Beyond the libretto

Nowadays both intra- and interlingual surtitles are an inherent element of almost all opera produc­tions and, partly thanks to this technology, opera is now going through a renaissance. The trend of staging operas in a modernised fashion is especially popular these days, but it represents a particu­lar challenge for surtitlers. It is argued in this article that while surtitles accompanying traditional opera productions are usually intrasemiotic, as their source text is just the libretto, modernised productions often have intersemiotic surtitles. The article analyses fragments of surtitles prepared for four different operas staged in the Metropolitan Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper and Royal Opera House. The result show that while traditionally surtitles provide the viewers with the mean­ing of the libretto, the role of intersemiotic surtitles is much more extended, as they provide the audience with more comprehensive information about the whole opera production.

Surtitling today: new uses, attitudes and developments

Surtitling has exerted a noticeable twofold effect on the opera world, in which it originated: it has contributed substantially to increasing the number of opera goers, making opera more accessible and “audience-friendly” and changing audiences’ expectations towards their operatic experience, which has in turn affected the reception of works in the audience ’s native language; secondly, it has brought about innovations in opera production, introducing new languages and pieces in opera houses. Besides, surtitles have now been put to new uses, as some theatre productions have adopted them enabling drama to travel more extensively. This article will focus on the changes surtitling has produced in the contexts using it, the impact of technical advances on its own production and reception, as well as on its new consumers and uses.

Drama-Music Communication in Opera Performance

The study “Drama-Music Communication in Opera Performance” builds on my 35-year experience of lyric drama in opera production. In my career as a director, which spanned from Baroque opera to contemporary opera, I was intrigued by the multiple connections between the musical dramaturgy, vocal expressiveness, stage image and impact on the audience. Consequently, I realised that all these elements which rely on musical scores are connected by something similar to the principle of communicating vessels: with genuine and intense musical-dramatic communication, the artistic emotion may reach the same level in all the components of the connections mentioned above.

Opera, devising and community: A creative and pedagogical methodology

Create An Opera! was a fortnightly devising workshop led by the author at Theatre Delicatessen studios in London in 2017–20. It was free to the general public and attracted participants including both experienced and inexperienced performance practitioners. It aimed to create a safe, inclusive environment for experimentation in writing, composition and collaborative performance. This initiative arose from the author’s interest in challenging the sociopolitical traditions and hierarchical infrastructures associated with opera production. Inspired by the ethos of devised theatre, the workshops created a space for participants to be involved in both creative and performance aspects, working individually and collaboratively. This article presents the pedagogical and creative methodologies informing the delivery of the workshops, focusing on inclusion, collaboration and independent creativity.

‘Grandpa’ or ‘opera’? Production and perception of unstressed /a/ and /əʁ/ in German

In the description of German phonology, two distinct phonetic symbols are currently recommended for the transcription of the vowels [a] (a central low vowel, phonemically /a/) and [ɐ] (phonemically /əʁ/) in word-final, unstressed positions. The present study examines whether differences between these two vowels exist in production and perception of Standard German speakers from the north of Germany. In Experiment 1, six speakers produced a series of minimal pairs that were embedded in meaningful sentences and varied with respect to their accentuation and position within a prosodic phrase. In Experiment 2, the minimal pairs produced by the six speakers of the first experiment were extracted from their respective contexts and tested with 44 native German listeners in a forced-choice identification task. Perceptual results showed a better-than-chance performance for one male speaker of the corpus only. Phonetic analyses also confirmed that only this male speaker produced subtle, but consistent F2/F3 differences between [a] and [ɐ] while the contrast was completely neutralised in the rest of the corpus. We discuss the role of prosody in vowel neutralisation with a specific focus on unstressed vowels and make suggestions for phonetic and phonological accounts of Standard German.

