SURTITLES
.COM
WHO
WE ARE
& WHAT
WE DO
SURTITLES™* projections are a capsulized translation of an opera’s libretto, projected on a screen hung from the proscenium arch of the stage during a live performance. The process was developed by the Canadian Opera Company, and the first production in the world to be presented with SURTITLES™ was the COC’s January 1983 staging of Elektra.
The COC’s original process of SURTITLES™ projection utilized slides and slide projectors. In June, 1991, for the COC’s new production of Così fan tutte, the process was modified to video projection. The video images then were stored on computer diskettes rather than slides to permit quick, low-cost editing and to simplify storage. Now all titles are computer-generated. Each video image consists of one surtitle corresponding to the sung text. Images are numbered and the corresponding number transferred to a vocal score, used in the operation of the video projector. Translations are projected on a medium grey screen on the proscenium of the stage and appear as white lettering on a black background.
Hailed by the Canadian Press as “the barrier-breaker opera needs to grow in the ‘80s,” SURTITLES™ projections are a registered trademark of the COC, and are now a regular feature of the foreign-language operas presented by the Company.
Since they were pioneered by the COC, SURTITLES™ or other similar titling systems have been used by virtually every opera company in North America and Europe, and indeed, the world.
I am Gunta Dreifelds, part of the team that invented SURTITLES™ in 1983 at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, Canada, along with Lotfi Mansouri and John Leberg. Since 1987 I have been an independant consultant, retaining the Canadian Opera Company as one of my major clients. I draw from a large group of experts in the fields of projection, screens, IT, and IATSE.
I translate operas into English from the original language, specifically but not exclusively from Italian, German, and French, without infringing on any copyright, for production during live performance. Although SURTITLES™ were invented with opera in mind, I have adapted the process for live theatre as well as concerts.
We also consult with companies of any and every size, for first time installation, training of projector operator and cuer, and evaluating the many existing technologies to adapt the one most suitable for your company.
HOW WE
CREATE
SURTITLES
My goals in translating libretti into surtitles is to:
1 / Accurately reflect YOUR production, in all its shades and colours
2 / Always use native speakers of the original language to edit and proof for subtle nuances of language, use another editor (non-operatic, English as a first language) for an unbiased but authoritative perspective of the English content
3 / Program cues to change at varying speeds to reflect the music, thereby rendering the titles unobtrusive and fluid
I’ve had 38 years’ experience (and still counting!) in writing surtitles, because I had the good fortune to be part of the team that invented SURTITLES™ in 1983 at the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto, Canada.
Surtitling FAQs
1 / Who invented surtitles?
Lotfi Mansouri (General Director in 1983) and John Leberg (Director of Operations) at the Canadian Opera Company.
2 / Which was the first opera to be surtitled and why?
Read moreRead less
Elektra by Richard Strauss, on January 21, 1983. Lotfi Mansouri chose this German opera because the action is mainly psychological, not physical. Sure, there are entrances and exits, but the drama that unfolds is psychological, and that is difficult to convey, also difficult to understand if you don’t know German. Paired with Elektra was Il Coronazione di Poppea (Monteverdi), a rarely performed baroque opera with a lot of recitative to move the action along; difficult to understand if you don’t know Italian and are not accustomed to hearing and understanding Baroque Italian.
3 / What was the critical response to surtitles after the first performance?
One critic called them “the plague from Canada”. The late James Levine said, “Over my dead body.” Generally speaking, the critics hated them, but the audiences loved them. They could understand what was going on! Now pretty well everyone uses surtitles - in opera and drama, on YouTube and video clips, even in ads on the screen pre-show (I shudder at the thought!).
4 / Why call them surtitles?
They were invented in Canada which is a bilingual country. Surtitles are TITLES projected on a screen ON the proscenium arch. SUR in French =on, above; TITLES in English = titres in French. Surtitles reflect Canada’s bilingualism.
5 / What are other names for surtitles?
Supertitles, OpTrans (opera translations), OpCaps (Opera capsulizations), surtitres (French), sopratitoli (Italian), Übertiteln (German), titri (Latvian), subtitles (a misnomer) and so on…
6 / Why so many names?
