'Operatic Translaboration: Collaborative Translation, Singability and Interpretation

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This interdisciplinary PHD focuses on the translation of operatic libretti for the purpose of professional training,singing and performance. It adopts an innovative approach to translation as a collaborative activity, harnessing itspotential in the lesser studied field of opera translation. 'Translaboration' moves away from the historical visionof the translator as a 'secondary author' working in isolation, towards the notion of multiple or joint"translationship" (Jansen and Wegener 2013, 5). This research will involve the collaborative translation, cocreation,and testing of operatic texts, working with experienced opera professionals (translators, dramaturgs,and pianists) as well as with a new generation of singers. It also aims to illuminate existing practice, sensitise theartists of tomorrow to the unchartered potential of collaborative translation and crucially, impact future trainingand professional activity in the field of opera.Translating operatic libretti is particularly challenging due to their plural nature and multiple purposes. Singersmay require a literal translation, a poetic version, a phonetic transcription, or a singable rewriting to beperformed in the vernacular. Whatever the purpose, the translator of operatic texts is essentially working withthree languages at any one point: the verbal component of the source text, its transposition into the targetlanguage, and the music that carries both. A translator of operatic libretti must therefore grasp their meaning,the stylistic choices made by librettists in the source language and their relationship to musical genres andtraditions. Additionally, translations intended for performance change during production processes and can beshaped by other agents and components, from stage direction to musical interpretation. Operatic librettitherefore make intriguing translation case studies and are particularly suitable for research into collaborativeforms of translation.While operatic translations are fascinating precisely because they are multiple and mobile, they also force us toconsider anew the borders and boundaries of translation. Translation scholars have rightly noted that operaticsource texts require consideration of "pitch contours, harmonic settings, rhythmical and metrical characteristics"(Newmark 2012). Singable translations also require consideration of the organs involved in the act of producingsound (lungs, diaphragm, larynx), and of the vocal technique that allows opera singers to interpret the words. Yetestablished practices of opera translation rarely bring the translator and the singer together (let alone directorsor other musicians), thus failing to establish a close collaboration between key agents in the process of(re)interpretation of the text. English translations commissioned for operas are not even regularly 'road tested'for singability and performability during their production process, let alone thoroughly workshopped to uncovermore professional and inclusive practices.