TO TRANSLATE OR TO NOT TRANSLATE: OPERA FRAGMENTS AS PRECEDENT TEXTS
The article discusses the issue of translation of foreign operas libretti in Russian language from the point of view of the precedent text. In the disputes of supporters and opponents of such translations, this issue was never raised, and did not serve the argument, while the transition to operas in the original language contributes to the oblivion of a certain layer of such texts, what ultimately is a problem of continuity of cultural traditions. The paper analyzes the existing types of precedent texts of this kind, gives the forecast of development of situation in the future. Separately is considered the problem of translation of libretti created by composers themselves on the example of texts by Richard Wagner which, despite popularity of his opera art in Russia, didn't enrich with quotations the Russian corpus of precedent texts of this origin.