Eleanor Selfridge-Field and Edmund Correia, Jr.
© 1994 Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities
Reproduced by the IEEE Technical Committee on Computer Generated Music by permission


Category 3. Text underlay

Type 4. Stanzas in multiple languages.

A related problem of text underlay is that translations may need to be typographically distinguished from the text intended for performance. This introduces the complication that the number of syllables per note may vary widely between the original text and its translation.

In Ex. #13 the words "giovenetto" and "flowers" illustrate this problem.

The assembly of Polish, French, and German texts in Ex. #4 has similar requirements.

Ex. #13. Five-voice madrigal with text translation. This illustration was produced by Leland Smith using SCORE and appeared in the Directory of Computer Assisted Research in Musicology 4 (1988), 87.


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