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Date: | Wed, 5 May 1999 12:12:54 -0400 |
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Eric Kisch in an interesting posting, has it contain the following passage:
>And now to opera supertitles...I think they are one of the great
>improvements in opera presentations in recent years and I would not be
>surprised if they account for a good part of the tremendous renewed
>interest in opera by a wide section of the general public, and especially
>among young(er) age groups, who are not flocking to symphony concerts or
>recitals in nearly the same way.
The supertitles I think are a mixed blessing. For my part, I'd be
perfectly content to remain without them provided the performers credit
the fact that they're not being understood by the audience, and therefore
should feel obliged to act broadly. That's needed in order to bring across
the message via miming. Supertitling would theoretically free performers
from the need to act like actors in the silent movies and allow them to
express themselves with greater subtlety and elegance. But most opera
librettos are not very subtle and in my view lend themselves quite well to
silent-movie thespianism. I accept this and continue to enjoy opera,
especially of the Italian variety, and partly because of the way the actors
have to prosciutto it up. With supertitles it's an innovation, without
them it's a genre.
Denis Fodor Internet:[log in to unmask]
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