![]() ![]() John Adams, the composer of “Nixon in China,” “The Death of Klinghoffer,” and “Doctor Atomic,” has entered the ring with a finely wrought, fiercely expressive rendering of “Antony and Cleopatra,” which had its première on September 10th, at San Francisco Opera. Britten’s singular feat was to set the “Dream” line by line while imposing his own lithe, eerie personality. ![]() Verdi and Arrigo Boito did as much in “Otello” and “Falstaff” so did Thomas Adès and Meredith Oakes in “The Tempest,” which made its début in 2004 and has shown staying power. A safer approach is to appropriate Shakespeare’s drama and psychology while substituting a more modern text. The plays generate their own indelible music in the reader’s mind, and recitations by celebrated actors linger in the memory. Although the repertory contains various Shakespeare adaptations, only one version by a native speaker has found a secure place on international stages: Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” from 1960. Perhaps the riskiest venture that an English-speaking composer can undertake is to make an opera out of Shakespeare. ![]()
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