is, I believe, a literal translation of the
>Hungarian.  The other is a more idiomatic, colloquial translation.

Thanks for the clarification.  I guess I should consider picking up this
recording, since it has been highly recommended (the musical part, I mean).
As a translator myself (though not of Hungarian), I am familiar with the
fact that a given source text can be translated many ways, and in case of
poetry like this you can get into subjective arguments as fierce as the
ones the often erupt about music.  In this case, I guess I strongly prefer
the literal translation; the other is so "colloquial" that it seems to me
bad English.

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]