--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: An unalterable and unquestioned law of…" description: "\"An unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated in..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8dd/edith-wharton-512_art_an-unalterable-and-unquestioned-law-of-t_2959735.jpg" --- # An unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world… ![“An unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences.” quote by Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8dd/edith-wharton-512_art_an-unalterable-and-unquestioned-law-of-t_2959735.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8dd/edith-wharton-512_art_an-unalterable-and-unquestioned-law-of-t_2959735.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8dd/edith-wharton-512_art_an-unalterable-and-unquestioned-law-of-t_2959735.jpg) > “An unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences.” [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Opera translations aimed to make French works accessible to English audiences, reflecting cultural adaptation practices. **In simple terms:** Translations bridge cultural gaps. Key Takeaway Adapt art for broader understanding. Themes culture language accessibility Mood analytical curious Type academic critical When to use this quote - theatre production - educational programs - multilingual festivals Key Concepts literature musicology translation studies Questions to Reflect On - How does translation affect authenticity? - What balance between fidelity and accessibility? A Different Perspective Translation may alter original artistic intent. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Audience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) [Italian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/italian/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Opera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opera/) [Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“She sang, of course, "M'ama!" and not "he loves me," since an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/she-sang-of-course-m-ama-and-not-he-loves-me-since-an-unalterable-and/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“To Giovanni da Pistoia Michelangelo, translated from the Italian by Joel Agee \| 144 words (On painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel) 1509…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-giovanni-da-pistoia-michelangelo-translated-from-the-italian-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Even the language to which a man is born and in which he makes known his wants is a foreign language. What goes on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-w-wilson/even-the-language-to-which-a-man-is-born-and-in-which-he-makes-known/) Harry W. Wilson > [Ad astra per aspera. Translated: "to the stars through difficulties".](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-james-ingalls/ad-astra-per-aspera-translated-to-the-stars-through-difficulties/) [John James Ingalls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-james-ingalls/) > [Once I looked into it, I was taken aback to learn that pretty much nothing by João Gilberto Noll was available in English translation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-morris/once-i-looked-into-it-i-was-taken-aback-to-learn-that-pretty-much/) [Adam Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-morris/) > [What is translated from English and into English - and in what quantities - is a question of power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ngugi-wa-thiong-o/what-is-translated-from-english-and-into-english-and-in-what/) [Ngugi wa Thiong'o](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ngugi-wa-thiong-o/) > [The nature of anguish is translated into different forms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kline/the-nature-of-anguish-is-translated-into-different-forms/) [Franz Kline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kline/) > [I'm a writer. In Latin America, they say I'm a Latin-American writer because I also write in Spanish and my books are translated, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/i-m-a-writer-in-latin-america-they-say-i-m-a-latin-american-writer/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) > [Home to me is the world because my books have been translated into more than 30 languages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/home-to-me-is-the-world-because-my-books-have-been-translated-into/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [“Qui jacet in terra non habet unde cadat. In me consumpsit vires fortuna nocendo, Nil superest ut iam possit obesse magis." (loosely translated: "He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-kyd/qui-jacet-in-terra-non-habet-unde-cadat-in-me-consumpsit-vires/) [Thomas Kyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-kyd/) > [“It is safe to say that poetry cannot be translated.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-ma-guerrero/it-is-safe-to-say-that-poetry-cannot-be-translated/) Leon Ma. Guerrero > [My game from college has translated into the pros.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-brogdon/my-game-from-college-has-translated-into-the-pros/) [Malcolm Brogdon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-brogdon/) > [“A Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, once said: ‘Dijiste media verdad. Dirán que mientes dos veces si dices la otra mitad.’” “Translated means…” “You told…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olga-n-ez-miret/a-spanish-poet-antonio-machado-once-said-dijiste-media-verdad-dir-n/) [Olga Núñez Miret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olga-n-ez-miret/) > [If economic progress is not translated into better quality of life and respect for citizens' rights, we will witness more Tahrir Squares in Africa.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mo-ibrahim/if-economic-progress-is-not-translated-into-better-quality-of-life/) [Mo Ibrahim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mo-ibrahim/) > [“If i live on longer, shall i again, i wonder, yearn for these days ? The world that i once saw as bitter, now,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pictures-of-the-heart-fujiwara-no-kiyosuke/if-i-live-on-longer-shall-i-again-i-wonder-yearn-for-these-days-the/) pictures of the heart Fujiwara no Kiyosuke ## More by Edith Wharton > [“Suddenly the air was full of that deep clangor of bells which periodically covers Rome with a roof of silver.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/suddenly-the-air-was-full-of-that-deep-clangor-of-bells-which/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of the twists and defences of an instinctive guile. And he felt himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/untrained-human-nature-was-not-frank-and-innocent-it-was-full-of-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“High Pasture Come up--come up: in the dim vale below The autumn mist muffles the fading trees, But on this keen hill-pasture, though the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/high-pasture-come-up-come-up-in-the-dim-vale-below-the-autumn-mist/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Two ways to be a light for all, is to be a flaming candle or the mirror that reflects it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/two-ways-to-be-a-light-for-all-is-to-be-a-flaming-candle-or-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“... no treasure-house of Atreus was ever as rich as a well-stored memory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/no-treasure-house-of-atreus-was-ever-as-rich-as-a-well-stored-memory/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“...the endless labour of rolling human stupidity up the steep hill of understanding.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/the-endless-labour-of-rolling-human-stupidity-up-the-steep-hill-of/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/he-saw-his-marriage-becoming-what-most-of-the-other-marriages-about/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/the-real-loneliness-is-living-among-all-these-kind-people-who-only/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [With a shiver of foreboding he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/with-a-shiver-of-foreboding-he-saw-his-marriage-becoming-what-most-of/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Life is the saddest thing there is, next to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/life-is-the-saddest-thing-there-is-next-to-death/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/a-classic-is-classic-not-because-it-conforms-to-certain-structural/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [There is too much sour grapes for my taste in the present American attitude. The time to denounce the bankers was when we were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/there-is-too-much-sour-grapes-for-my-taste-in-the-present-american/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“But in a few years more perhaps there may be; for, deep within us as the ghost instinct lurks, I seem to see it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/but-in-a-few-years-more-perhaps-there-may-be-for-deep-within-us-as/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Dialogue in fiction should be reserved for the culminating moments and regarded as the spray into which the great wave of narrative breaks in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/dialogue-in-fiction-should-be-reserved-for-the-culminating-moments/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“These Americans, under their forthcoming manner, their surface-gush, as some might call it, have an odd reticence about what goes on underneath.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/these-americans-under-their-forthcoming-manner-their-surface-gush-as/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) [Explore all 504 Edith Wharton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. 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You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. 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