Chapter published in:
Opera in Translation: Unity and diversity
Edited by Adriana Şerban and Kelly Kar Yue Chan
[Benjamins Translation Library 153] 2020
► pp. 13–33

Opera and intercultural musicology as modes of translation

| Kingston University, London, UK
This chapter proposes that both opera and intercultural musicology can be understood as modes of translation, in which these modes are ways of delivering meaning within a multimodal multilayered context, using the media (the art form) within a genre (a style, a way of doing things). With reference to an operatic production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Sferisterio Macerata Opera Festival (2013), evidence of an intercultural artistic agenda is explored through reference to primary source interviews with the artistic director, the festival director and the surtitle translator. Translation is a necessary act for the spectator and production team in ensuring diversity and accessibility of opera across cultural borders. This translation process is multimodal. Intercultural musicology seeks to assess the interplay between the different cultural components of artistic works to explore this multimodal artistic translation.
Keywords: interculturality, music, opera, multimodal translation, Shakespeare, Britten, Mendelssohn
Published online: 29 October 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.153.01min
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