Surtitles: a New Text Between Libretto, Score, Translation and Performance

Since 1980s opera companies regularly offer to their audience a translation of the sung text projected on a screen above the stage or on a small device for individual spectators (e.g. in the Milan Scala). In some opera houses is provided more than one translation (e.g. French and Dutch in Brussels) and usually also when sung in the nation's language. The surtitles add a new text to a genre that already consists in a series of simultaneous texts that call for various cognitive functions. Surtitles are usually based on the translation provided by a CD booklet, often reduced in length to adapt to the physical dimensions of the screen and the average reading rate of the audience. The audio-visual character of surtitles (as the concept is inspired by film rather than by opera theatre practice) determines a series of factors that influence the choices the surtitler has to make He is determined either by the libretto, the musical forms or the staging. The aim is to understand relatively quickly the essence of what is being sung in a particular moment, as a sort of "hearing aid" in function of the performance. Therefore, as a general rule there can be no contradiction between what is sung and the libretto (as it appears in the score) on one hand, on the other between the libretto and what happens on the stage. A philologist's research task could be to investigate to which point the surtitles are a libretto translation or a performance translation. Philology could also provide valuable insights and determine general rules on how to treat specific difficulties presented by opera singing, especially microstructural and macrostructural repetition of text in arias, and simultaneous production of text as in ensemble pieces and concertati, and finales. In recitative two rules are often enough to follow comfortably the continuous dramatic action (as in audio-visual media), while for the more closed musical forms it would be desirable to see the entire piece at a glance. As technology develops and more rules might become available, one could imagine having access to the entire aria text (or large parts of it), thus avoiding the danger of being distracted or confused by the changing surtitles and the various repetitions or pauses in the text, and giving spectators the choice when and what to read. Furthermore, this would allow to invest in the rendition or translation of the original poetic form, as philologists (and surtitlers) could heighten their efforts to bring to the light of the stage the art of libretto writing, that has been buried in darkness for decades. As a case study we will refer to the various approaches for performances of Così fan tutte at the Ghent Conservatory (Hogeschool Gent), the Vlaamse Opera (Antwerpen/Gent) and the Royal Opera La Monnaie (Brussels)