Music-Linked Translation [MLT] and Mozart's Operas: Theoretical, Textual, and Practical Perspectives

The present article is concerned with several issues related to Music-Linked Translation [MLT]. In its first part, it surveys theoretical and methodological matters, formulating specific conditions for the operation of this specialised kind of translation, notably the characteristic hierarchies between its components. In its second part, 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, in its third part, 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, then, 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. This article is closely linked with the article by Marianne Tråvén in this volume, both articles sharing a number of observations and a Mozart/Da Ponte focus. I am gratefully indebted to Dr. Tråvén for her cooperation in earlier stages of preparing this article and for her musicological erudition and sophisticated insights, which contributed greatly to my article.