Paul Bunyan's Second Chances

Until its performance in a slightly revised version in 1976, the operetta Paul Bunyan remained an interesting puzzle and intriguing footnote in the careers of its two creators, W. H. Auden and Benjamin Britten. The work was a failure in 1941 at its first performances at Columbia University in New York, or such, at least, seemed the opinion of the critical fraternity. Auden and Britten seemed to agree, and the accepted story is that the work was abandoned by mutual consent.' But it now appears that the story of its abandonment must be modified. There exists a postproduction revised version of the libretto in the Britten-Pears Library at Aldeburgh, and this version represents an attempt by Auden to make major changes in the libretto. This essay examines the changes that Auden made in the libretto, evaluates these changes as an exercise in self-criticism by Auden, and speculates on what lessons Auden may have learned from Paul Bunyan that helped him to his later successes as a librettist in such works as The Rake's Progress

Genealogy · History · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Theater, Performance, and Music History · Theatre and Performance Studies

• Popularization or Perversion? Folklore and Folksong in Britten’s Paul Bunyan (1941)

  Suzanne Robinson•American Music•2016

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