----- 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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