Una aproximación a la traducción musical en las dos primeras versiones al castellano de la ópera Carmen de Georges Bizet

Abstract

Bizet’s opera Carmen is illustrative of the intense translation activity carried out in opera throughout history in Europe. Few years after the Parisian premiere, it was translated into numerous languages. Notwithstanding, in Spain we had to wait until 1887 to be able to listen the first Carmen’s Spanish translation. It is worth stressing that the translation of a libretto involves inter-disciplinary research. In this paper, given the limits of space, we will analyse the musical translation. Musical translation is integrated, firstly, by the rythmical translation which comprises different strategies to adapt the singing text to the score, rhyme, accentuation and meter. Secondly and finally, we will conclude with a brief exposition of the consequences of translation for singing.