Do you have to be multilingual to learn to sing opera?

Question

I mean, do you have to speak German, Italian, French, Russian 1st to learn to sing opera (considering that most operas are not in English)? Is foreign languange something that you have to master first before you study opera? Or can it be learned along the way?

What if a person wants to learn to sing opera but he/she doesn't speak other languages than English? Does he/she have to learn & speak foreign languages 1st before he/she can begin studying opera?

Answer 1

If you study opera, you will study the languages you sing in. The big ones are German, Italian, and French. While it is not necessary to be fluent, SOME understanding of grammar is helpful. It is certainly necessary to know the meaning of what you are singing, as well as what those on stage with you are singing.



When I was in college, I had to take one semester each of Italian, French, and German. While that hardly made me fluent, at least I had some idea of the grammar of each language. I also had to take "diction" courses in each language, where we focused on how the languages are pronounced.



Many opera singers ARE fluent in several languages. Not only do they sing in those languages, but they also sing in different countries. Placido Domingo, for example, is a native Spanish speaker, but is also fluent in English, French, Italian, and German (I think.)

Answer 2

No. I know many opera singers who don't speak Italian/french although they sing Italian/french operas but still you really should know what you're actually singing because otherwise it would seem pretty "superficial" if you only "memorize" the words like memorizing numbers or something else(and people realize that).. you don't have to have a degree in any language but still it's better if you know a bit about the language; there are a lot of conductors who wouldn't take somebody who can't pronounce the words well AND some conductors don't speak good English (for example) and it's always an advantage to know SOMETHING of their language.

Anyway don't get stressed, the language is the smallest problem in opera singing and if you know/understand it a bit it will be also MUCH easier to go on with the text even if you forgot it because you would know what the other person just told you and the prompter would help you much more than somebody who has just memorized everything.

Answer 3

Nope, you don't have to be able to speak all that before you can learn to sing opera. Most beginners start off learning the lyrics phonetically. But after a while, you'll need to at least understand what you're singing (without hopping onto translation books every time), word for word, so that you know which words to bring out and which words are simply conjunctions. The audience, believe it or not, can tell whether a singer knows what he/she's singing - even if they themselves don't know the languages which are being performed by the person on stage. Most vocal students learn along the way, 1 language at a time.



I'm taking classical lessons, and so far I've sung Italian, German and Russian in addition to English. I've just signed myself up for German beginner classes so that I can get more comfortable with the diction (one of my exam pieces for next year is a German lied). I translate my Italian and Russian songs word-for-word with the help of dictionaries (real, printed dictionaries) since I don't speak those languages. It's time-consuming, but after my first try on an Italian aria, I realised how much it helped me to understand the text. It looked very weird on paper because the sentence structure is very different, but I knew every word that I was singing. Consequently it was easier for me to express the song, and that freed up my voice and mind so that proper technique came more easily. It made it easier to memorise the lyrics too, because they make sense.



Next summer I'm planning to take an Italian course. And now I'm trying to learn some Russian on my own. French would be next, once I get these few decent. I speak English and Chinese, but effectively I only have one useful western opera language. I should have taken the 'foreign language' option in high school - at least I would have one decent operatic language down by now. But then, I didn't even dream that I would decide to get vocal lessons back then.

Answer 4

If you go to a school to study vocal performance, you'll probably have to take SOME sort of language classes.



No, you don't have to be fluent in any of these languages, but the more you understand the text (on your own, rather than relying on translations, which may or may not be any good), the better job you'll do of expressing what the text means.



At the VERY least, you'll need to be able to SOUND like you know the language you're singing in.



In my opinion, if you want to be successful, you'll need a basic knowledge of German, Italian, and French. (not Russian, so much). Also, Latin would be nice... And then maybe choose one of these languages to "specialize" in. If you like performing Schubert songs, then you should go deeper into German, for example...



If you're a college student now, you might consider taking German 101 (or French 101, etc..) at a local community college over the summer, just to get your feet wet.

Answer 5

I am shocked and appalled by Adam's answer. How on earth can you project and convery the meaning of the words you are singing if you have just learnt the sounds parrott fashion and have no idea what you're singing about? Have you no integrity at all? Apparently not.



Of course, it is too much to expect every singer to be an expert linguist (although some are) but, at worst, a singer needs to know the meaning of what he or she is singing about, otherwise how can the performance be sincere and believable? A basic knowledge of several languages will always be a help and any decent singing course will include language tuition but don't get too hung up about it. If you truly love what you are doing, you will surely WANT to expand your horizons.

Answer 6

NO. You can learn the parts phonetically, by listen to LPs, CDs, casettes, vidotapes, and on Youtube and other places the parts and immitating them. YOu can simultaneously learn ther languages. Itaiain, fencg and gerrman are the primary one,s the fist two being more prevalent.



Of course, operas are also writing by Spanish composers like Rodigo, Albinez, deFalla,,,, Russians, like Moussorgsky, Rimsky-Karsakov, Borodin, Tchaikowsky... czeks, like Janaczek...and others.



And evenRumanins composers.

Answer 7

Nope, I sang it for many years and had no idea what I was singing, all you do is memorize the words, you just have to know how to pronounce them. It is no different then memorizing times tables. It might be more enjoyable if you knew what you were actually saying, but it isn't a requirement just to perform the song.

Answer 8

No. I sing in all of those languages. You just have to know pronunciation.