Italian sings. But many therefore believe opera in English is doomed to be second best – is that true?

In my view an English version can be a good trade for the Italian. The mother-tongue obviously brings immediacy, even to those fluent in the original, an immediacy often enhanced by the closeness of the performers to the audience in the small spaces where translated operas are typically staged. But English also has a vastly larger store of words than Italian. While this was already true in the 18th century, it is much more so when modern English, with its extensive literary history and input from diverse cultures, is set beside period Italian. Thus when in II.1. Don Giovanni says to Leporello, “Amico, che ti par?” this was pretty well the only way to put it, with “amico” about the sole word in Italian for “friend”. In English there is an endless menu of options for the phrase, each with its own flavour. I went for, “So, buddy, what’s the scoop?” – optimal or not, this shows the range of choice.

Italian’s limited resources allow it a single take on the high style, one far removed from everyday language, and which can sound pompous. In I.14. Don Ottavio speaks for three consecutive sentences with the normal word order reversed, which could make the unfortunate character appear verbally challenged. English can be dignified but still retain the directness of daily speech. Tate’s libretto for Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ would be a case in point. I have tried to rise to the occasion, e.g. in Donna Elvira’s aria in II.10: “Thankless man I am defeated, / Wracked by grief, transfixed by pain, / I’ve been ravaged and maltreated, / Yet, I melt for you again. / Sorrow’s friend, to grief no stranger / Vengeance is my heart’s behest: / Yet, when I behold your danger / Passion rises in my breast!”

In Italian almost everything rhymes! Mirrored sounds elicit yawns. In English, rhymes can bring the thrill of the unexpected, suggest an unforeseen connection, and delight the ear. Thus Da Ponte routinely has six verses ending in, “à” – sonorous but bland. Six rhyming words in English can hardly help but be interesting. Moreover, devices such as compound rhymes (e.g. Don Giovanni: “I will transform your destiny!” Zerlina: “You don’t bring out the best in me!“) were not available to Da Ponte, nor were foreign language rhymes (e.g. when Leporello says to Don Giovanni: “You’ve really lost it Mister, so now it’s time to say ‘hasta la vista!’”), while such phraseology is a commonplace of English light verse. Da Ponte sometimes looked for similar effects (e.g. in Figaro, he rhymed fandango, the dance, with fango, mud,) but his armoury lacked the devices, and he could only dream of Byron’s masterful: “But – Oh! Ye Lords of ladies intellectual / Inform us truly have they not hen-pecked you all?”