For You: The Libretto for Michael Berkeley's Opera
By (Author) Ian McEwan
Vintage Publishing
Vintage
1st July 2008
5th June 2008
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Modern and contemporary plays (c 1900 onwards)
Narrative theme: Love and relationships
Opera
Musical scores, lyrics and libretti
822.914
Paperback
80
Width 128mm, Height 196mm, Spine 10mm
80g
A powerful drama of passion, obsession and tragedy from one of Britain's greatest living writers. Charles Frieth, pre-eminent composer, conductor and prodigious womaniser, is preparing for a performance of one of his early works, and the world premiere of Demonic Aubade. Obstinate and myopic, he is oblivious to the growing turmoil around him; his wife's poor health and sadness; the exhausted efforts of his secretary, and the destructive passion of his housekeeper, Maria. As the first performance draws near, the maestro is suddenly awoken to the chaos, and as Charles struggles to regain control of his life, a terrible tragedy begins to unfold.
The characters are etched with impressive economy by McEwan * The Evening Standard *
Ian McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of seventeen books. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; and Nutshell, which was a Number One bestseller. Atonement and Enduring Love have both been turned into award-winning films, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach are in production and set for release this year, and filming is currently underway for a BBC TV adaptation of The Child in Time.