'Operatic Translaboration: Collaborative Translation, Singability and Interpretation

这个跨学科的博士专注于歌剧歌词的翻译，以专业培训，演唱和表演为目的。它采用了一种创新的方法，将翻译作为一种合作活动，在歌剧翻译研究较少的领域发挥其潜力。“翻译”从译者作为孤立工作的“次要作者”的历史观点转向了多重或联合“翻译”的概念（Jansen和Wegener 2013, 5）。这项研究将涉及歌剧文本的合作翻译、共同创作和测试，与经验丰富的歌剧专业人士（翻译、剧作家和钢琴家）以及新一代歌手合作。它还旨在阐明现有的实践，使未来的艺术家对合作翻译的未知潜力敏感，至关重要的是，影响歌剧领域未来的培训和专业活动。由于歌剧歌词的多样性和多用途性，翻译歌剧歌词尤其具有挑战性。歌手可能需要直译，诗歌版本，音标，或演唱重写在白话表演。无论目的是什么，歌剧文本的译者在任何时候都基本上是在使用三种语言：源文本的口头部分，它转换成目标语言的部分，以及承载这两种语言的音乐。因此，歌剧歌词的译者必须把握它们的意义、词作者在原语中所做的风格选择以及它们与音乐流派和传统的关系。此外，用于表演的翻译在制作过程中会发生变化，并且可以被其他代理和组件塑造，从舞台指导到音乐解释。因此，歌剧剧本是有趣的翻译案例研究，特别适合研究合作形式的翻译。虽然歌剧翻译之所以引人入胜，正是因为它们具有多样性和流动性，但它们也迫使我们重新思考翻译的边界和界限。翻译学者正确地指出，歌剧源文本需要考虑“音高轮廓、和声设置、节奏和韵律特征”（Newmark 2012）。适于演唱的翻译还需要考虑到参与发声的器官（肺、横膈膜、喉头），以及允许歌剧演唱者解释歌词的声乐技巧。然而，现有的歌剧翻译实践很少将译者和歌手（更不用说导演或其他音乐家）聚集在一起，因此未能在（重新）解释文本的过程中建立关键代理人之间的密切合作。歌剧的英语翻译在制作过程中甚至没有定期进行“道路测试”，以确定其可唱性和可表演性，更不用说彻底的研讨会了，以发现更专业和包容的做法。

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.