The Rake's Progress: 'Gently, little boat' | Glyndebourne

[@patrickpowero.n.z.m2773]

Perfection from Miah.Truly great singing.

[@marichristian1072]

How I love this opera. Saw it at Glyndebourne with a boyfriend when I was too young and stupid to recognize the greatness of Stravinsky's music and the most remarkable team who put the production together- including Auden's libretto and Hockney's scenery.

[@treesny]

While Stravinsky originally approached only W.H. Auden about writing the libretto, the poet took on as collaborator his life partner Chester Kallman, who was in fact more of an opera enthusiast than Auden at that point (The Rake had its premiere in 1951). The libretto is credited to both of them. They went on to write jointly several other opera librettos, notably for Hans Werner Henze (Elegy for Young Lovers, The Bassarids) and Nicholas Nabokov (Love's Labour's Lost). The theme of "Love, too frequently betrayed/For some plausible desire/Or the world's enchanted fire" (Act I, Scene 2) no doubt had personal resonance for the two men in their complicated yet lasting marriage-in-all-but-name.

[@wofi784]

Just saw this, what a production! Hockney’s scenery is simply awe-inspiring all throughout, and Stravinsky’s beautiful yet unsettling neo-classical score never gets old