Well, do catch Bernstein's words for Ferneyhough's opera on Benjamin's
life -- he'll be reading them & so they'll be more 'earable than in the sung
settings -- & Allen Fisher responding to the occasion -- and then, please,
report here on the list as to the event -- ugh... very sorry I have to miss
it -- (or why doesn't someone record it & make an mp3 which cld be posted on
the list... ugh, I'm dreaming... Pierre
________________________________________________________________
Pierre Joris
6 Madison Place
Albany NY 12202 "É melhor ser cabeça de sardinha
Tel: (518) 426-0433 do que traseiro de baleia"
Fax: (518) 426-3722
Email: joris@ albany.edu
Url: <http://www.albany.edu/~joris>
____________________________________________________________________________
_
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
> poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of George Simmers
> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 1:12 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Libretti
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Martin J. Walker" <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > & in addition very much value the libretto for _Gawain_, which
> > I can take delight in as a dramatic poem by itself (& of how
> many libretti
> > can that be said?).
>
> Maybe, but I saw the original (quite impressive) production of the opera,
> and couldn't make out a single word of the libretto. Much the
> same went for
> Craig Raine's libretto for the Electrification of the Soviet Union.
> It must be very dispiriting for the poets to know their words are not
> registering.
> Or maybe it's just that they don't have the necessary craft. In "Porgy and
> Bess" each one of Ira Gershwin's words sits so appropriately on its note
> that you can catch them all (except in the scenes where everyone's singing
> at once).
>
> Once opera librettist was a recognised trade (not much overlapping with
> poetry) Da Ponte gave Mozart words that would sing. Now poets try
> to do the
> job, and I don't know many cases where it's really worked since Auden's
> great libretto for Paul Bunyan.
>
> George
>
> ______________________________________________
> George Simmers
> Snakeskin Poetry Webzine is at
> http://www.snakeskin.org.uk
>
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