4. Working with the composer
Stephen Wyatt champions the essential but often overlooked contribution that librettists and lyricists make to great operas and musicals.
Award-winning writer Stephen Wyatt is on a mission. He thinks that the contribution of the librettist to opera and musical theatre is too often under-appreciated or just plain ignored. Like any creative collaboration, the relationship between composer and librettist can be an uphill struggle or it can be a harmonious meeting of minds. Either can potentially yield memorable results and here Stephen contrasts the examples of Beethoven鈥檚 opera Fidelio and Rossini鈥檚 The Barber of Seville. While it took Beethoven ten years and a grand total of three librettists to complete his only opera, Rossini and his librettist Cesare Sterbini knocked off The Barber of Seville in just three weeks. But in both cases the librettists came up with the goods and were (ultimately) able to give the composers exactly what they needed.
Production Coordinator: Nina Semple
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4
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- Thu 19 Jun 2025 21:45蜜芽传媒 Radio 3
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