Mary ''Myfanwy'' Piper (; Welsh: ; 28 March 1911 – 18 January 1997) was a British art critic and opera

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

Biography

Mary Myfanwy Evans was born on 28 March 1911 into a Welsh family in London. Her father was a chemist in Hampstead, north London. She attended

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...

, where she won a scholarship to read English Language and Literature at St Hugh's College, Oxford. From 1935 to 1937, she edited the periodical ''Axis'' which was devoted to abstract art. She married the artist John Piper in 1937, and lived with him in rural surroundings at

Fawley Bottom Fawley Bottom is a small village in south Buckinghamshire, England, north of Henley-on-Thames. It is in the civil parish of Fawley. The artist John Piper and his wife, the librettist Myfanwy Piper, were notable long-term residents of Fawley ...

, Buckinghamshire (near Henley-on-Thames) for much of her life.

Frances Spalding Frances Spalding (née Crabtree, born 16 July 1950) is a British art historian, writer and a former editor of ''The Burlington Magazine''. Life Frances Crabtree studied at the University of Nottingham and gained her PhD for a study of Roger Fr ...

, ''John Piper, Myfanwy Piper: Lives in art''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2009. . Between 1954 and 1973 she collaborated with the composer

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

on several of his operas, and between 1977 and 1981 with composer

Alun Hoddinott Alun Hoddinott CBE (11 August 1929 – 11 March 2008) was a Welsh composer of classical music, one of the first to receive international recognition. Life and works Hoddinott was born in Bargoed, Glamorganshire, Wales. He was educated at Gowe ...

on most of his operatic works. She was a friend of the poet John Betjeman, who wrote several poems addressing her, such as "Myfanwy""myfanwy" at www.johnbetjeman.com
/ref> and "Myfanwy at Oxford". She and John Piper had two sons and two daughters. Her elder son, painter Edward Piper, predeceased her in 1990.David Fraser Jenkins
Obituary: Myfanwy Piper
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 22 January 1997. Myfanwy Piper died at her home in

on 18 January 1997.

Opera libretti

*''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmil ...

'',

, 14 September 1954,

Teatro La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice bec ...

, Venice (based on ''

'' by

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

) *''

Owen Wingrave ''Owen Wingrave'', Op. 85, is an opera in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten and libretto by Myfanwy Piper, after a short story by Henry James. It was originally written for televised performance. Britten had been aware of the story sin ...

'', Benjamin Britten, 16 May 1971, BBC Television (based on a short story by Henry James) *''

Death in Venice ''Death in Venice ''(German: ''Der Tod in Venedig'') is a novella by German author Thomas Mann, published in 1912. It presents an ennobled writer who visits Venice and is liberated, uplifted, and then increasingly obsessed by the sight of a Poli ...

'', Benjamin Britten, 16 June 1973,

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...

Snape, Suffolk Snape is a small village in the English county of Suffolk, on the River Alde close to Aldeburgh. At the 2011 census the population was 611. In Anglo-Saxon England, Snape was the site of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial. Snape is now best known for ...

(based on '' Der Tod in Venedig'' by

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

) *''Easter'',

Malcolm Williamson Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, (21 November 19312 March 2003) was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death. Biography Williamson was born in Sydney in 1931; his father was an A ...

*''

What the Old Man Does is Always Right What or WHAT may refer to: * What, an interrogative pronoun and adverb * "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism Film and television * ''What!'' (film) or ''The Whip and the Body'', a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava * '' What ...

'',

, 1977 *''

The Rajah's Diamond ''The Rajah's Diamond'' is a cycle of four short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. First published in 1878 in a serial periodical ''London Magazine'', they were republished in the first volume of '' New Arabian Nights''. The stories are: *"Story ...

'', Alun Hoddinott, 1979 *''

The Trumpet Major ''The Trumpet-Major'' is a novel by Thomas Hardy published in 1880, and his only historical novel, and Hardy included it with his "romances and fantasies". It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the ...

'', Alun Hoddinott, 1981

Play

* ''The Seducer'', Søren Kierkegaard play in two acts, based on Kierkegaard's ''The Seducer’s Diary'', 1843

References

External links

Myfanwy Piper — Opera LibrettiPicture
in the National Portrait Gallery,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, Myfanwy 1911 births 1997 deaths People educated at North London Collegiate School Writers from London Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford English art critics English opera librettists

Myfanwy ''Myfanwy'' (; a woman's name derived ) is a popular Welsh song, composed by Joseph Parry and first published in 1875. Background Sources differ as to whether Dr. Parry composed the music for an existing poem by Richard Davies (" Mynyddog Mwy ...

English people of Welsh descent Benjamin Britten 20th-century women writers British women art critics Women opera librettists 20th-century English non-fiction writers

Biography

Opera libretti

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See also

References

External links