Surtitles
From surtitles one speaks in the theater or the opera, they are the subtitles in film and television comparable. They are, especially in foreign-language productions, above the stage through a beamer or a scrolling text display appears, showing the - previously translated - spoken or sung in the vernacular language. This technological innovation carried out since the mid- 1990s and now involves all the major opera stage in the world and many festivals in which drama productions from other linguistic backgrounds are shown.
Technical Solutions
To project the surtitles with a video projector, specially modified video projectors are often used, which actually project only the upper part of the screen content. In the bottom of the screen surtitles is controlled by a control monitor, the top of the projected image appears.
Meanwhile, there are also solutions that do not require an additional special projector and, for example, still can output videos simultaneously on the projector. Here then comes the mostly already existing projector used.
Writing displays are with respect to position, size, font, and so not quite as flexible as the projection of a projector, it is a fixed ticker in bright light often better to handle and easy to read.
Meanwhile, as an alternative to surtitles but also in seats integrated solutions offered, but which mean a greater technical complexity and higher costs. The Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York have opted for this solution: Most visitors have their subtitles display on the seat mounted in front, but also for neurologists, standing and fußfreie rows there - partly hinged or mobile - writing tablets.
Many opera companies - such as the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival - show the surtitles now in the national language and in English language, a concession to the increasingly international audience.
Consequences for the performance practice
Ever since the 1960s are operas in the original language increasingly common, since on the one hand many translations seem outrageous, on the other hand, the involvement of international singing stars is facilitated by original language performances. Even houses that held long in German productions, such as the Komische Oper Berlin or the Vienna Volksoper, now gradually change to the original language, as the subtitle of the sung text is now even better understood than in a German sung performance.
Significant impact, the availability of captions on the programming of drama festivals, which can invite productions now worldwide because the language barrier is omitted due to the subtitles. This is clearly visible in the Young Directors Project at the Salzburg Festival invited (since 2002) and the programs of the Vienna Festival, which in the years of drama Directorate of Stefanie Carp (2008 to 2013), numerous troops from Latin America, the Balkans, the Far East or Africa have.