The Complete Works of W. H. Auden: Libretti and Other Dramatic Writings, 1939-1973 (The Complete Works of W. H. Auden, 4) - Hardcover

Auden, W. H.; Kallman, Chester

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691033013 ISBN 13: 9780691033013

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1993

Synopsis

W. H. Auden called opera the "last refuge of the High Style," and considered it the one art in which the grand manner survived the ironic levelings of modernity. He began writing libretti soon after he arrived in America in 1939 and abandoned his earlier attempts to write public, political drama. Opera gave him the opportunity to rise to the high style in public, not in an attempt to elevate his own status as a poet, but in service of the heroic voice of the singers. These works present their mythical actions with a direct intensity unlike anything in even his greatest poems. In this volume of Auden and Chester Kallman's libretti, extensive historical and textual notes trace the history of the production and revision of the works and provide full texts of early scenarios, as well as abandoned and rewritten scenes.

Almost all the works included here were previously published in incomplete and often inaccessible editions--or were never published at all. The book prints for the first time the full text of Paul Bunyan, Auden's first libretto, which he wrote for music by Benjamin Britten. It also includes Auden and Kallman's The Rake's Progress, written for Igor Stravinsky, and Delia, written for Stravinsky but never set to music. The book continues with Auden and Kallman's two libretti written for music by Hans Werner Henze, Elegy for Young Lovers and The Bassarids, and their adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, composed by Nicolas Nabokov. It also contains their translation of The Magic Flute, with its scenes reordered for greater dramatic coherence and added dialogue for sharper mythical significance, and their antimasque, The Entertainment of the Senses, for music by John Gardner.

The book contains two radio plays--The Dark Valley, a monologue written by Auden alone, and The Rocking Horse Winner, written with James Stern and based on a story by D. H. Lawrence. Also included are the unpublished masque that Auden wrote for Kallman's twenty-second birthday, the unpublished versions of The Dutchess of Malfi that Auden prepared with Bertolt Brecht, scenarios for a film script and a libretto that were never completed, Auden's narrative for the medieval Play of Daniel, two narratives for documentary films, and his song lyrics written for Man of La Mancha before the producer decided to use a different lyricist.

About this title

About the Author:

Edward Mendelson is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and the author of Early Auden (Viking). He is the editor of two volumes of Auden's poetry, Collected Poems (Random House) and The English Auden (Random House).

From Library Journal:

This first volume of the complete Auden gathers eight plays (four written in collaboration with Isherwood) along with several pieces for film, cabaret, and radio. Nearly all the material has long been out of print; some has never been published before. These early dramatic works remain energetic and lively, demonstrating Auden's versatility and his bent for experimentation. Mendelson provides a useful introduction and extensive textual notes, with information on revisions, stage and publication histories, and sources. A comprehensive, definitive text of the work of a major 20th-century writer, this volume is an essential addition to academic and public libraries.
- Michael Hennessy, Southwest Texas State Univ., San Marcos
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0691033013
• ISBN 13: 9780691033013
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 823
• Editor: Mendelson Edward