The article examines the role of music and the forms of its embodiment in the works of the outstanding Anglo-American poet W. H. Auden (1907–1973). Auden is known to Russian musicians mainly as a librettist. However, his extensive legacy is permeated with various musical currents—even in texts not directly related to musical issues. An analysis of documentary works and biographical evidence, as well as prose, poetry, plays, scripts, librettos and epistolary heritage of Auden, allows us to outline the large-scale musical Universe of the poet, whose central place was occupied by the opera genre. One of the article’s points observes Auden’s activity as a music critic: the work for the first time examines several musical critical works of the poet. Also, for the first time, a translation of Auden’s article “Opera Addict” (1948) is published.
Kuznetsova, M. V. “Wystan Hugh Auden: Opera Addict.” Muzykal’naya akademiya [Music Academy], no. 4, 2024, pp. 120–147, doi:10.34690/435. (In Russ.)
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Editorial Staff of the journal “Music Academy,” for his help and assistance in obtaining permission to publish translations of W. H. Auden’s texts. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to Lucille Deblache (University of Roehampton, London, UK) and Suzanne-Young Gottlieb (Northwestern University, Evanston, USA). I would like to thank Marina Izrailevna Nest’eva for her support. Thanks to dear Natalia Goncharova (Washington, USA).
