Voicing tragedy in David Mitchell’s libretti: Wake and Sunken Garden

Rosemary Harris-Birtill

doi:10.5040/9781474262132.0013

Voicing tragedy in David Mitchell’s libretti: Wake and Sunken Garden

Rosemary Harris-Birtill

School of English

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Abstract

This chapter discusses David Mitchell’s libretti for the operas Wake (2010), composed by Klaas de Vries and with an electronic score by René Uijlenhoet, and Sunken Garden (2013), composed by Michel van der Aa. Drawing on interviews with Sunken Garden’s original cast and Wake’s composer, this chapter investigates how Mitchell’s texts contribute to each opera as a Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art, analysing each opera’s secular reworking of Buddhist approaches to mortality as a response to personal and collective tragedy, and identifying key traits that situate these works as integral facets of Mitchell’s wider textual universe.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	David Mitchell
Subtitle of host publication	contemporary critical perspectives
Editors	Wendy Knepper, Courtney Hopf
Place of Publication	London
Publisher	Bloomsbury Academic
Chapter	7
Pages	117-132
ISBN (Electronic)	9781474262125, 9781474262132
ISBN (Print)	9781474262101, 9781350215412
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474262132.0013
Publication status	Published - 25 Jul 2019
Event	David Mitchell Symposium - New York University in London, Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom Duration: 9 May 2014 → …

Publication series

Name	Contemporary critical perspectives series

Conference

Conference	David Mitchell Symposium
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	London
Period	9/05/14 → …

Keywords

David Mitchell
Contemporary literature
Opera
Libretti
Libretto
Wake
Sunken Garden
Tragedy
Klaas de Vries
Michel van der Aa
Buddhism

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10.5040/9781474262132.0013

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title = "Voicing tragedy in David Mitchell{\textquoteright}s libretti: Wake and Sunken Garden",

abstract = "This chapter discusses David Mitchell{\textquoteright}s libretti for the operas Wake (2010), composed by Klaas de Vries and with an electronic score by Ren{\'e} Uijlenhoet, and Sunken Garden (2013), composed by Michel van der Aa. Drawing on interviews with Sunken Garden{\textquoteright}s original cast and Wake{\textquoteright}s composer, this chapter investigates how Mitchell{\textquoteright}s texts contribute to each opera as a Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art, analysing each opera{\textquoteright}s secular reworking of Buddhist approaches to mortality as a response to personal and collective tragedy, and identifying key traits that situate these works as integral facets of Mitchell{\textquoteright}s wider textual universe.",

keywords = "David Mitchell, Contemporary literature, Opera, Libretti, Libretto, Wake, Sunken Garden, Tragedy, Klaas de Vries, Michel van der Aa, Buddhism",

author = "Rosemary Harris-Birtill",

year = "2019",

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day = "25",

doi = "10.5040/9781474262132.0013",

language = "English",

isbn = "9781474262101",

series = "Contemporary critical perspectives series",

publisher = "Bloomsbury Academic",

pages = "117--132",

editor = "Wendy Knepper and Courtney Hopf",

booktitle = "David Mitchell",

note = "David Mitchell Symposium ; Conference date: 09-05-2014",

}

Voicing tragedy in David Mitchell’s libretti: Wake and Sunken Garden. / Harris-Birtill, Rosemary.
David Mitchell: contemporary critical perspectives. ed. / Wendy Knepper; Courtney Hopf. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. p. 117-132 (Contemporary critical perspectives series).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

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SN - 9781350215412

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Voicing tragedy in David Mitchell’s libretti: Wake and Sunken Garden

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David Mitchell's Post-Secular World: Buddhism, Belief and the Urgency of Compassion

'Right yourself as best you may': voicing tragedy in David Mitchell's libretti

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