This article is concerned with issues related to music-linked translation (MLT). It surveys theoretical and methodological matters, formulating specific conditions for the operation of this specialized kind of translation, notably the characteristic hierarchies between its components. Also, it explores practical aspects of the subject, addressing its very raison d’être: how, when and why the need to engage in, or benefit from, MLT arises. Finally the article examines a small number of verbal / musical instances from the Mozart/Da Ponte corpus, observing them both in the original and vis-à-vis corresponding English MLT-specimens. This section analyses the enormous translational challenges posed by the subtleties and complexities of Mozart’s musical and dramatic genius, as manifest in the intricate interactions between his music on the one hand and specific moments in the verbal text and the dramatic action on the other hand, and shows the attempts of specific practitioners to meet these challenges.