Resumen de Translating under Constraints: Joseph Laudes’ Work for the Vienna Court Stages in the 1760s and 1770s
Joseph Laudes is an example of an eighteenth-century translator for the two Vienna court stages who had to work under a number of constraints: he had to adapt to a particular theory of theatre, to the demands of certain managers and authorities, as well as to the needs of the audience. The theatre reform that was being implemented in the period of Laudes’ activities as a translator demanded prose instead of verse drama. Moreover, this reform favoured sentimental comedies aimed at affecting the sentiments of the audience and teaching them morally correct behaviour. Besides poetological and ideological constraints, the dramatic texts were directed at a public composed of the aristocracy and a growing number of members of the bourgeoisie. Since he had to work under intense time pressure, which affected the quality of his texts, many of the characteristics of his work correspond with those of prose translations of the era, published by what critics denounced as ‘translation factories’. Laudes’ translation work is exemplified by his rendering of Goldoni's Pamela maritata.
