
Song and Significance
Virtues and Vices of Vocal Translation
Dinda L. Gorlee(Editor)
Rodopi (Publisher)
Published on 1. January 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
311 pages
978-90-420-1687-3 (ISBN)
Description
Vocal translation is an old art, but the interpretive feeling, skill and craft have expanded into a relatively new area in translation studies. Vocal translation is the translation of the poetic discourse in the hybrid art of the musicopoetic (or poeticomusical) forms, shapes and skills. This symbiotic construct harmonizes together the conflicting roles of music and language in face-to-face singing performances. The artist sings in an accurate but free flow, but sung in a language different from the original lyrics.
Vocal translation is a living-together community of composer and poet and translator; they work together though separately in time and place, through the structure and meaning of the vocalized verbal language. The meaning of the songs is influenced by the elements of musical expression: melody, impulse, pitch, duration, loudness, timbre and dynamics, each of which is governed by its own rules and emotions. The movement of the lyrics is an essential and meaningful attribute of the musical rhythms, pauses, pitches, stresses and articulations of the entire songs. The presence of the original and translated song structures its sounds, senses and gestures to suggest semiotic meaningfulness.
In opera, folksong, hymn and art song, as well as in operetta, musical song and popular song, we have musical genres allied to a libretto with lyrical text. A libretto is a linguistic text which is a pre-existing work of art, but is subordinated to the musical text. The essays in Song and Significance: Virtues and Vices of Vocal Translation provide interpretive models for the juxtaposition of different orders of the singing sign-events in different languages, extending the meaning and range of the musical and literary concepts, and putting the mixed signs to a true-and-false test.
Vocal translation is a living-together community of composer and poet and translator; they work together though separately in time and place, through the structure and meaning of the vocalized verbal language. The meaning of the songs is influenced by the elements of musical expression: melody, impulse, pitch, duration, loudness, timbre and dynamics, each of which is governed by its own rules and emotions. The movement of the lyrics is an essential and meaningful attribute of the musical rhythms, pauses, pitches, stresses and articulations of the entire songs. The presence of the original and translated song structures its sounds, senses and gestures to suggest semiotic meaningfulness.
In opera, folksong, hymn and art song, as well as in operetta, musical song and popular song, we have musical genres allied to a libretto with lyrical text. A libretto is a linguistic text which is a pre-existing work of art, but is subordinated to the musical text. The essays in Song and Significance: Virtues and Vices of Vocal Translation provide interpretive models for the juxtaposition of different orders of the singing sign-events in different languages, extending the meaning and range of the musical and literary concepts, and putting the mixed signs to a true-and-false test.
Reviews / Votes
"...pleasantly presented [...] a very welcome publication..." - in: JoSTrans, Issue 06 (2006)"..this volume is an essential contribution to the up to this moment scarce bibliography available in this area of translation studies.." - in: Babel, Vol. 53:2 (2007), 190-95
"The book fills an important gap in translation studies and will be of great interest to translation students, professional translators, and scholars in the field of music translation." - in: The Translator, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2008)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Publishing group
Brill
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 150 mm
Weight
522 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-420-1687-3 (9789042016873)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Dinda L. GORLEE: Prelude and Acknowledgements
Dinda L. GORLEE: Singing on the Breath of God: Preface to Life and Growth of Translated Hymnody
Marianne TRAVEN: Musical Rhetoric - the Translator's Dilemma: A Case for Don Giovanni
Harai GOLOMB: Music-Linked Translation [MLT] and Mozart's Operas: Theoretical, Textual, and Practical Perspectives
Ronnie APTER and Mark HERMAN: A Semiotic Clash in Maria Stuarda: Music and Libretto versus the
Protestant Version of British History
Peter LOW: The Pentathlon Approach to Translating Songs
Myrdene ANDERSON: The Saami Yoik: Translating Hum, Chant, or/and Song
Klaus KAINDL: The Plurisemiotics of Pop Song Translation: Words, Music, Voice and Image
Johan FRANZON: Musical Comedy Translation: Fidelity and Format in the Scandinavian My Fair Lady
Notes on Contributors
Name Index
Subject Index
Dinda L. GORLEE: Singing on the Breath of God: Preface to Life and Growth of Translated Hymnody
Marianne TRAVEN: Musical Rhetoric - the Translator's Dilemma: A Case for Don Giovanni
Harai GOLOMB: Music-Linked Translation [MLT] and Mozart's Operas: Theoretical, Textual, and Practical Perspectives
Ronnie APTER and Mark HERMAN: A Semiotic Clash in Maria Stuarda: Music and Libretto versus the
Protestant Version of British History
Peter LOW: The Pentathlon Approach to Translating Songs
Myrdene ANDERSON: The Saami Yoik: Translating Hum, Chant, or/and Song
Klaus KAINDL: The Plurisemiotics of Pop Song Translation: Words, Music, Voice and Image
Johan FRANZON: Musical Comedy Translation: Fidelity and Format in the Scandinavian My Fair Lady
Notes on Contributors
Name Index
Subject Index