The Love Bomb: and Other Musical Pieces; Haroun and the Sea of Stories; The Fall of Jerusalem - Softcover

Fenton, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 057121147X ISBN 13: 9780571211470

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003

Synopsis

Three Libretti―Ranging In Setting From Ancient Jerusalem To Pre-Apocalyptic London―From An Acclaimed Poet

This volume of libretti marks new work―and new terrain―for James Fenton. Commissioned by companies in New York and England, these musical pieces make the most of the poet's poignant, witty, and characteristically lyrical verse. Whether evoking modern-day London on the edge of apocalypse in The Love Bomb, a timeless land beyond the moon in this version of Salman Rushdie's children's novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories, or ancient Jerusalem in his stirring oratorio The Fall of Jerusalem, which was composed to mark the millennium, Fenton's lucid storytelling and stylish wordplay bring these pieces vividly to life―with equal power in performance or on the page.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories was commissioned by the New York City Opera and had its premiere at Lincoln Center in September 2003.

"[James Fenton] writes as no one else dares to--with clarity, wit, and the simplest of rhymes."--Voice Literary Supplement

About this title

About the Author:

A noted poet and former theater critic, James Fenton writes about poetry, art, and history for The New York Review of Books. His recent books include An Introduction to English Poetry (FSG, 2003).

Review:

"Whether he's doing satire, light verse, ballads, historical pieces, complex meditation, indignant attacks on rebarbative American critics, horror, or love, there is always an Audenesque power which comes from combining moral, intellectual and political responsibility with playful, patterning, musical, sceptical, compassionate wit."

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 057121147X
• ISBN 13: 9780571211470
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192