Amanda Juliet Holden (; 19 January 1948 – 7 September 2021) was a British pianist, librettist, translator, editor and academic teacher. She is known for translating opera librettos to more contemporary English for the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in Englis ...

, and for writing new librettos, especially in collaboration with Brett Dean. She contributed to encyclopedias such as the ''New Penguin Opera Guide''.

Life and career

Amanda Juliet Warren was born in London, the daughter of Sir Brian Warren and Dame

Josephine Barnes Dame Alice Josephine Mary Taylor Barnes, (18 August 1912 – 28 December 1999), known professionally as Dr Josephine Barnes, was a leading English obstetrician and gynaecologist. She was the first female president of the British Medical Associ ...

. She was educated at

Benenden School Benenden School is an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England, in Hemsted Park at Benenden, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Benenden has a boarding population of over 550 girls aged 11 to 18, as well as a limited number of day ...

, and studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, with Egon Wellesz where she gained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

(MA), at

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jaz ...

and a MA at the American University, Washington, DC. She also had degrees from the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...

(

ARCM Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) is a diploma qualification of the Royal College of Music, equivalent to a university first degree. Like the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music diploma (LRAM), it was offered in teaching or perf ...

and

LRAM Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM) is a professional diploma, or licentiate, formerly open to both internal students of the Royal Academy of Music and to external candidates in voice, keyboard and orchestral instruments and guitar, as ...

).Holden /Amanda, ''Who's Who'' (UK), 2012 She first worked as a freelance pianist and accompanist, teacher at the Guildhall School, and therapist from 1973 to 1986.

Librettos and other texts for the stage

Many of Holden's opera libretto translations were commissioned by the

(ENO). She translated Mozart's '' Don Giovanni'' for Jonathan Miller in 1985. For the ENO, she also translated Handel's '' Partenope'', '' Rodelinda'', '' Ariodante'', '' Alcina'' and

Agrippina Agrippina is an ancient Roman cognomen and a feminine given name. People with either the cognomen or the given name include: Cognomen Relatives of the Roman general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa: * Vipsania Agrippina (36 BC–20 AD), first wife of th ...

, Donizetti's '' Lucia di Lammermoor'', Rossini's '' The Barber of Seville'', and Puccini's ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuse ...

''. Holden translated HK Gruber's ''Gloria: A Pigtale'' in 2002, which critic Bernard Holland of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' found heavy-handed but "rescued by Amanda Holden's clever English version". She made a "highly acclaimed translation" of Puccini's '' Madama Butterfly'' for David Freeman's production at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

in 2011. Holden prepared the "deft" narration for a concert performance of Weber's ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 1 ...

'' presented by the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

at the Barbican Centre in April 2012. She translated Gluck's '' Orpheus and Eurydice'' for the St. Louis Opera in 2018, Pascal Dusapin's ''Passion'' for its UK premiere at the Music Theatre Wales in 2018, and

Hans Abrahamsen Hans Abrahamsen (born 23 December 1952) is a Danish composer born in Kongens Lyngby near Copenhagen. His '' Let me tell you'' (2013), a song cycle for soprano and orchestra, was ranked by music critics at ''The Guardian'' as the finest work of t ...

's ''The Snow Queen'' for Munich in 2019. Holden's librettos for contemporary operas include '' Bliss'', for the Australian composer Brett Dean which was premiered by Opera Australia. ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...

'' compared Holden's partnership with Dean in "long-distance collaboration" to the composer–librettist partnerships of Mozart and da Ponte, and

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and early Modernism (music), modern eras, he has been descr ...

and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. She wrote the libretto for Mark-Anthony Turnage's '' The Silver Tassie'', which premiered at the ENO in 2000, and for which Holden and Turnage jointly received the

Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera The Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Thea ...

in 2001. She also wrote texts for plays, songs, concert works and music theatre.

Publications

Holden's publications include contributions to ''The Mozart Compendium'' in 1990, the ''New Penguin Opera Guide'' in 2001 and the ''Penguin Concise Guide to Opera'' in 2005.

James Oestreich James Ruben Oestreich (born 1943) is a classical music critic for '' The New York Times'', where he has written about music since 1989. He grew up in Wisconsin. Career Oestreich has held earlier posts as music critic at '' American Record Guide' ...

, writing in ''

'', described the ''New Penguin Opera Guide'' as a "valuable source" and "most impressive", though he would have liked the index to cover performers, places and events – rather than just the composers and librettists. Her works included: * Amanda Holden (ed.): ''The Penguin Concise Guide to Opera''. Penguin, reprinted 2005. * Amanda Holden (ed.): ''The New Penguin Opera Guide''. Penguin 2001. (Reprinted in paperback 2003) * Amanda Holden (ed.): ''The Penguin Opera Guide''. Penguin 1995. (Reprinted in paperback 1997) * Amanda Holden,

Nicholas Kenyon Sir Nicholas Roger Kenyon CBE (born 23 February 1951, in Cheshire) is an English music administrator, editor and writer on music. He was responsible for the BBC Proms in 1996–2007, after which he was appointed Managing Director of the Barbican ...

and Stephen Walsh (eds.): ''The Viking Opera Guide''. (with CD-ROM) 1993

Personal life

Holden married writer and broadcaster Anthony Holden in 1971. They had three sons and divorced in 1988. She died on 7 September 2021, at the age of 73.

References

External links

* * * *
Amanda Holden
operascotland.org
The Snow Queen / Hans Abrahamsen
operanationaldurhin.eu 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, Amanda 1948 births 2021 deaths Musicians from London Writers from London Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford British opera librettists Women opera librettists Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama American University alumni Associates of the Royal College of Music 20th-century British translators 21st-century British translators 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers