Thread to collect most rich and useful datebases with librettos in web.
I generally start this thread because I need one, but I guess I have one to recommend:
http://www.rwagner.net/ - Wagner librettos for all operas, original and english translation combined and posted side by side so you can not only read and understand texts of arias and stuff but also put translated words correctly to what you hear in German or just support your reading with translation if you have good German but are not sure about some things
Caveat: this site always has the original language and the side by side translation in Spanish only.
It's fabulous for those who speak Spanish, but not as useful for those who don't.
It is more complete than most.
Bump for our young Pole so that he won't have to eat that many carrots (although he should eat at least some; they are very good for you and improve your vision):
What's wrong love me strong ding dong I can't find anything, how can they expect me to like Donizetti when one can't find libretto to Anna Bolena and how can I enjoy thrilling duet of Callas/Corelli in La Vestale by Spontini if even plot synopsis in the web is so short, or Il Pirata, actually I'm starting to think that there are absolutely no librettos in the web, let me see
Here are liner notes for the Goodall Ring Cycle. It includes the full Andrew Porter English libretto translation, considered to be one of the best: it's singable, so it's easy to follow as the words match syllable to syllable with a German recording.
That *is* pretty cool--the Porter translation is indeed excellent, and I didn't know it was available online.
The only drawback is that the German text is not provided alongside the English. For that, you'd have to purchase the book (which is worthwhile for the amusing introduction discussing some earlier, woefully inadequate translations).
I wish that there were an online resource that had ALL of the libretti (with side by side original language and English translations) together. I understand that some of this is due to copyright issues but heck--I'd even be willing to pay for them. It would make it os much easier to download complete operas from places like Amazon and also have a copy of the libretto. Maybe eventually CD companies will start packing a digital copy of the libretto with the CD download. I have seen a couple where that has been offered but not many.
Anyway, here's hoping this eventually comes to pass. It's a nightmare trying to organize everything I have between CD booklets and printed copies.
It looks very good--when I checked La Traviata, the translation into German was great--as far as being an actual translation of the Italian. Unfortunately, the link for English took you back to the German site, where a button was supposed to translate it to English but I couldn't ever get it to work...
Regarding the English translation for La Traviata: after you have selected the link in www.operafolio.com for the English translation you are indeed referred to a German site. Select the tab Libretto and then select, within the libretto tab, E for English translation. Not super but it works ;-)
I would be grateful if anyone knows of a site that provides the libretto to Schoenberg's Moses und Aron in English. A while back I found a faithful translation from German into Italian but auto-translating that into English gave semi-nonsensical results.
I have been looking for an Otello translation too. Unfortunately, with the demise of the EMI Opera site, the link now goes to Sinfini which does not seem to have the libretto of Otello, or anything else.
But I have found Otello in Italian with a facing English translation, here:
This is essentially a scan of an old print translation. There are various options about how you may view it. I'm still experimenting but I think the pdf option may be best for me because I am familiar with the controls in Adobe Reader.
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