Saddened by the news of the death of the great Seamus Heaney, I took some time out from opera last night to listen to the man reading his translation of Beowulf.  Some scholars may disparage the freedom of the translation but I love it.  I own, I think, four different translations of Beowulf and the Heaney is much my favourite.

I’ve often wondered about a Beowulf opera.  I think it would be hard to do the whole thing because it’s really two loosely linked episodes but either half might work.  Eliot Goldenthal, of course, produced Grendel but that’s rather loosely based on a novel based (also loosely) on the poem. I’m thinking of something a little closer in tone to the original.  Controversially perhaps, I might tend towards the latter half; The Death of Beowulf.  It’s got all the elements of great opera though no female characters but that doesn’t stop Billy Budd working so I don’t think it’s a show stopper.  Who might write it?  The strongest candidates are both older than Heaney, so unlikely bets, but I think it needs the idiom of a Reimann or a Birtwistle.  Does anyone write like that anymore?  Anyway, one can dream.

Lest anyone think I was entirely shunning opera last night I did listen to the latest episode of the Big COC podcast (available at coc.ca and iTunes).  This one features opera journalists Joseph So and Paula Citron; Western Canadian opera presenter and journalist Stephan Bonfield, and myself plus, of course, Gianmarco Segato of the COC.  It features reviews from Santa Fe, Glimmerglass and Banff as well as more political pontifications.