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opera by Benjamin Britten
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Death in Venice, Op. 88, is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, his last. The opera is based on Death in Venice, a novella by Thomas Mann. The opera's libretto is by Myfanwy Piper. Her husband John Piper designed the sets. It was first performed at Snape Maltings, near Aldeburgh, England, on 16 June 1973.
Not who you're looking for? Others named Death in Venice: 1912 novella by Thomas Mann · 1971 film directed by Luchino Visconti
“Überreizt von der schwierigen und gefährlichen, eben jetzt eine höchste Behutsamkeit, Umsicht, Eindringlichkeit und Genauigkeit des Willens erfordernden Arbeit der Vormittagsstunden, hatte der Schriftsteller dem Fortschwingen des produzierenden Triebwerkes in seinem Innern, jenem „motus animi continuus”, worin nach Cicero das Wesen der Beredsamkeit besteht.”
“To him it seemed his work had ceased to be marked by that fiery play of fancy which is the product of joy, and more, and more potently, than any intrinsic content, forms in turn the joy of the receiving world.”
“Amor, in sooth, is like the mathematician who in order to give children a knowledge of pure form must do so in the language of pictures; so, too, the god, in order to make visible the spirit, avails himself of the forms and colours of human youth, gilding it with all imaginable beauty that it may serve memory as a tool, the very sight of which then sets us afire with pain and longing.”
“Beauty … is the sole aspect of the spiritual which we can perceive through our senses.”
“Socrates … said the subtlest thing of all: that the lover was nearer the divine than the beloved.”
“When Aschenbach put aside his work and left the beach he felt exhausted, he felt broken—conscience reproached him, as it were after a debauch.”
Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.