Sophie's Choice (opera)

Sophie's Choice is an opera by the British composer Nicholas Maw, with a libretto by the composer based on the novel of the same name by the American novelist William Styron. It was premiered on 7 December 2002 at the Royal Opera House, London.

Maw originally conceived the opera after seeing the film of Styron's novel (1982, directed by Alan J. Pakula). Styron recommended that Maw write the libretto himself, which took the composer six years. The premiere production at Covent Garden was directed by Trevor Nunn and conducted by Simon Rattle; Styron was in the audience. There had been concerns about the recalcitrant behaviour of some of the stage machinery as late as the dress rehearsal, but in the event the premiere went perfectly from a technical point of view.

However the critical reception of the opera was reserved. The critic of The Guardian, quoting the programme notes that "Life is messy, like masturbation", felt that the opera itself was "long" and "messy", and, whilst praising the individual performances, was deeply unimpressed with the production's attempts to evoke the atmosphere of Auschwitz concentration camp, and lukewarm as to Maw's musical idiom. The critic Alex Ross felt that the production's treatment of the horrors of the Holocaust was "at the edge of the tolerable", and opined the libretto to be too wordy, especially in the opera's first half. Others were more enthusiastic. The Times wrote "The opera has magnificent music, ... worthy of comparison with Britten and Berg." Reviewing the BBC's live recording of the production, Christopher Ballantyne believed the opera to be "a work not just of serious purpose and great integrity, but one that makes a valiant effort to speak back to the unspeakable."

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