New Project - a libretto for ‘Dorian Gray’

I’m hoping to begin work shortly on a new project, writing a libretto for an opera based on ‘Dorian Gray’.  It’s hard to think of anything much more exciting!  I’ll be working with Slovakian composer Lubica Cekovska on this commission for the Slovak National Opera in Bratislava.  Hooray.  Will be visiting Bratislava shortly to meet Lubica and her colleagues at the opera.

Re-reading ‘Dorian Gray’ has been interesting; the story is so firmly embedded in our literary culture.  I’d forgotten how grim it is, and how at odds with the story Wilde’s aphoristic style can feel at times. I’d also almost forgotten that the thing about the painting is not that it gets older while Dorian does not, but that it is a visual record of all Dorian’s sins - the painting grows vile as it manifests the evil in Dorian’s soul. When Dorian finally dies, he’s actually not that old - the novel mentions that it is 18 years since the painting was finished, so he can’t be much more than 38 or 40 or so.  Also, what the novel leaves out fascinates me - the stuff that Dorian gets up to down in London’s old docklands. Nasty.

So, this is a fantastic new departure for me, and one that I’m very excited about.  Plus it will give me an excuse to go to the opera more and more and more often.  Next up:  Berg’s ‘Lulu’ at Covent Garden.