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25 new of 278 responses total.
rcurl
response 213 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 23 05:03 UTC 1999

Not Weill.

Maybe if I hum a little of the melody....

mm m mm m | m-m m mm m | m-m m mm m | mmm mm o |
rcurl
response 214 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 23 05:52 UTC 1999

I meant to also say that, while Weill was a composer, this libettist was
not, to my knowledge, a composer (though it is hard to find biographical
information about librettists, as you have probably found out...).
md
response 215 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 23 11:18 UTC 1999

R. Strauss's librettist was Hofmannsthal.
Bizet's librettist for Carmen I don't know,
but it was based on a novel by Merimeee'.

Is it Offenbach's librettist?
rcurl
response 216 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 23 16:12 UTC 1999

Who was Offenbach's librettist?
omni
response 217 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 23 18:37 UTC 1999

who was Lotte Lenya?
rcurl
response 218 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 23 18:49 UTC 1999

Not Lenya.
rtg
response 219 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 24 00:29 UTC 1999

Possibly Berthold Brecht?
rcurl
response 220 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 24 04:53 UTC 1999

A very good notion - an actually well known librettist (and author and
poet...). But a several generations later, so not Brecht.
md
response 221 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 24 10:37 UTC 1999

I think he means Brecht was several generations
later.  Was this person French? 
rcurl
response 222 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 24 15:39 UTC 1999

Yes...this author is several generations *earlier* than Brecht. Sorry. 

Direct questions have not been the traditional way to play this game, but
rather to draw interpretations from quotes, or comparative deductions, and
then have those affirmed or denied. I've been struggling with how to
answer direct yes-no questions (apart from those about the author's name).
Michael asked earlier whether this author was Offenbach's librettist.
Offenbach wrote more than 100 operas and had dozens of librettists....was
this author one of them? OK, yes. [I have already confirmed that in a
Jeopardian manner.] Now, can you deduce from the quotes given, which
librettist of those dozens this is? 

I thought the author's work I've been quoting would have been the best
clue to his identify, but here is an original quote from a different work:

  Rien!.. - En vain j'interroge, en mon ardente veille,
  La nature et le Createur;
  Pas une voix ne glisse a mon oreille
  Un mot consolateur!
  J'ai langui triste et solitaire,
  Sans pouvoir briser le lien
  Qui m'attache encore a la terre!..
  Je ne vois rien! - Je ne sais rien!..

(There are few more famous opening lines in opera.)
remmers
response 223 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 24 21:52 UTC 1999

Another yes/no question: Is this person well known in his own right?
flem
response 224 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 25 00:13 UTC 1999

Jules Barbier?
rcurl
response 225 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 25 01:03 UTC 1999

Jules Barbier it is - or Michel Carre'. The "sugary hackneyed verse"
of the first selection (_O NIght of Love_) is accompanied by the
Barcarolle, from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman. The second selection
is also from Tales, while the last are the opening area from Gounod's
Faust. Carre is better known as a dramatist and poet, and his
later librettist career was mostly in collaboration with Barbier. 
My RCA Book of the Opera lists only Barbier as the Tales librettist,
while a playbill I have from a recent performance lists both Barbier
and Carre'. I haven't dug further to straighten this out.

You're up, flem. What was your route of deduction?
mcnally
response 226 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 25 02:02 UTC 1999

  I knew those seemed familiar..  (Opera Grand Rapids produced "Tales of
  Hoffmann" this winter and Gounod's "Faust" last year..)  Just couldn't
  place them..
flem
response 227 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 27 05:37 UTC 1999

Cool!  

The French version seemed very familiar to me, and I was almost certain 
that I had heard it sung at some point (I have).  Thinking on it, I 
realized that the only Offenbach opera I've heard is "Tales of 
Hoffmann", and from there it wasn't hard to find the name of the 
librettist.  Also, by way of confirmation, a quick internet search 
revealed his name in connection with several other operas, which would 
seem to confirm another clue.  

I'll have something tomorrow (er, today...), as I just stepped out of 
the car after a fourteen hour drive.  Ugh.  
flem
response 228 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 27 17:33 UTC 1999

Okay, here we go.

    As has already been explained, our camp was between the two rivers 
  ----- and -----, which were about thirty miles apart.  Neither of 
  these rivers could be crossed, and so we were forced to remain in this 
  confined space.  The states which were on friendly terms with us were 
  unable to send us grain; some of our own people, who had gone out for 
  quite a distance to bring in supplies, were cut off by the floods and 
  could not get back; and the large convoys of provisions coming in from 
  ----- and ---- could not reach the camp.  It was also the worst 
  possible time of the year.  There was no grain left in the winter 
  stocks, and the new harvest was not quite ripe.  The neighboring 
  tribes had been drained of supplies, since A------- had had nearly all 
  the grain taken to ------ before I arrived, and what little was left 
  had been used up by us in the last few days.  Meat might have been a 
  possible substitute for the grain which we lacked, but we could not 
  even get meat because the people of the neighborhood had driven off 
  their cattle as soon as the war began.  And those of our men who went 
  out to look for fodder and grain were attacked by ---------- light 
  infantry and ------- targeteers, who knew the country well and had no 
  difficulty in crossing the rivers, since they regularly carried with 
  them on active service bladders which could be used as floats.  
md
response 229 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 27 20:12 UTC 1999

Grant or Sherman?
swa
response 230 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 28 01:42 UTC 1999

Whassisname.  Greek guy.
flem
response 231 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 28 04:18 UTC 1999

Not Grant, not Sherman. 
rcurl
response 232 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 28 04:58 UTC 1999

I think it might be 18th century.
mcnally
response 233 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 28 17:21 UTC 1999

  re #230:  perhaps you're thinking Thucydides?
rcurl
response 234 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 28 18:20 UTC 1999

Washington
flem
response 235 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 29 06:53 UTC 1999

Not Thucydides, not Washington.  

I'd post another quote, but I don't have the book handy.  I'll try to 
get one tomorrow (again, technically today), but may not succeed.

The author is, as all authors guessed so far have been, deceased.  
remmers
response 236 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 29 12:10 UTC 1999

I suspect the setting is the American Civil War, but beyond that I have
no clue.
rcurl
response 237 of 278: Mark Unseen   May 29 16:27 UTC 1999

Clark
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