Lost in Translation
The other day I posted about Rufus Wainwright withdrawing his opera from the Met . While I was more concerned about the sad news, and how his addition to the repetoire could help make opera attractive to a younger generation, I got to thinking about the reason why this opera was withdrawn. It had to do with language. Wainwright had intended to first compose the opera in French and then translate it into English but soon realized that the words and music were too intertwined to be changed. The Met felt that"“presenting a new opera that is not in English at the Met, when it could be in English, is an immediate impediment to its potential success with audiences.” This got me thinking about presenting operas in English instead of their native language. Essayist H.L. Mencken once said opera in English was as "sensible as baseball in Italian" (not being a baseball fan myself, I can't help but think Italian might help improve the sport) but I wonder if it makes opera more ...