Negotiating Convention: Pop-Ups and Populism at the San Francisco Opera

Twenty-first-century North American opera houses have attempted to bring in new audiences to make up for a declining and aging population of subscribers through means both traditional and unorthodox. The San Francisco Opera's SF Lab Initiative (2015–2018) was created with such goals in mind. Alternative forms of programming, which I categorize as auxiliary programming, have gained traction as a marketing and aesthetic strategy in recent years, and ultimately signal a dramatic shift in approaches to regional opera production in the United States. While scholars have explored the creation and funding of contemporary operatic productions in the United States, little attention has been given to forms of programming beyond the operatic mainstage. Using interviews with company members and analysis of advertising and reception of the events, I examine the SFO Lab programming as a site of negotiation between operatic convention and experimentation. Based on a populist vision of operatic access, the SF Opera Lab re-contextualized rather than eliminated class and intellectual hierarchies. More broadly, this application of experimental performativity contributes to discourses about Pan-American experimentalism(s) and demonstrates the ways in which a focus on local encounters can yield broad applications for genres and/or scenes beyond opera in the United States.

Balys Sruoga about Kipras Petrauskas: in search of national style of acting

The article discusses Balys Sruoga’s attitude towards State opera and Lohengrin created by soloist Kipras Petrauskas in the performance “Lohengrin” (Dir. Nikolay Vekov, 1926). Based on Petrauskas’ treatise, Sruoga identified the peculiarities of the national/Lithuanian style of acting, emphasized Lohengrin’s “popular and folk expression”, but did not analyze a wider context of the appearance of this image. By the examples of Richard Wagner’s works and performers it was stated that Lohengrin by Petrauskas was close to the Russian opera theatre and two of the most prominent performers of this role, Leonid Sobinov and Ivan Ershov. It was noted that at the beginning of the 20th century the changes in opera production and directing tradition, which was originally held in Russia by Vsevolod Mejerhold, whose performances were watched and later played by Petrauskas, had very little influence on the Lithuanian opera theatre, opera directing and opera acting. Opera performances followed a realistic tradition of the 19th century, and the stage expression did not depend on the director but on the soloists with excellent vocal and dramatic talent. So when it comes to the Lithuanian features of Lohengrin and the Lithuanian style of acting, it is obvious that this impression was made by the personality of Kipras Petrauskas, the world famous Lithuanian opera soloist.

Commercial Television in Indonesia

This article sheds light on previously unknown aspects of Indonesian private television by focusing on the role of the ethno-religious minority of Indonesian Sindhi in the establishment and development of commercial soap opera production. Part of the global trading community of Sindhayat, the local Sindhis have mobilized their translocal and transnational networks to take a dominant position in the emerging sector of national media. Grounded in long-term ethnographic fieldwork among media practitioners and Indonesian Sindhi community members, the article examines how Sindhis’ sense of community and shared desires and sentiments have resulted in a lack of variety of television formats and the introduction of Islam-themed soap operas to prime-time television.

Opera across Borders: New Technologies and Mediatization / Piire ületav ooper: uued tehnoloogiad ja mediatiseerimine

