User:Xaa/In Questa Reggia Objections

Objections to In questa reggia

1) Nearly every single sentence is POV. Examples:

• • In many ways, it is a statement of the battle of the sexes that have lasted throughout the millenia of the human race. POV
  • It is not a femminist statement; it is statement of pure hatred and the enternal notion of a fine woman's denial of a man to her body. POV
  • Turandot demonstrates that she is everything that women want to be, but cannot be if they wish to have chidren and family. POV
  • Only a statement of such ancient hatred could possibly define the inescapable nature of the relationship of man and woman. POV
  • The Aria itself has as much structure as the imposing Palace it is sung in. POV
  • Turandot, in her profound beauty, advances like War and Death and Civilization. No Valkyre, no enemy commander and his army, no devil ever struck such fear and terrified fascination in the hearts of men. POV

2) It makes very strong assertations without citations, leaving the uncited statements as Original Research. Examples:

• • Turandot is known as a "voice buster" because the role is so demanding on the singer. This statement requires a published citation for both the term "voice buster" and the allegation made, either online or print from either an opera historian, an opera singer, or an opera critic. A google search for Turandot+"Voice Buster" reveals nothing.
  • Some of the greatest sopranos of the 20th Century have avoided it, probably because of its career-ending potential. This extremely broad statement would require a citation from an opera historian to support. There are many citations for the role of Turandot as being extremely difficult, but no citations indicating that anyone has ever intentionally avoided the role because it would destroy their voice and end their career, or that anyone's career has been ended singing the role of Turandot. Without a citation, this is Original Research.
  • A fine example of that would be Joan Sutherland, who created a landmark recording of Turandot, but never performed it on stage, which would require doing so night after night. This statement is not supported by the cited Wikipedia article on Sutherland - no explanation for why she did not give a live performance is given in her Wikipedia article, nor does any biography of her state that she intentionally avoided *any* role. Again, a citation is needed, and without it, this is original research.

3) It contains a Copyright Violation. The entire text of the English translation was apparently taken from [here], with typos, translation errors and gramatical errors intact, and reformatted slightly. Example:

Pure nel tempo che ciascun ricorda,      At that time, - 't is know to all, -
fu sgomento e terrore e rombo d´armi!    war brought horror and the clash of arms.

Observe how the mistranslation from [here] of "'t is known to all" is retained, with dashes - the correct translation would be "that everyone remembers" or "that everyone knows." Note also the mistranslation of "sgomento" as "horror" - it is actually "dismay." Lastly, not the mistranslation of 'rombo' as 'clash' - the word means "rumble." Note that a more correct translation is as follows:

Pure nel tempo che ciascun ricorda,      And yet in the time that everyone remembers,
fu sgomento e terrore e rombo d’armi.    there was dismay and terror and the rumble of arms.

The opera itself is not copyrighted. Translations of the opera *are* copyrighted under the Berne Convention. While it is entirely possible that the website in question copied their translation from someone else, it is clear that this translation is copyrighted.
Xaa 15:56, 8 August 2005 (UTC)