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25 years of reading opera
Published: 7/8/2008 4:26 PM
Last Modified: 7/8/2008 4:26 PM

The New York Times had an article a couple of days ago about this year being the 25th anniversary of "surtitles" -- English translations of opera librettos projected above the stage.

It started in Canada in 1983, and quickly spread to the New York City Opera, which at the time was being run by the late Beverly Sills. A number of other opera companies, large and small, followed suit, including Tulsa Opera, which debuted its own version of surtitles -- dubbed "SUNtitles" in honor of the Sun Oil Company, which supplied the funding -- with the 1984 production of "Carmen."

Of course, as Anthony Tommasini's article states, some opera purists took profound exception to the idea, including James Levine of the Metropolitan Opera.

Levine ultimately changed his mind, when the Met's system of having the titles transmitted to tiny screens on the back of seats in the Met's auditorium, was developed.

I've been to the Met, and one has the option of switching the little screen in front of you off. But I personally found this system even less distracting (of course, I was sitting in seats that were listed by altitude, so subtle nuances of gesture and expression were pretty much theoretical, and I was glad to have the translations to keep up with Julie Taymor's phantasmagorical "Magic Flute.")

I've never had much trouble with Tulsa Opera's system, either. It is there for people to use or ignore, as they see fit, and as they need to make the experience of attending an opera more full.

Besides, when opera is performed as it should be -- as we said about Tulsa Opera's season-ending "Magic Flute" -- surtitles are superfluous.




Reader Comments 3 Total
dean (5 years ago)
Agreed. Anything that makes opera less elitist is good.
Wayne Greene (5 years ago)
My experience with the Met's system was that the dozens of little lights in the seats ahead of me were modestly distracting, but not enough so to make me stop staring at what was going on the stage.
Seems like the surtitles are there to break down the language anxiety of new opera fans. The show is in the music, and that's universal. So, Tulsa's system of projecting over the state is sufficient and sufficiently ignorable.
wg
watts (5 years ago)
Oh the joys of mistyping -- "projecting over the state" !!!
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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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