Masarykova univerzita v Brně Filozofická fakulta Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Magisterská diplomová práce 2006 Helena Kalábová Masaryk University in Brno Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Helena Kalábová Film vs. Stage Versions of Translations of Song Lyrics in Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar M.A. Major Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Simona Mazáčová 2006 2 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature 3 Acknowledgements: I would like to thank to Mgr. Simona Mazáčová for helping me to delineate the subject of my thesis, for providing me with some useful materials and for comments, advice and suggestions. I would equally like to thank to prof. PhDr. Miloš Štědroň, CSc. for recommendations of relevant and useful reference materials and for advice. 4 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................7 2. Musical theatre .......................................................................................................................8 2.1 Definition .............................................................................................................................8 2.2 History ..................................................................................................................................9 2.3 Basic Characteristics ..........................................................................................................10 2.4 Types of musicals ...............................................................................................................10 2.5 Hair ..................................................................................................................................... 13 2.6 Jesus Christ Superstar ........................................................................................................14 2.7 Musicals in the Czech lands .............................................................................................. 14 3. Requirements placed on translations of song lyrics in musicals...........................................17 3.1 Faithfulness and the dramatic function ..............................................................................18 3.2 Transparency and the cultural aspect of song lyrics ..........................................................20 3.3 Immediate comprehensibility .............................................................................................22 3.4 ‘Singability’ ............ ..........................................................................................................22 3.5 Accentuation and declamation ...........................................................................................23 3.6 Articulation and phrasing ...................................................................................................25 3.7 Interaction of the music and the text ..................................................................................26 3.8 Rhymes ...............................................................................................................................27 4. Differences between English and Czech ..............................................................................27 5. Some controversial questions concerning translations of song lyrics ..................................29 5.1 Translation or adaptation? ..................................................................................................29 5.2 Is alteration of the musical setting acceptable? ..................................................................29 5.3 The question of competence to translate song lyrics .........................................................31 5.4 The question of a ‘hierarchy’ of the requirements .............................................................31 5.5 To rhyme or not to rhyme? ................................................................................................34 6. The translation of song lyrics for subtitles ...........................................................................36 6.1 Temporal constraints .........................................................................................................37 6.2 Spatial and formal constraints ............................................................................................38 6.3 Translation of song lyrics for subtitles ...............................................................................39 7. Analysis of the translations of song lyrics of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar ....................41 5 7.1 Faithfulness and the dramatic function ..............................................................................42 7.2 Transparency (vernacular, register etc.) .............................................................................49 7.3 Immediate comprehensibility and singability ....................................................................52 7.4 Declamation and phrasing ..................................................................................................53 7.5 Rhythm/Metre ....................................................................................................................59 7.6 Rhymes ...............................................................................................................................62 7.7 Interface of the music and the text .....................................................................................63 8. Analysis of the subtitles in Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar ..............................................68 8.1 Faithfulness and the dramatic function ..............................................................................68 8.2 Rhymes ..............................................................................................................................71 8.3 Transparency ......................................................................................................................73 8.4 Immediate comprehensibility and rhythm/metre ...............................................................74 9. Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................76 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 78 Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 81 6 1. Introduction As subject for my thesis I have chosen the translations of song lyrics in musicals for stage performance on the one hand and subtitles on the other hand. Although there are a number of musicals, which have recently been translated for stage and film versions and which thus represent sufficient material to be analysed (e.g. Cats , My Fair Lady , and Chicago ) I have finally (mainly for practical reasons) decided to focus on Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar . The translations of song lyrics in musicals for films and musical performances represent a unique material – multiple translations of the same original text serve different purposes and are at the same time obliged to conform to a number of external requirements. In my thesis I will therefore analyse and compare the translations for films and stage performances and I will try to determine in what way(s) the purpose of translation affects the translations and to what extent and in what aspects the translations differ. Since most of the translations of musicals mentioned above were created within the last decade (after the contemporary musicals from the West ‘rocked’ the Czech cultural scene), translations of song lyrics in musicals have not yet been paid attention to from the theoretical point of view. As there is no translation theory which would deliberately focus on song lyric translations, I am obliged to seek reference in general works on theory of translation and other reference material (especially encyclopaedias and the internet) and to attempt to find those areas which could be applicable to the translation of song lyrics. Translations of song lyrics, indeed, represent a specific, complex, and somewhat peculiar area of translation. The context of translation of songs lyrics in musicals is not only literary/semantic, but also musical (the song lyrics must be technically suitable for singing and must adhere to the musical phrase) and cultural (musical is an integrated artistic form which plays a definite role in contemporary popular culture and which is often interconnected with a particular environment esp. through the use of vernacular, e.g. in West Side Story or My Fair Lady ). The musical aspect of song lyrics comprises e.g. singability and declamation, but also the interface of the music and the text. The literary aspect of song lyrics principally comprises faithfulness and the dramatic function, and the cultural aspect especially transparency (vernacular, register, culture-specific terms etc.) In addition to this, translations for subtitles must conform to requirements related to the limited amount of space and time available for each subtitle. 7 It can be assumed that the literary, musical, and cultural aspects of song lyrics will be rendered/exploited in different ways depending on the purpose