Author Description

Pound revised his first opera Le Testament (1923) in 1926 and 1933 to accommodate reduced performing forces. Under pressure from musicians who resisted the mathematical acrobatics required to read and play the 1923 music, he also changed the asymmetrical rhythms to simpler plans based on, respectively, 5/8 and 4/4 meters. The 2008 publication Le Testament, Paroles de Villon is a double volume that contains engraved performance editions for the 1926 and 1933 versions, with libretto, editors' notes, facsimile pages and historical background. Le Testament: Paroles de Villon will be of interest to collectors and followers of twentieth-century opera and poetry, as well as to vocalists, performing groups and ensembles. (Note Amazon's category sheet music - this is an engraved edition, perfect bound, not sheet music.)