Yes, they are done, though the more common legit practice is to include a literal translation along with the piece in the book (or in the concert program), without trying to make it fit the rhyming or scanning of the original text. I've even written my own translations out for arias in cases where I knew the given English texts were not accurate to the words (did this with 'Che faro senza Euridice' several years ago).
With all the inaccurate/uncomfortable singing-translations I've seen in various vocal editions, I just tend to prefer singing in the original tongue, as that's generally what sounds best.....when writing for singing, a lot of the melody-shape and where the notes are dictates the right kind of syllable/sound for each (or vice versa), and trying to change that around often disturbs the workings of the song as it was intended.
Not to mention that I like the different characters and moods and mental worlds that each language conjures, and if I like a song for itself as a whole, then the exact meaning and flavour of the text is very important to me too. Back when I studied Art History in highschool was when a lot of things just 'came together' for me in terms of feeling and understanding history and cultures and people directly through the art, the music, the architecture....the whole mental milieu of it. Sometimes when I listen to music it's just like getting inside the composer's head and understanding what they mean, and it's a very subtle and underpracticed skill of translation to make that feasible in a text that attempts to completely replace the original words, rather than just appearing as a parallel resource for comprehension.
Besides, I do like knowing more languages than the average American. :P
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Date: 2007-01-06 11:03 am (UTC)With all the inaccurate/uncomfortable singing-translations I've seen in various vocal editions, I just tend to prefer singing in the original tongue, as that's generally what sounds best.....when writing for singing, a lot of the melody-shape and where the notes are dictates the right kind of syllable/sound for each (or vice versa), and trying to change that around often disturbs the workings of the song as it was intended.
Not to mention that I like the different characters and moods and mental worlds that each language conjures, and if I like a song for itself as a whole, then the exact meaning and flavour of the text is very important to me too. Back when I studied Art History in highschool was when a lot of things just 'came together' for me in terms of feeling and understanding history and cultures and people directly through the art, the music, the architecture....the whole mental milieu of it. Sometimes when I listen to music it's just like getting inside the composer's head and understanding what they mean, and it's a very subtle and underpracticed skill of translation to make that feasible in a text that attempts to completely replace the original words, rather than just appearing as a parallel resource for comprehension.
Besides, I do like knowing more languages than the average American. :P