My guess is that in the beginning, the Canadian Opera Company trademarked the word SURTITLES™. Other companies were wary of incurring costs if they used the COC’s word; therefore they made up a different name.
7 / Why didn’t the Canadian Opera Company patent surtitles?
One can take out a patent for something new – a tool, a machine, a recipe, a THING. The COC invented a process of simultaneous translations for live production by applying existing technology in a new, innovative manner. One can’t apply a patent to a process.
8 / Why not use the translations in the score?
Those are called singing translations, and are written so that the opera can be sung in a language other than the original. Essentially, a singing translation is guided by the music; every note needs a syllable. A translation for a surtitle is more concerned with conveying the meaning artfully. Consider 'To be or not to be' in English. Translated in Latvian in Jānis Kalniņš’ opera Hamlets, it comes out as 'Būt vai nebūt'. Or from La Traviata, consider 'T’amo, Alfredo' in Italian, to 'Ich liebe Dich, Alfredo' in German. Quite a difference. Good luck to the singing translator.
9 / Why not sing an opera in translation?
The libretto (text) of an opera or drama in the original language sounds best. Singers learn operas in the original language and are loathe to learn them in other languages, say Latvian, if the only place they will sing it in Latvian is in Latvia. Singers work globally. Operas are aesthetically most pleasing in the original.
Benjamin Britten (English) is the only composer I know of who “allowed” his operas to be translated to the language of the country where the opera was to be performed. Even so, nowadays his operas are most often sung in English, even in Europe.
10 / Why have titles in English for an opera sung in English?
In North America, opera houses are BIG! Multipurpose performance centres are popular, not only in North America but around the world, and these stages are often unkind to the opera singer. In Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company used to perform in the O’Keefe Centre, a multipurpose building, that was affectionately called “the house that beer built”, O'Keefe being a brewery; or, during the production of La Fanciulla del West, the OK Corral!! The libretti of Britten, for instance, are replete with English words no longer in common usage (think of ship or boarding school terminology). Or think of the rapid fire Gilbert and Sullivan rhyming couplets, or of Phillip Glass’ extended tones. The singer can enunciate until the cows come home (La Fanciulla, again!) but certain passages will be a challenge, to say the least.
11 / Why create new titles for every show?
The words don’t change so why change the titles? Let’s take Carmen as an example. The simple answer is because one size does not fit all. Many operas are subject to cuts for various reasons, not least of which is timing. Some are updated and the language needs to reflect the director’s vision, all the while being true to the original. Translations are copyrighted; you need permission from the author to use them.
12 / Why not just put the titles on a loop and “let them rip”?
Because surtitles are used for LIVE performance, and no two performances are alike. That is the thrill of live performance; that is why we go to the theatre. Live performances have varying running times every single performance. I remember one production of Lohengrin - it was the last one of the run - and the tenor had a plane to catch so that performance was ten minutes shorter than all the previous ones.
13 / How many operas have you translated?
The short answer is, 'Too many to list'. I have created surtitles for all the top ten operas, some, like La Bohème and Carmen, multiple times. Some favorites include Wagner's Ring Cycle; Harry Somer's Louis Riel; all of Queen of Pudding's productions, particularly Svadba; all of Théâtre français de Toronto's productions, particularly Tremblay and Molière; all of WorldStage productions; Bunraku with the Japan Foundation; and others.
Surtitles Fun Facts
1 / Surtitles were invented in 1983 at the Canadian Opera Company before:
Cellphones – land lines only / Email – one relied on memos / Netflix / Voicemail – a receptionist answered the land line / DVDs, Laserdiscs / Livestreams / Laptops / YouTube and more. Titles would be typed on an IBM Selectric typewriter, sent to an A/V company to photograph and return in 35mm glass-mounted slides. Then the slides would be put in slide carousels, alternating between 3 carousels for each act. The cuer would shout Left Centre Right to the IATSE operator, anticipating the time it would take to change to next carousel. Three were used because that provided space for 240 slides, which was enough for an average act. You definately wanted to avoid changing three sets of carousels live while the show was going on. Too nerve-wracking.
