Sunday, December 20, 2009

Dept. of Libretto Opportunities

Sometimes you come across a blog item that just begs to be turned into an opera libretto.  Here's one by the blogging mathematician Tanya Khovanova, that is just bursting with suggestion and promise: 

Gelfand’s Memorial

(The mathematician) Israel Gelfand’s memorial is being held at Rutgers on December 6, 2009. I was invited as Gelfand’s student.

My relationship with Gelfand was complicated: sometimes it was very painful and sometimes it was very rewarding. I was planning to attend the memorial to help me forget the pain and to acknowledge the good parts.

I believe that my relationship with Gelfand was utterly unique. You see, I was married three times, and all three times to students of Gelfand.

Now that I know that I can’t make it to the memorial, I can’t stop wondering how many single male students of Gelfand will be there.






3 comments:

Lisa Hirsch said...

I can think of multiple ways to structure that libretto!

Charles Shere said...

Didn't Alban Berg work on a variation of this?

Daniel Wolf said...

Lisa, yes, it's very rich in possibilities.

And yes, Charles, you're absolutely correct. How could Lulu have escaped my mind?