Seven Mozart Librettos: A Verse Translation
Poet and librettist McClatchy’s mission in translating the librettos for seven of Mozart’s magnificent operas (the “most enduring operas in the history of music”) was to “follow the original texts with both fidelity and imagination.” As McClatchy explains, Mozart didn’t write librettos, but he was “the dramatist of his operas,” revising each libretto to best express the inner life of his characters and make the language musical. From Idomeneo, Mozart’s “first triumph in the opera house,” to The Magic Flute, and including the work of Lorenzo Da Ponte, the poetic librettist for The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così Fan Tutte with whom Mozart worked closely, McClatchy’s translations are marvelously supple, lucid, and spirited. Not only does he break new ground by translating verse into verse, he is also attuned to the wit and profound loneliness and longing in Mozart, infusing each finely crafted line with emotion. Accompanied by scintillating and incisive commentary, each libretto is presented in both its original language and in English on facing pages, making for a unique and thrilling tour de force. --Donna Seaman