Challenges and Rewards of Libretto Adaptation

Abstract

During the interval of one of his recitals the Irish tenor John McCormack was told that W. B. Yeats was attending his performance. The singer was keen to meet the poet, but the latter was disappointed with last-minute changes in the programme, where popular ballads replaced some of the more highbrow art songs originally announced and is reported to have said quite abruptly that he did not enjoy the concert. Desperately trying to win the poet over, John Mc McCormack fumbled:¹

But what about my diction? People usually comment on the clarity of my words.’

‘Ah!’ is reported to have said Yeats, disappointed not to have heard poems set to music, ‘the clarity of the words, the damnable clarity of the words!

In this chapter, I am first going to discuss libretti in general, historically and linguistically. This is followed by a case study in which I was personally involved as a translator; the transfer from English to French of Benjamin Britten’s and Eric Crozier’s Albert Herring.