Cover not available
Part of
Opera in Translation: Unity and diversity
Edited by Adriana Şerban and Kelly Kar Yue Chan
[Benjamins Translation Library 153] 2020
► pp. 291–313

Two English translations of Jaroslav Kvapil’s Rusalka libretto

| Coventry University, UK

This study investigates two translations into English of Jaroslav Kvapil’s Rusalka libretto, set to music by Antonín Dvořák: the singing translation in verse by Daphne Rusbridge (1954) and Paula Kennedy’s (1998) prose translation. It identifies sources in mythologies and folk tales, and outlines notable characteristics of language and composition in the Czech libretto. Semantic and stylistic shifts are discussed, with the aim of highlighting the impact of constraints under which the translators had to work, rather than criticising discovered shifts as avoidable errors. A summary of the translation shifts found, and their implications for the reception in English of Kvapil’s libretto, includes both critical and favourable comments.

Keywords: Rusalka, Czech mythology, Jaroslav Kvapil, Antonín Dvořák, translation shift, opera translation, singing translation, singability
Article outline
  • 1.Genesis of the Rusalka libretto and of the opera
  • 2.English translations of Rusalka
  • 3.A comparison of two selected translations of the Rusalka libretto
  • 4.Semantic and stylistic shifts in the two translations
    • 4.1Act 1: The opening scene
    • 4.2The aria to the moon
    • 4.3Ježibaba, the forest witch
    • 4.4The axis of the drama and the dénouement
    • 4.5The final dénouement
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 October 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.153.14cor
References

Primary sources

Kvapil, Jaroslav
1954 Rusalka: A Lyrical Fairy Tale in Three Acts by Jaroslav Kvapil. Music: Antonín Dvořák. Trans. by Daphne Rusbridge. Prague: Artia.Google Scholar
1998 Rusalka: A Lyric Fairy Tale in Three Acts. Libretto. Trans. by Paula Kennedy. London: Decca Records.Google Scholar

Secondary sources

Borecký, Jaromír
1918 Jaroslav Kvapil. Prague: Družstvo Máje.Google Scholar
Catford, John C.
1965 A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cheek, Timothy
2009 Rusalka: A Performance Guide with Translations and Pronunciation. Lanham, Toronto, and Plymouth, UK: Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar
Dvořák, Antonín
1995 Korespondence a dokumenty. Kritické vydání. Sv. [Vol.] 4: Korespondence odeslaná 1896–1904. [Correspondence and Documents. Critical Edition. Volume 4: Correspondence Sent 1896–1904].Google Scholar
Dvořák, Antonín, and Jaroslav Kvapil
2005 Rusalka: Lyrical Fairytale in Three Acts. Trans. by Daphne Rusbridge. Prague: Národní divadlo.Google Scholar
2006 Rusalka: Lyrická pohádka o třech jednáních. Lyric Fairy Tale in Three Acts. Trans. by Daphne Rusbridge. Lyrisches Märchen in drei Akten. Trans. by Eberhard Schmidt. Text: Jaroslav Kvapil. Op. 114. Basel, London, New York, Prague: Bärenreiter.Google Scholar
2012 Rusalka: Opera in Three Acts. Arranged for chamber orchestra by Iain Farrington. In Czech, with an English trans. by Jeff Clarke. Eastbourne: Arts Editions.Google Scholar
Gabrielová, Jarmila
2009 “Dvořáks und Kvapils Rusalka und das Lebensgefühl des fin de siècle.” In Aspekte der Musik, Kunst und Religion zur Zeit der Tschechischen Moderne, ed. by Aleš Březina, 67–86. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Gorlée, Dinda L.
2005 Song and Significance: Virtues and Vices of Vocal Translation. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Grimm, Jacob
1883 Teutonic Mythology. Translated from the fourth edition with notes and appendix by James Steven Stallybrass. Volume 2. London: George Bell & Sons. Available at [URL], last accessed 23 March 2020.
Hallová, Markéta
1996 “Rusalka and Its Librettist, Jaroslav Kvapil: Some New Discoveries.” In Rethinking Dvořák: Views from Five Countries, ed. by David R. Beveridge, 107–113. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Ingarden, Roman
1973 The Cognition of the Literary Work of Art. Trans. by Ruth Ann Crowley, and Kenneth R. Olson. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Jandová, Milena
n.d. Rusalka (English surtitles – unpublished text). National Theatre, Prague.
Kaindl, Klaus
1995 Die Oper als Textgestalt: Perspektiven einer interdisziplinären Übersetzungswissenschaft [Opera as a Text Type: Prospects for Inter-disciplinary Translation Studies]. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar
Kvapil, Jaroslav
1911 “O vzniku Rusalky” [The Genesis of Rusalka]. Hudební revue 4: 428–430.Google Scholar
1946–1947 O čem vím. Sto kapitol o li dech a dějích z mého života [What I Know. A Hundred Chapters on People and Events in My Life]. Č. [No.] 1–2. Prague: Dr Václav Tomsa.Google Scholar
1948 “Rusalka: lyrická pohádka o třech dějstvích” [Rusalka: A Lyrical Fairy Tale in Three Acts]. In Divadlo Jaroslava Kvapila 1894–1906 [Drama of Jaroslav Kvapil 1894–1906] by Jaroslav Kvapil, 213–247. Prague: Dr Václav Tomsa.Google Scholar
1949 Rusalka: A Lyrical Fairy Tale in Three Acts by Jaroslav Kvapil. Music by Antonín Dvořák. Trans. by Christopher Hassall. London, BBC. Unpublished typescript kept in Cambridge University Library Manuscripts Collection: Christopher Hassall Papers, MS Add.8905 8/1.Google Scholar
[1982] 1995 Rusalka: Lyric Fairy Tale in Three Acts. Trans. by Rodney Blumer. Reprinted with revisions 1995 (Czech vocal score published by Orbis, Prague, 1952, with the English translation added by hand. Copy supplied by the English National Opera Music Library.)Google Scholar
1993 Rusalka: Lyric Fairy Tale in Three Acts. Libretto. Trans. and notes by Yveta Synek Graff. Music by Antonín Dvořák. Metropolitan Opera Libretto Series, ed. by Paul Gruber. New York: Metropolitan Opera Guild.Google Scholar
Levý, Jiří
2011 The Art of Translation. Trans. by Patrick Corness, ed. with a critical foreword by Zuzana Jettmarová. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Michálek, Emanuel
1976 “Jezinka” [Jezinka]. Naše řeč 59 (2), 103–104.Google Scholar
Munday, Jeremy
2001 Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Stich, Alexandr
1992 “Kvapilova Rusalka jako jazykový, slohový a literární fenomén” [Kvapil’s Rusalka as a Linguistic, Stylistic and Literary Phenomenon]. Estetika 29 (3): 11–35.Google Scholar
Tóth, Pavel
2008 Malý lexikon nadpřirozených bytostí českých [A Short Lexicon of Czech Supernatural Beings]. Kladno: Dílo.Google Scholar
Valšubová, Alena
1991 “Dvořákova pohádka” [Dvořák’s Fairy Tale]. In Antonín Dvořák, Rusalka, ed. by Helena Havlíková, 36–44. Prague: Národní divadlo.Google Scholar
Vinay, Jean-Paul, and Jean Darbelnet
1958 Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais: méthode de traduction [Comparative Stylistics of French and English: A Methodology of Translation]. Paris: Didier.Google Scholar
Vomáčka, Ivan
n.d. Rusalka. English surtitles – unpublished text. National Theatre, Prague.
Warner, Elizabeth
2002 Russian Myths. Austin: University of Texas Press and the British Museum Press.Google Scholar