In this book Jack Beeson, the composer of ten operas, recounts his search for subjects and the writing of five of their librettos, his collaboration with the librettists of the other five
(William Saroyan, Richard Plant, Kenward Elmslie, and Sheldon Harnick), and the varied and tangled events leading to their premieres in theatres and on television here and abroad. In this
informal memoir, discursive and allusive--even Shandean--the unifying element is the description of how the music and words came into being and were intimately wedded to make ten very different
music-theatre works."From my first libretto, written at age 16 in 1936, to the premieres of my 9th and 10th operas in 1999 at age 78, 63 years elapsed. I'm told that the published recounting by
a composer-librettist of such a long commitment to making operas would be unique." Four years in Rome, a half-century of teaching at Columbia, and an even longer commitment to organizations
that aid the American composer have led to a wide acquaintance. "Given my long life and a sharp memory for the comic and the ironic, included are many encounters and conversations with
luminaries of my generation and my elders: my teacher Bartok, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Barber, Bernstein, David Diamond, and Muhammad Ali."
