Jan van Steenbergen wrote:
>> That's something I've always been interested in: how do opera singer
learn
>> to sing in languages they don't know.
>I might add here, that (at least here) an Italian course is a normal part
of
>the vocal traject in a conservatory.
>
>This does, of course, not mean that every musician is able to speak (or
sing,
>for that matter) any language without an accent.
>
Case in point: Joan Sutherland. When she first appeared on the scene in
the 60s her Italian was afflicted with a truly dreadful Australian accent
(apologies to all the Ozzies....). Apparently the critical reaction had an
affect, since after a year or two she managed to correct it.
Singing in general seems to deform language in curious ways. Though fluent
in Spanish, I've never been able to puzzle out songs, aside from the
inevitable rhymes "corazón...amor". A slightly crazed friend heard "with
innocent pleasures" (from Purcells's "Come ye sons of art") as "with hymnals
and prayerbooks", and the Magnificat's "quia fecit mihi magna" as "we are
facing Mimi Gaga"-- childhood names for his grandmothers.