[another that got rejected...I'm crossing my fingers]
I don't think Harrison Birtwistle would ever have set such a libretto,
his work being *far* more astringent/violent/archetypal etc. The music
is by the English composer/conductor Oliver Knussen, whose work (he also
set *Higglety Pigglety Pop*) is much more "culinary" (to use a Brechtian
term.) Birtwistle's first opera was *Punch and Judy*, which is much less
easy to consume, not to say nerve-wracking. I believe you are right in
thinking Sendak did the libretto.
mj
Joanna Boulter wrote:
> I'm pretty certain that Sendak did the libretto for Harrison
> Birtwhistle's
> opera Where the Wild Things Are, and that the sets (of course) were
> based on
> the book illustrations.
>
> I bought this book for my small children in what must have been 1973,
> and my
> mother nicked it, so I had to get another copy for the kids.
>
> best joanna
>
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