In January 1983, for a production of Strauss's "Elektra" at the Canadian Opera Company, Mr. Mansouri introduced simultaneous English translation of the libretto on a horizontal video screen above the proscenium, a system popularly known as supertitles.
Former justice minister Robert Badinter's libretto is a furious portrait of brutality and homophobia in the French penal system.
HE'S the resident intellectual for New York City's public school system, an arts dabbler who plays a mean violin, writes a lean libretto and stuffs notes for his next novel in the pocket where his handkerchief should be.
The greatest access revolution happened 20 or more years ago with the advent of surtitles, a system which provides a simultaneous translation of the opera's text or libretto.
Fluent in German, Italian and French, Ms. Haddad was one of the country's leading practitioners of her art, translating and simplifying librettos, with the words then displayed for audience members who chose to use the system -- an innovation at the Met in 1995.
Royce Vavrek wrote the libretto.
The libretto often waxes abstract and philosophical.
Writing the libretto was a joy.
The Arizona and Utah landscapes influenced libretto and music.
"Gueule chance!" as the libretto says.
