The Historical Journey of Opera Translation in Turkey and its Perception by Contemporary Turkish Opera Performers

Year 2020, Issue: 13, 1 - 22, 01.05.2021

Özlem Şahin Soy Merve Şenol

Abstract

Opera, evolving on the foundation of two art forms, theatre and music, is a multidisciplinary genre that has affected many countries and cultures profoundly over the centuries. Even though opera emerged and blossomed in Western societies in the early sixteenth century, it took four more centuries to pass so that opera could meet the Turkish audience. Translation from Western sources has been a substantial medium to Westernize and Europeanize the Ottoman Empire and Republican Turkey. The proclamation of Tanzimat was the beginning of transformation in the multicultural and multilingual Ottoman Empire to form a nation-state, and therefore the Westernization process started in all fields including literature and music. Opera was one of the new art forms that came into prominence apart from theatre and prose. Since the Republic gave much importance to polyphonic music and attempted to carry Turkish music into universal standards, works of art in the most paramount genre of music, the opera, were translated. Translations of operas were carried out by the Turkish composers of the time in order to achieve a singable and coherent translation in terms of prosody. In this context, this study aims to present both the historical journey of opera translation in Turkey and to introduce the remarks of some contemporary opera performers of Ankara State Opera and Ballet, who were interviewed so as to grasp their perception of translated opera.

Keywords

Opera Translation, Opera Performers, Singability, Westernization Process, Opera Translation in Turkey

Supporting Institution

The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.

Türkiye’de Opera Çevirisinin Tarihsel Yolculuğu ve Çağdaş Opera Sanatçılarının Çeviri Operaya Bakış Açısı

Abstract

Tiyatro ve müzik gibi iki sanat dalı temelinde ortaya çıkan opera yüzyıllar içerisinde birçok ülke ve ulusu derinlemesine etkileyen bir tür olmuştur. Erken on altıncı yüzyılda Batı ülkelerinde ortaya çıkmış ve gelişmiş olmasına rağmen operanın Türk seyircisiyle buluşması için dört yüz yıl daha geçmiştir. Osmanlı Devleti ve Türkiye Cumhuriyetini Batılılaştırma ve Avrupalılaştırma çabası içerisinde çeviri önemli bir araç olmuştur. Bir ulus-devlet kurma gayreti esnasında çok uluslu ve çok dilli Osmanlı Devletinde Tanzimat bir dönüşümün başlangıcı olmuştur ve bu sebeple Batılılaşma süreci edebiyat ve müzik alanları dahil olmak üzere tüm alanlarda kendini göstermiştir. Cumhuriyet çok sesli müziğe önem verdiği ve Türk müziğini evrensel standartlara taşımaya çalıştığı için müziğin en eski ve en önemli alanı olan operada çeviriler yapılmıştır. Opera çevirileri, zamanın bestecileri tarafından yapılmış ve prozodiye uygun söylenebilir ve ahenk barındıran çeviriler ortaya konmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışmanın amacı hem opera çevirisinin Türkiye'deki tarihsel serüvenini ortaya koymak hem de görüşülen Ankara Devlet Opera ve Balesinin çağdaş opera sanatçılarının çeviri opera hakkındaki düşüncelerini yansıtmaktır.

Keywords

Opera Çevirisi, Opera Sanatçıları, Batılılaşma Süreci, Söylenebilirlik, Türkiye’de Opera Çevirisi

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