Faber-Music - Libretto

The Libretto to Nicholas Maw's opera in four acts based upon the post-war dramatic novel by William Styron.

Libretto to The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty by W.S. GIlbert and Arthur Sullivan.

Half A Sixpence was originally produced by Harold Fielding and opened on March 21st 1963 at the Cambridge Theatre London where it ran for 677 performances. In the USA it was produced by Harold Fielding in association with Roger Stevens Allen-Hodgdon and Harry Rigby and opened on April 25th 1965 at the Broadhurst Theatre New York where it ran for 517 performances.

Paul Griffiths says 'The piece is full of clever and beautiful things; the early scenes proceed almost in convulsions of orchestral brilliance within a marvellously clear and animated world whose chief references sometimes explicit are to Ravel and Stravinsky. The scene with the pig is deliciously rich in bass gruntings; that with the milkman cat mixes Marx brohters dialogue with a sophisticated recreation of low musical gags'.The Times 6 August 1985