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

by W.H. Auden, W.H. Auden, Chester Kallman

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691033013
• ISBN13: 9780691033013
• Release Date: July 1993
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 800 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.3" x 6.5" x 9.4"