Sondheim On Sanksrit

“With Sanskrit, you are relieved of every bit of concentration except where it counts: on the music and the singing — and, if you’re interested in the story, on the surtitles. Even librettos in English need surtitles, since distended vowels, vocal counterpoint and the over-trained diction of many performers make it difficult to understand. Every librettist should have a smattering of Sanskrit. It will save them, and their audiences, a huge amount of work.”
 — Stephen Sondheim on Satyagraha.