This article aims to address the impact of new technologies and mediatization of the opera genre in the 2nd decade of the 21st century taking into account the discussion on “liveness” and mediated artistic experiences offered by Philip Auslander and Bruce McConachie. The inquiry outlines three key modalities in terms of interaction between opera and mediatization: 1) multimedia as a part of an opera production, 2) media as channels for opera distribution, and 3) mediatization as a communication tool. Excluding opera films and history of opera recordings, the main focus here concerns HD live and online transmissions of opera performances. Mediatization has introduced notable changes in the perception of this genre of performing arts, questioning the phenomenon of operatic immersion and leading to the transformation of operatic culture. Artikkel käsitleb uute tehnoloogiate ja mediatiseerimise mõju ooperižanrile 21. sajandi teisel aastakümnel, võttes arvesse Philip Auslanderi ja Bruce McConachie arutelu elava ettekande (liveness) ja vahendatud kunstilise elamuse üle. Uurimus visandab kolm olulist ooperi ja mediatiseerimise vastastikust toimet puudutavat modaalsust: 1) multimeedia ooperi lavastamise osana, 2) meedia kui ooperi levitamise kanalid, 3) mediatiseerimine kui kommunikatsioonivahend. Uute tehnoloogiate ülikiire areng mõjutab tänapäeval kõiki esituskunstižanre, isegi ooperit, mida peetakse kõige konservatiivsemaks muusikateatri vormiks. Tehnoloogiate laialtlevinud igapäevakasutus loob uue nõuete, väljakutsete ja võimaluste raamistiku. Tehnoloogilised uuendused, alates subtiitrimasinatest ja lõpetades elava esituse online-ülekannetega, varieerivad levikukanaleid ja teevad ooperi kättesaadavaks väljaspool ooperimaja, hoolimata vaatajate kultuurioludest ja sotsiaalsetest piiridest. Meedia annab lavastajatele ja produtsentidele ohtralt võimalusi, kuidas klassikalise ooperirepertuaari kogemist publiku jaoks uudseks muuta ja pakkuda neile visuaalselt muljetavaldavaid lavastusi. Publik saab ooperit vaadata, tõlgendada ja sellesse süüvida (immerse) nii otse, ooperimajas kohal viibides kui ka virtuaalselt, elava voogesituse või salvestatud ooperietenduse online-esituse kaudu, aga ka kinoseanssidel ja TV-saateid jälgides. Kõik need aspektid algatavad tänapäevase ooperielamuse üle väitlusi, mis käsitlevad mediatiseerimise nõrku ja tugevaid külgi ooperi lavastamisel ja nautimisel, teaduslikul uurimisel ja õpetamisel ning mis uurivad mediatiseeritud kunstielamust. Meedia ja esitamisega seotud teooriad käsitlevad harva ooperit kui konkreetset sünteetilist esituskunsti žanri ja selle suhteid meediaga. Clemens Risi puudutas seda teemat, uurides ooperisse süüvimist (immersiooni) ja sellest otseselt osavõtmist, Christopher Morris on analüüsinud televisiooni jaoks valmistatud Itaalia ooperifilmide viimast lainet, kus püütakse publikule pakkuda hüperreaalset elamust asukoha ja toimumisajaga seotud eritingimuste kaudu. Ülalmainitud Auslanderi ja McConachie arutelu järgides pakun ma välja tüpoloogia selle kohta, kuidas meedia võimendab ooperi lavastamist. Esimene modaalsus puudutab visuaalsete meediatehnoloogiate kasutamist väljendusvahendina või kunstilise abivahendina ooperi lavastamisel ooperimajas. Tänapäeval tähendab see enamasti video projitseerimist laval, taustekraane, veebikaamera projektsioone jne, mis on koos dekoratsioonidega osaks lavategelikkusest, korraldavad lavaruumi või pakuvad lavastaja taotlustele visuaalset tuge. Teist tüüpi mediatiseerimine on ooperi puhul seotud kunstitoote levitamisega. Autor keskendub HD-ülekannetele kinos ja ooperimajast väljaspool tänavaekraanidel – see on üle maailma laiali paiknevate suurte vaatajahulkade jagatud, soodushinnaga või hoopis tasuta saadud mediatiseeritud kogemus, kus ühtlasi säilib ettekujutus ooperist kui kollektiivsest kunstielamusest. Publik peab siiski meeles pidama, et igasuguse „elava“ ülekande puhul on tegemist planeeritud ja produtseeritud kohaloleku ja elavusega, modifitseeritud heli ja kujunditega, mis võivad immersiooni võimendada või hoopis vastupidi, ebamugavaks muuta. Kolmas ooperi mediatiseerimise tüüp on meedia kui kommunikatsioonivahendi kasutamine mitte ainult turundamisel, vaid ka publiku poolt, sotsiaalmeedias – see on jagatud info platvormidel (publiku tagasiside, kommentaarid, jne). Ooperi puhul viib mediatiseerimine märgatavate muutusteni eriti just selle tajumises, mis julgustab nii publikut kui teadlasi mõtisklema uutel teemadel, näiteks uurima sellist nähtust nagu immersioon või võrdlema teatris toimuvat meedia poolt modifitseeritud elamusega kinos või veebis.