World Premiere of Chinese 'Eugene Onegin'
A Report on the Masterclass Opera Translation with Martin Pickard
Location: CETL room (ground floor, Armstrong Building)
Time/Date: 15th February 2011, 17:00 - 19:00
The workshop was centred around the question what makes a translation "singable". After an introduction by Martin Pickard who demonstrated some of the challenges involved in opera translation, the main example was an aria from 'Onegin' - Onegin's answer to Tatyana's letter. Staff and students from the School of Modern Languages and from Music collaborated on providing singable versions of the first six lines of the aria, to be compared with Martin Pickard's new translation. The different versions were performed live at the workshop by a student from music for the English versions and a student from the MA in Chinese Translation for the Chinese version.
(cf. a copyright-free score of the scene with the Russian text and a German translation)
ONEGIN.Act I, Scene 12
tr. Martin Pickard, 2011. Listen
singer: Hedd Thomas
piano: Martin Pickard
Andante non troppo
1 Were I a man like any other,
who dreamed of family and home;
2 were I inclined to be a father
and raise up children of my own,
3 then truly it would honour me
to claim you as my wife-to-be.
4 But it is simply not my nature
To seek a homely way of life,
5 And such a lovely, perfect creature
is far too good to be my wife.
6 Ah, yes! In conscience I declare it:
No wife of mine could ever bear it.
I’d love you, but each tedious day
Would see my passion die away.
The gods of love would scatter roses,
fresh as the vows that we had made.
But we would see the roses fade… Più mosso My dreams of youth I can’t recover,
Nor can my heart go back in time.
But I can love you as a brother,
Or with a love yet more sublime! Tempo I I beg you not to feel offended;
These words of mine are well-intended.
Love’s daydreams wither and decay. | An English version by Dr Valerie Pellatt of line 1-3 - listen
singer: Hedd Thomas
piano: Martin Pickard 1 Suppose I wanted to be married
And father of a fam'ly be,
2 If taking you as blushing bride
were e'en a possibility,
3 You'd be my uncontested goddess:
Our life together would be bliss. The Chinese version of line 4-6 - listen
singer: Chi-Ying (Lyn) Chen
piano: Martin Pickard 4: 談感情對我而言太重
婚姻于我亦是如此
5:雖然我知道你很愛我
但恐怕我承受不起
6:如果 我們在一起
你一定會後悔不已 |
About Martin Pickard: After reading Modern Languages at Cambridge, Martin Pickard began his musical career with posts as a conductor, repetiteur and chorus master in German opera houses. He joined Opera North in 1989. His singing translations of Russian opera arias are available from Edition Peters, and his translation of Alexander Raskatov’s opera A Dog’s Heart was performed by the English National Opera iin 2010. At the moment, he is working on a new English translation of two Tchaikovsky operas based on famous novels: the Queen of Spades and Onegin - the latter sent off to ENO on the weekend after the workshop!
Published: 19th February 2011