From Shanghai

I’m sitting in Michael’s office in one of the administrative trailers on the site of Cirque du Soleil’s production of ”Quidam” in Shanghai, China.  The heavens opened up today with a tempestuous thunderstorm and the air is hot and humid.  It is 8:15 in the evening and I can hear music coming from the production in the “Big Top” a hundred yards away.

I have been here in Shanghai (my third visit to China) for ten days.  Although my sense of culture shock has been tempered by a growing familiarity with the city, I continue to reflect on the isolation I feel, especially when I’m “out and about” on the streets alone.  I have traveled on my own in many countries often and confidently.   It is the foreignness of the language, both to my ear and to my eye, that causes me unease.

I am studying Mandarin and have tried out my newfound vocabulary on several occasions during this trip, grateful that it seems that people can understand me.  And my ear is growing accustomed to hearing patterns and occasional phrases which I can interpret. 

The music of “Quidam” is less foreign to my ears, however, than the sounds of the language . . . I wonder if my Chinese friends would agree.

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In original or in translation — yes

One of the persistent questions about choral music is should it be performed in its original language or should it be translated into the local language? The logic for translating the music is so that the audience can better understand the text. The logic for not translating it is that the translation may be less singable (Italian to English), not felicitous, lose the cleverness of the original language or just awkward. In general, for service music, except for certain well-known forms (Masses, Glorias) translation into English can convey the sentiment to a larger fraction of the audience more clearly. For example, the sentiment of How lovely is thy dwelling place is much clearer to an English-speaking audience and much more a part of a religious service than is the German. As a concert piece, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem may be better done in German, although even there, the significance of the text is much better transferred to an English-speaking audience in a good English translation.

Masses and Glorias generally have such a limited range of words, that it is not difficult – a movement of “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison” is not difficult to comprehend. Also, I have seen some truly “creative” — for example the Mozart Regina Coeli was translated/reworded as Creator Father.

One can ask what the composer might want. In most cases we probably don’t know; however, in a few cases we do. Poulenc instructed that the Dialog of the Carmelites should be done in the local language. Similarly, it has been reported that when Benjamin Britten was once asked how the old English in Ceremony of Carols should be pronounced. He said, he wasn’t sure, probably how the audience could most easily understand it. (Of course, this latter case is a bit unusual in that the “Ceremony” was written onboard ship and so it wasn’t possible for him to research “correct” pronunciations).

Today, with opera supertitles, one can perform in the original language and still let the audience know what is being said. Of course, supertitles take practice to use correctly; for example, one can tend to fixate on the text of the supertitle and miss part of the drama on stage (how do you think I know).

But for music that is intended to be part of a worship experience, the determining factor must always be – what enhances the worshipful nature most effectively. In some cases, a translation does, in other cases the original text does. In my mind there is no right or wrong answer – possible better or worse – but not right or wrong. Stay tuned for the next blog; I may change my mind completely.

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