The Paramount Role of Translation in Modern Opera Productions

Aleksandra Ożarowska

doi:10.1515/texmat-2017-0014

Authors

Aleksandra Ożarowska University of Warsaw

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1515/texmat-2017-0014

Keywords:

opera, libretto, translation, surtitles, visibility

Abstract

Opera is undoubtedly a particularly high and traditional genre of art, but recently there have been numerous attempts at breaking this stereotype and presenting opera in a contemporary light. The most popular way of achieving this aim is either staging modernized opera productions, i.e. transferring their plot from their traditional setting to the here and now, or considerably changing their interpretation. Staging modernized productions involves, first of all, the issue of stage design, and an alteration in the traditional interpretation is mostly created by acting, but nowadays it is also the translation shown in the form of surtitles that creates the significance of operatic productions.

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Author Biography

Aleksandra Ożarowska, University of Warsaw

Aleksandra Ożarowska is a postgraduate student and a junior lecturer at the Department of Applied Linguistics in the Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw. She is the chairman of the students’ literary translation group - Book to World. Her scientific interests focus on contemporary Translation Studies and her main research field concerns the translation of operatic libretti. Apart from that, she works as a translator of opera surtitles and children’s literature. Her recent publications include: “Opera in Contemporary Light: the Challenges of Presenting and Translating Modernised Opera Productions” (2016) and “Translating Operatic Libretti as an Interdisciplinary Area of Translation Studies” (2017).

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