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Neither (opera)

opera by Morton Feldman

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ9049176 ↗
Source-derived summary

Neither is the only opera by Morton Feldman, dating from 1977. Its libretto is a 16-line poem by Samuel Beckett. Composer and librettist had met in Berlin two years earlier with plans for a collaboration for Rome Opera. However, Beckett told Feldman that he himself did not like opera. Feldman had echoed Beckett’s sentiment, so that the work emerged in Rome as a setting for soprano soloist only, accompanied by orchestra.

Recordings

HatHut, hat (now) ART 180: Sarah Leonard, soprano; Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt; Zoltán Peskó, conductor

Col Legno, WWE 1CD 20081: Petra Hoffman, soprano; Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Kwamé Ryan, conductor

References

External links

The Modern World, pages on: Feldman and Beckett Neither

JazzLoft page on recording of Neither

Neither Wealth Nor Splendor: Getting Morton Feldman’s and Samuel Beckett’s 1977 opera NEITHER from a Workshop Performance in NYC to the Konzerthaus in Vienna and the Obstacles Concerned.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Neither (opera)” as opera by Morton Feldman. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1977—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Neither, opera and Morton can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as opera by Morton Feldman. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q9049176. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1977.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Neither (opera)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Neither (opera) primary sources, Neither (opera) archive and Neither research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Neither (opera)”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Neither (opera)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.