''Neither'' is the only opera by
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...
, dating from 1977. Its libretto is a 16-line poem by
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
. Composer and librettist had met in Berlin two years earlier with plans for a collaboration for Rome Opera. However, Beckett told Feldman that he himself did not like opera. Feldman had echoed Beckett’s sentiment, so that the work emerged in Rome as a setting for soprano soloist only, accompanied by orchestra.
It could theoretically be termed a “monodrama”; however, given the creators’ disdain for opera, the label “anti-opera” fits better.
Recordings
* HatHut, hat (now) ART 180: Sarah Leonard, soprano;
Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt
The Frankfurt Radio Symphony (german: hr-Sinfonieorchester) is the radio orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. From 1929 to 1950 it was named ''Frankfurter Rundfunk-Symphonie-Orchester''. F ...
;
Zoltán Peskó
Zoltán Peskó (15 February 1937 – 31 March 2020) was a Hungarian conductor and composer who held leading positions at German, Italian and Portuguese opera houses and orchestras, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Comunale di Bologn ...
, conductor
* Col Legno, WWE 1CD 20081: Petra Hoffman, soprano;
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (german: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestr ...
; Kwamé Ryan, conductor
See also
*
neither (short story)
"neither" is a very short story by Samuel Beckett written in 1976 and originally published in the ''Journal of Beckett Studies
The ''Journal of Beckett Studies'' publishes academic articles relating to the work of Samuel Beckett, (1906–1989) ...
References
External links
* The Modern World, pages on
Feldman and Beckett
JazzLoft page on recording of ''Neither''
Neither Wealth Nor Splendor: Getting Morton Feldman’s and Samuel Beckett’s 1977 opera NEITHER from a Workshop Performance in NYC to the Konzerthaus in Vienna and the Obstacles Concerned.
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English-language operas
Operas
Operas by Morton Feldman
Works by Samuel Beckett
1977 operas