D`Andrea - Metrics, Music and Mind

Metrics, Music and Mind
Linguistic, Metrical and Cognitive Implications in Sung Verse
(Rome, 23-25 February 2012)
Metrical problems in translating a musical from French into Italian:
the case of Notre Dame de Paris
Giulia D’Andrea*
* Università del Salento, Dip. di Lingue e Letterature straniere, via Taranto, 35, 73100 Lecce
([email protected])
The aim of this paper is to identify and explore the main linguistic and metrical problems in
translating a musical from French into Italian. In particular, it focuses on how to create a new
textsetting in the target language, without betraying the meaning of the original lyrics and
respecting the musical constrains. Indeed, when translating, the original combination of text
and tune is broken and it needs to be re-created by the translator.
It is well known that translating sung verse implies specific issues connected to the intertwining
of lyrics and tune. Translation difficulties increase when the sung text belongs to a wider work,
as in the case of a musical. However, translation studies – at least for the French-Italian
language pair – are still far from giving a synoptic view of the strategies used in such cases; they
also lack a description of the most commonly adopted criteria which depend on several
parameters, including the diachronic factor or the music genre (opera; pop; musical; etc.).
The present study deals with the famous musical 1 “Notre Dame de Paris” (music by Riccardo
Cocciante and lyrics by Luc Plamondon - 1998) and its Italian translation by Pasquale Panella
(2001). Data are mainly drawn from the sung version of this musical, as music does not only
influence but also belongs to the sung verse conceived as a semiotic unit. Nevertheless, we will
examine also the printed version of this work, since the “mise en page” – aside from the musical
structure – can convey some useful information about the metrical units generally known as
“verses” and “stanzas”. These two levels of analysis will be integrated with each other, as well
as with the two versions of the musical (both the French and the Italian ones). In order to
describe the translator’s metrical choices, we will consider the three notions of “longueur
anatonique”, “longueur catatonique” and “forme catatonique” (Cornulier 1999), and apply
them to the Italian language.
The contrastive analysis of the Italian and French versions of Notre-Dame de Paris will also be an
occasion to think about the translation of sung verse in a more general way.
We will use the more widespread term “musical”, even if the authors prefer to define it as an “opera
popolare” or “opera moderna”, because the difference between these two kinds of artistic show is not
relevant for the purpose of this paper.
1
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