Mark Wigglesworth, former music director of English National Opera, makes the case: “If opera is drama first and foremost, why is the question of the language it’s sung in so hotly debated? Shouldn’t the same rules as drama apply? I don’t hear complaints about Ibsen or Chekhov being compromised by translations. … Both Verdi and Wagner were energetically supportive of translations. If we could ask them about surtitles, I suspect they wouldn’t understand the question.” — Bachtrack