Word: librettos
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Based on an especially grisly Brothers Grimm fairy tale, the Juniper Tree libretto, by Children's Author Arthur Yorinks, recounts the fable of an evil stepmother (Mezzo Ruby Hinds) who murders her stepson (Soprano Lynn Torgove) and serves the dismembered boy to his father (Baritone Sanford Sylvan) in a stew. His spirit reincarnated as a bird, the boy takes his revenge by dropping a millstone on the stepmother and is joyfully restored to his father and half sister. Watching over all is the juniper tree, in which dwells the benign spirit of the boy's real mother...
...sharp and clear. All in all, this Rosenkavalier captures the feeling of being there, right down to the sight of Karajan making his way energetically through the orchestra, hopping onto the podium and cuing the horns for their first dashing leap. There are no subtitles, so have your libretto handy...
...adults face a new test of their mettle. Where the Wild Things Are, a 45- minute opera with music by British Composer Oliver Knussen and sets, costumes and libretto by Sendak, received its American stage premiere two weeks ago at the Minnesota Opera in St. Paul. Like the book, the opera promises to become a minor classic...
...late 19th century. Inevitably, they cast their spell on the imaginations of the country's leading composers; Debussy, for example, long considered writing a pair of one-act operas based on Poe's fantasies. He made a start on The Fall of the House of Usher, preparing the libretto himself, but at his death he had composed only the first scene and fragments of the second...
...torture: that's what it's all about. Set in the deceptively innocent confines of a remote country house, this year's Lowell House Opera. The Turn of the Screw, quickly disintegrates into a horribly perverted fairy tale. The opera is an adaptation of Henry James' story, with the libretto by Myfanwy Piper and the bewitchingly eerie music by Benjamin Britten...