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Listening as a Letter of Uriah: A note on Berio's Un re in ascolto (1984) on the occasion of the opera's first performance in London (9 February 1989)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 August 2008
Extract
Imagine what would have happened if Prospero had come out in front of the curtain at the end of the first performance of Shakespeare's Tempest on 1 November 1611 and if, at his words
Now, 'tis true,
I must be here confin'd by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please […],
the audience had not applauded. In accordance with Jacobean theatrical practice, the sound of applause breaks the theatrical illusion.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990
References
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