The Washington herald., 1907-10-27
GoH!

There's a world Of cIeverness in that
grace note The effect is startling, as
Frederick's hCrrided exclamation proves.
Imagine substituting any other word for
Cod here, If this example were the
only one this translator has given Of her
disregard Of Wagner's individuality, this
alone would suffice % condemn her.
God" is not only a perfectly proper
word. suited 20 ears polite, but u Is easy
20 sing. It is composed Of two able
bodied consonant sounds and "a vowel
sound that springs from out the very
keystone of the singers arch. II pos
sesses one advantage even over It's
cousin-German Cot In that its one
difficult sound. final d, is more easily
sung than final "t" tThe pressure of
the tongue-tip against the back OF the
teeth for d" although but momentary,
Yet is long enough for the hum OF tie
voice to catch IT, while the touEue-stroke
for final "t' is of shorter duration and
therefore offers less chance for resonance
Try God" and Cot alternately until
YOU see for yourself that this is true.
Now the word heaven" is composed
entirely Of disagreeables. "H' and ''y''
are both rough sounds, and the short
sound Of "e" is perhaps the least lovely
vowel-sound IN the whole language
Final n" is easy and beautiful TO sing
when and only when it comes on a tongue
Of sufficient length 10 allow the reson-
ance 10 ring through it, On notes as
short as eighths and SiXteeuthS lunless
in large) il is scarcely any better 90 sing
than none Of the nonIjquid consonants,
| ID. {, b, p
Still. TO exact Of Il translator knowl-
edge Of these finer subtleues Of or good,
singable AnClo-SaNou is perhaps asking
too much on the singers behalf Il IS
the layman IN the seats We are pleading
for. Give him English that will convey
C. his brain and heart the fiesh-and-blood
people Of tie foreign composer. creation.
Let the translator be poet by tempermant,
not merely poet by trade. And if he can
not give both rhyme and reason, let
rhyme be the one 10 go, and not reason
Better a translation in bald prose not
even blank verse, 50 only II be falthIul
TO the thing translated i'm its spirit, than
the most polished versiticauon that Ialls
in this regard.
But ambitious versifying can hardly
be urged in excuse Of such Preparations
as.
Even as tbs sword on earth has laid him,
The saints viii sure refuse % ard him
eco forth. g. forth thou knight aud1cicus,
Thy bIlde shall hear a tale Tcracl us
This sounds like "PinafOre.' but is
really an utterance Of splendid, dramatic
"Ortrud' tin this ill-ftting English garb).
And such jingles as these;
-'Iutonc g. lay Of pleasure.
4 loud triumphant measure
"Bcst are our happy shores.
For glory shall De oIrs
MAY cyy JOY attend thee.
And heav'n is blessings lend thee
are merely stock rhymes, found in operas
of the stock pattern. 1t is worse than
audacious To offer such as translations
of a perfectly original writer's lines.
The day for dead words passed with
the day Of dead music The man in the
seat may not be much Of a scholar, even
in his mother-tongue, but his intelligence
is to be treated on more fattering basis
than that which such a translation as
sumes.
So let us have opera in English. but lef
! the English be Of the best.