A multimodal approach to opera surtitling

Abstract

As a form of art, opera has been recognized as being multimodal in nature and described as a rich collection of semiotic facts produced via the performance. Opera considers all semiotic systems (verbal, non-verbal, visual, auditive) and emphasizes the fact that within different sociocultural domains the same meanings can be expressed using various semiotic modes. In order to share the sociocultural context of an opera, surtities are employed to overcome language barriers and as a device for approaching other symbolic modes especially in the case of contemporary opera where they can be used to provoke the audience into reacting more intensely to the performance on the stage