pallas_athena (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pallas_athena) wrote2006-07-06 02:46 pm
pallas_athena) wrote2006-07-06 02:46 pm
Entry tags:
In which I work hard for the money
"We're doing the Weinberger," said the plummy voice on the other end of the phone. This was two weeks ago. Previously I hadn't known what translation of Fledermaus these people were doing, so I'd been working on it in German.
Huge sigh of relief: I went out and bought the Weinberger edition of Fledermaus with English translation by Hassall. This was the same translation I'd learnt for another production many moons ago, so a week's work got me offbook.
Last night was the one-and-only rehearsal, and I went along feeling very positive. The conductor introduced us all, then gave the signal to begin Act I.
And the chorus started singing.
"Hang on," I thought, "There's no chorus in Act I of Fledermaus!"
Then the tenor started his solo, and the words he was singing bore no resemblance to the words in my score.
Turns out that Weinberger also do an opera-society version of Fledermaus with lots more chorus, random repeats, random cuts and everything in different keys. And, of course, a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TRANSLATION from the one in the standard Weinberger edition. I sight-read my way through it last night, and now I have one day to get it performance-ready. That whole month I spent working on the score? Wasted.
Felchbuckets.
Huge sigh of relief: I went out and bought the Weinberger edition of Fledermaus with English translation by Hassall. This was the same translation I'd learnt for another production many moons ago, so a week's work got me offbook.
Last night was the one-and-only rehearsal, and I went along feeling very positive. The conductor introduced us all, then gave the signal to begin Act I.
And the chorus started singing.
"Hang on," I thought, "There's no chorus in Act I of Fledermaus!"
Then the tenor started his solo, and the words he was singing bore no resemblance to the words in my score.
Turns out that Weinberger also do an opera-society version of Fledermaus with lots more chorus, random repeats, random cuts and everything in different keys. And, of course, a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TRANSLATION from the one in the standard Weinberger edition. I sight-read my way through it last night, and now I have one day to get it performance-ready. That whole month I spent working on the score? Wasted.
Felchbuckets.