Going to bat for Fledermaus

UPDATE. Jan. 18: Jane Eaglen writes in Slate today about her opening-night tribute to the late Birgit Nilsson.

It's sometimes translated as Revenge of the Bat, a Viennese operetta, composed 150 years ago, a frilly entertainment with musical staying power beyond its flimsy, conventional plot.

Dialog in English, with lots of fresh, topical jokes. Lots of lively tunes, too, though 19th-century English lyrics frankly on the musty side. (Many options when it comes to translating opera lyrics ... more shortly.) All ends happily, as required by the operetta form, with giant bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne making welcome appearance. .

Domaine Ste. Michelle's excellent bubbly poured in lobby for $7. Perfect to jump-start the afternoon.

Fledermaus poster; the sensational Sarah Coburn (top); glass of bubbly at intermission

Soprano Sarah Coburn gets loudest applause as chambermaid Adele. Additional sustenance, if you can call it that, from Grant Neale whose non-singing jailer Frosch provides big slab of ham.

This witty, sumptuous Seattle Opera production of Die Fledermaus was directed by Chris Alexander, twice named the company's Artist of the Year, and conducted by music director Gerard Schwarz.

Champagne gets the blame for everything at Prince Orlofsky's decadent party.

Die Fledermaus through Jan. 28. Tickets online or call 206-389-7676

Talk about translations! Nothing more fraught with pitfalls than opera lyrics.

There was no screenwriter more gifted than Garson Kanin, author of this immortal exchange in Born Yesterday: She: "It's a free country." He: "That's what you think."

The Met asked him to write fresh lyrics for Strauss's timeless Fledermaus, but even Kanin couldn't come up with lines as effortless as the original German:

"Trinke Liebchen, trinke schnell! Trinken macht die Augen hell."

Literally, "Drink, my darling, drink fast! Drinking makes your eyes clear." Literal, yes, but utterly unsingable. So we have these English versions in waltz time:

>>Drink my darling / drink with me // Drink to all / that used to be ...
>>Drink a draught of / wine with me ...
and a modern British version [titled Bat out of Hell],
Come on baby / have a glass ... [What was he thinking? Read this.

"We toast Champagne, the king of effervescence ..." not a particularly sparkling line, is it? The best translation would keep the spirit if not the literal translation of the original, including the staccato German consonnants, similar vowel tones, and the unique rhythm of Viennese music.

The party scene that opens Act II, for example, opens with the chorus glowing and crowing about the elegant evening at Prince Orlofsky's. Here are some translations:

>> What a feast / what a dance ... [the "original" translation, by Ruth & Thomas Martin]
>> What a feast / what a spread ... ["spread" doesn't sound very Viennese, does it?]
>> What a night / what a scene ... ["scene" ain't Viennese, either]
>> What a joy / to be here ... [Aha! This captures the spirit, the rhythm, the vocal cadence]

So who wrote those last lines? A brilliant refugee from Nazi Germany, the late Hans Wolf. He was a Seattle treasure, joining Seattle Opera in the 1960s, taking positions as associate conductor, chorusmaster and director of community outreach. After he retired, in 1983, he co-founded Tacoma Opera, where he championed opera performances in English. No translation? No problem. Wolf would simply write his own.

Justly recognized in Seattle, Wolf was lionized when he died in August, 2005.

So my question to Seattle Opera's artistic directors is this:

Granted that Fledermaus has lots of dialog and that it makes sense for those lines to be delivered in English. And granted that using microphones will save the singers voices.

But why not have them sing the musical numbers in the sprightly, lively German verse? A hybrid solution, sure, though hardly unprecedented. And since you did decide on English, why retain the clunky Martin translation? Could have asked the brilliant Jonathan Dean, who's been translating the company's supratitles, to write a more-than-decent set of lyrics.

Or just use Hans Wolf's version, nicht wahr?

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