PERFORMING MUSICAL TEXTS IN A TARGET LANGUAGE: THE CASE OF SPAIN

Abstract

This paper presents the situation of opera translation in Spain, a country where this translation activity has hardly been practised and where, as a consequence, it has hardly been paid attention to by translation scholars. Unlike plays, which are practically always conveyed in the target language in Spain, operas are normally performed in their source language, a fact which does not seem to be due simply to the close relationship between text and music, as (both American and English) musicals have been translated into Spanish for performance. As a translation activity normally initiated by the target context, the translation of musical texts is influenced by the socio-cultural, historical and economic factors prevailing in it, such as the attitude of singers, opera choruses and opera societies towards sung translations, the tradition regarding the language for performance, the need to pander to opera audiences in order to make it cost-effective and the position of the text in the target polysystem. The translation of musical drama once more points up the vital role of the target receptor in the preliminary norms of any translation activity, as the different perception Spanish audiences have of operas (as a foreign product intended for an elite audience) and musicals (a foreign product for a popular audience) seems to determine the language chosen for performance. The paper therefore studies which musical texts have been translated for performance into Spanish, when and where, and how translation may have affected our national production of these texts.