Walter Meyer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Richard Pennycuick wrote:
>
>> I didn't study Latin at school but nonetheless, it seems strange that
>> there are so many variants.
>
>Depending upon what country you studied it in and also (if you studied
>it in the US), whether it was in a public or parochial school.

Ha!  In England you can even sometimes tell which school someone went
to by the way he pronounces Latin.  (I say 'he' because the schools I
am thinking of are all male, or were at the time when Latin was taught
with differing pronounciations between them).

In Greek Oedipus would be 'Oidipous' (pronounced something like Oy-di-poos),
but presumably Stravinsky wanted a Latinized pronounciation.  The Latin
of the text is pretty odd in places, though.

Virginia Knight
Personal homepage: http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/~ggvhk/virginia.html
Blog (mostly about singing): http://edward.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/~cmvhk/blog/