2 / An average opera has about 500-600 cues
3 / Colours in the libretto are problematic if the cast doesn’t match the stipulated choices in hair, skin, costume etc.
4 / Peter Sellars the opera director is not to be confused with Peter Sellers, the comic actor
5 / The Canadian Opera Company chose a sans serif font because the titles are usually two lines of isolated text and the serif seemed too fussy and florid. They started out with Century Gothic and Ariel, but Peter Sellars, see above, chose Kalinga. Yeah, Peter! Hours of font meetings avoided!
CLIENTS
& REVIEWS
I have been proud to work and feature surtitles for the following Opera/Theatre and Live Venue Shows
OPERA COMPANIES
Amarillo OperaAnchorage OperaArizona Opera Canadian Opera CompanyCleveland OperaDallas OperaEugene OperaFort Worth OperaGlimmerglass OperaHawaii Opera TheatreIndianapolis OperaKentucky OperaLA OperaLatvian National OperaNew Orleans OperaNew York City OperaOpera MississaugaOpera AtelierPittsburgh OperaL’Opéra de QuebecCapitol Opera SacramentoSeattle OperaToledo OperaVancouver OperaVirginia OperaQueen of Puddings Music TheatreTapestry Opera
REVIEWS
“The Canadians have created something that makes opera understandable and accessible to many who love the music but can’t understand the words. It’s called SURTITLES.”
The New York Times
“The Falstaff SURTITLES in Toronto had one magic ingredient - they were FUNNY!!!!! The audience laughed on cue; the singers continuously responded to their laughter by providing a light, enjoyable, musically complex evening. Brilliant translations that set the stage for true comprehension.”
Sander L. Gilman Professor of Liberal Arts and Medicine, University of Illinois in Chicago
PAST ARTICLES
“Audiences; What Figaro Really Says”
Meg Cox, The Wall Street Journal, July 6, 1984
“Wagner is letter perfect.[Surtitles] prepared by Gunta Dreifelds for Lohengrin were pungent and erudite.”
Bob Pennington, The Sunday Sun, September 18, 1983
“When we did the first night of surtitles ...we did more in one night than we had in our previous 37 years of existence.”
Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail, November 15, 2007
“Opera Enjoys Its Charmed Life. Devotees Grow in Numbers as They Grow Younger, Too”
James R. Oestreich, The New York Times, April 28, 1997
“Forse questo strumento da noi aggiunto servira ad entrare dentro la magia del teatro.”
“...i sopratitoli hanno rappresentato una soluzione conveniente...”
Stefano Nardelli, il giornale della musica, n. 299, gennaio 2013
ARTIST REVIEWS
“Having been at the birth of SURTITLES in Canada, I am very proud to have witnessed the revolution that has swept the operatic world. Gunta’s work, then as now, is inspired: perfect timing, always succinct and informative, and consistently appropriate to the action, from split-second comic text, to the sensitivity of the dramatic moment.”
Gidon Saks
"Bien sûr, les surtitres ont aidé le TfT à se créer une nouvelle clientèle."
Guy Mignault, directeur du Théâtre français de Toronto, 1997 – 2016
Gunta’s Übertiteln sind eine wunderbare Erfindung und eine Bereicherung für das Publikum.
Adi Braun, jazz singer, German diction coach
AUDIENCE RESPONSE
“Also I must tell you that the SURTITLES have just changed my whole feeling towards opera. Previously with most of the operas that I watched, I had a general idea of what was going on and just let the music wash over me. Now I can really enjoy understanding what is happening.”
“I also greatly appreciate the SURTITLES — they add enormously to my enjoyment of the operas.”
“Your production, cast and SURTITLES added up to such a memorable evening that, three months later, I am still touting Anna Bolena’s praises.”
“…congratulations…heartily endorse the SURTITLES, which were beautifully translated and tastefully projected.”
“However, the main reason for writing is to yell a very big bravo for the SURTITLES.”
CONTACT