Apter Ronnie, Herman Mark. Translating for Singing

The theory, art, and craft of translating lyrics. — London: Bloomsbury, 2016. — xxvi + 282 p. — ISBN: 978-1-4725-7190-8 (Bloomsbury Advances in Translation)Translating for Singing discusses the art and craft of translating singable lyrics, a topic of interest in a wide range of fields, including translation, music, creative writing, cultural studies, performance studies, and semiotics. Previously, such translation has most often been discussed by music critics, many of whom had neither training nor experience in this area. Written by two internationally-known translators, the book focusses mainly on practical techniques for creating translations meant to be sung to pre-existing music, with suggested solutions to such linguistic problems as those associated with rhythm, syllable count, vocal burden, rhyme, repetition and sound. Translation theory and translations of lyrics for other purposes, such as surtitles, are also covered.
The book can serve as a primary text in courses on translating lyrics and as a reference and supplementary text for other courses and for professionals in the fields mentioned. Beyond academia, the book is of interest to professional translators and to librettists, singers, conductors, stage directors, and audience members.Translation and music
A topic of increasing interest
Prima la musica?
Singable translations
Musical and verbal constraints
Other factors
Multiple audiences to satisfy
A good example
Singable translations versus projected captions
Foreignization and domestication
Foreign words
Wardour street
Homophony
Important words
Rhyme
Repetition
Nonsense words
Slang
Jokes
Adaptation and re-translation
Adaptation
Re-translation
Dealing with difference
Conventions
Common knowledge
Historicity
Sensibility
Censorship and taboos
Forbidden music
Forbidden words
Forbidden ideas
Once upon which time?
Once upon a time
Once upon a specific time
Right now
Verbal delineation of character
Seventeenth-century French rustics
Ad libbing in dialect
Wagner’s Das Rheingold
Changing a speech pattern
Multiple translations
When the music is missing
Verbal and musical form
Rhythm
Rhyme and closure
Repetition
Dynamics and crests
When the composer ignores the verbal form
Music and meaning
Inherent and acquired meaning in music
The physical act of singing
Sound and sense
The right word on the right note