History is Our Mother: Three Libretti

Praise

“Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer are works of wit and judgement exercised in the contexts of political gravity which few poets writing English these days face on such a scale…. The Magic Flute sparkles and rings true as no text for this music, not even Auden’s, has managed to do.” —Eric Griffiths, Times Literary Supplement

“The libretto [for Nixon in China], by Alice Goodman, offered moments of wry humor and poignancy, dealing in a mock-mythic style with President Nixon’s peacemaking trip to China in 1972.” —Donal Henahan, The New York Times

“The Death of Klinghoffer [is a] raw, penetrating, strangely mystical work…Ms. Goodman’s poetic libretto, though often enigmatic, is powerfully so. Parts of the text remind me of Elizabeth Bishop’s poems, which can seem profound and full of richly detailed imagery, even when the meaning is obscure.” —Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

“Goodman’s insightful and lyrical libretto probed into the deep meaning of world events and, most important of all, revealed the tantalizing—and tormented—inner workings of the men and women behind them.” —Mark Swed, The Los Angeles Times

“[Nixon in China is] a mythical and elusive depiction of Nixon’s 1972 trip to Beijing to meet with his erstwhile adversary Mao Zedong…Alice Goodman’s gnomic…libretto [is] a compilation of shadowy maxims and splendidly calculated banalities.” —Joshua Kosman, SFGate

“Among the glories of Goodman’s libretto [for Nixon in China] is the dream-like poetic quality with which she imbues all the characters, ennobling them while maintaining their particular visions and quirks. Her text is a meditation on history, politics and culture, and at the same time a keen dramatization of individuals caught up in a momentous event.” —Mike Silverman, Associated Press