A Letter for Queen Victoria, an Opera.
Paris: Byrd Hoffman Fondation / Le Festival D'automne a Paris, 1974.
Small octavo, 152 pages. First edition of the text for Wilson's opera, with additional texts by Christopher Knowles, Cindy Lubar, Stefan Brecht and Jim Neu. A Letter for Queen Victoria is Wilson's deepest exploration of a world opened up to him by Christopher Knowles, an autistic boy whom he met in 1973 and immediately began to work with. In Queen Victoria, language plays a central role in Wilson's work for the first time: a language of non sequiturs, of commonplace utterances, of sheer vocal sound. Queen Victoria is also the first Wilson play to feature a tightly integrated musical score, a remarkable chamber piece written by Alan Lloyd for string quartet. This piece immediately preceded Wilson's collaboration with Philip Glass, the first manifestation of which was the monumental Einstein on the Beach. Some light abrasion to the original publisher's wrappers at spine, otherwise a fine copy. This copy playfully signed by Wilson in red marker on the front wrapper.
Price: $500.00