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Friday, December 12, 2008

John Mitchell's Wuthering Heights

Friday, December 12, 2008 12:03 am by M. in , , ,    8 comments
John Mitchell (1941) is an American composer who has several Brontë-related pieces in his extensive catalogue :
Opus 17 Visions From the Earth (1976) (10 Songs) (Voice and Piano) (Emily Brontë) (from this work, here (mp3) or here (rm) you can listen to Child Of Delight, sung by April Crane)
Opus 24 The Earth, the Wind and the Sky (1977) (15 songs) (Voice and Piano) (Emily Bronte)
Opus 71 Seven Journeys to Earth (1989) (35 Songs)( Voice and Piano) (Emily Brontë)
Recently he has finished his magna opus opera, an operatic setting of Wuthering Heights of Wagnerian proportions:
In 2007 he finished Wuthering Heights, a five-part opera cycle nine and a half hours in length based on the novel by Emily Brontë.

Opus 164 Wuthering Heights, Part One (Opera based on the novel by Emily Brontë) (Soloists and Orchestra) (2006)
Opus 170 Wuthering Heights, Part Two (Opera) (Soloists and Orchestra) (2007)
Opus 171 Wuthering Heights, Part Three (Opera) (Soloists and Orchestra) (2007)
We don't know the opus number of the two other parts of the opera.
EDIT: As a matter of fact the other two parts are a prologue (therefore, part of Opus 164) and an epilogue (Opus 171). Thanks to Vicky Drake for the clarification.

John Mitchell has also recently put Sylvia Plath's poem Wuthering Heights into music:
Opus 175 Song: Wuthering Heights (Voice and Piano) (Sylvia Plath) (2007)
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous12/13/2008 12:42:00 pm

    wow! I can't believe the wealth of information! Well done. Came across your blog while researching about Patrick Bronte. I was writing a travelogue about his birthplace in Northern Ireland. Will visit again to continue reading. This is such a labour of love!

    all the best

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12/13/2008 11:46:00 pm

    Esther,

    Many thanks for stopping by and saying such nice things! We would love to hear more about this travelogue you are working on - can you tell us about it? Will we be able to read it when it's done?

    Hope to see you around!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12/15/2008 09:34:00 am

    Hello Cristina,

    thank you for your interest. I am slowly working on it. You can get an idea on

    http://www.my-secret-northern-ireland.com/bronte-homeland.html

    Still have lots of content to add and ofcourse our personal photos - my two year old daughter stepped on the USB connection of the external hard drive where all the digital photos are.. arghhh... children, don't you love them! Nothing is damaged, I just need to find a special cable to retrieve the day.

    So, watch this space!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12/15/2008 02:52:00 pm

    Hi Esther,

    Thanks so much for the link! I've added it to our sidebar, because it is a very interesting resource. Do feel free to let us know about updates, etc. I'm glad to hear you will be able to retrieve the images, though the accident did make me smile :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous12/15/2008 06:37:00 pm

    Oh, Cristina, I am honoured to be in your sidebar! Thank you. And yes, sure, I will let you know about the updates.

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12/16/2008 01:36:00 pm

    Please do! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Vicky Drake12/22/2008 10:24:00 pm

    Hello, this is very nice! I'm composer John Mitchell's wife and would like to explain the five parts of his operatic setting of Wuthering Heights. The other two parts are a prologue and an epilogue - patterned after the book - but he didn't give them separate opus numbers, so the prologue is part of Op. 164 and the epilogue of 171.

    Best wishes,
    Vicky

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous12/23/2008 10:30:00 am

    Hello Vicky,

    Many thanks for your comment and the clarification. Now it's all clear.

    ReplyDelete

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