This summer, a 2,000-year-old language that the Buddha would have spoken will feature in Welsh National Opera's staged premiere of Jonathan Harvey's Wagner Dream.
The ancient Indian language of Pali is the best surviving clue as to how people spoke in the Buddha's day, but few in the modern world are actually able to speak it.
The Buddha lived in Northeast India during the 5th century B.C. The culture around him was dominated by brahmins, a hereditary class of male priests. The language of their texts and rituals was Sanskrit, which, itself, means "elaborated language."
Meanwhile, the tongue of the common people was derived from Sanskrit, but it was much simpler. No one wrote anything down during these times, of course, so while there is no exact record of the vernacular, scholars agree that Pali was very close to it.
In order to be widely understood, the Buddha refused to use Sanskrit. Subsequently, the Pali Canon--which contains the earliest records of his sermons and sayings--has been preserved in Pali for over two millenia now.
Russell Moreton, Welsh National Opera's Head of Music, has worked closely with Professor Richard Gombrich, Founder and President of the Oxford Center for Buddhist Studies, to translate the original English libretto (written for Harvey by Jean-Claude Carrière) into Pali.
Obviously, this wasn't always a straightforward task. Professor Gombrich explains:
"Translating the English libretto into Pali brought some amusing challenges. First, there are few short words in Pali, so in some places we had to split the musical notes in order for them to fit. Then, the English text contains howlers: guns in ancient India, for example, and pubs and tea--none of which existed there then. So we had to make changes. I also felt obliged to insert, very briefly, some real Buddhist doctrine when the Buddha himself is speaking."
In the opera, Wagner and his circle will speak and sing in German, while the Buddhist characters will sing in Pali. David Pountney says this was something the late composer was keen to see happen.
"In discussing this with Jonathan Harvey before his death, we identified our aim as seeking to enhance and clarify the cultural dialogue which is the centerpiece of this opera," Pountney said.
"This brings together a giant of the Western musical tradition, Richard Wagner, with ideas and narrative elements from the Buddhist tradition. We felt that the impact of this cultural dialogue would be enhanced by letting each of these two worlds speak in its own language, rather than being confused by both being rendered in a third language--English."
Worldwide, Gombrich claims the study of the language is in crisis:
"It is what our government labels a 'minority subject,' so when the cuts come, as they constantly do, it is first for the chop. Neither Oxford nor Cambridge now has a post in Pali, and no British university offers a degree devoted to the subject. The situation in other Western countries is as bad or even worse, as all governments agree that they should not subsidise the study of a subject which brings no direct economic benefit."
Wagner Dream intertwines events on the last day of Richard Wagner's life with elements from a fragmentary opera sketch by Wagner himself, Die Sieger (The Victors).
The first staged British performance of Jonathan Harvey and Jean-Claude Carrière's Wagner Dream will happen on Thursday, June 6 at Wales Millennium Center in Cardiff.
Additional performances will take place some time later in Cardiff, and potentially in Birmingham.
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