Paul Bowles Born: 30 December 1910, Jamaica, NY Died: 18 November 1999

(U.S. Opera Home Page)

• Denmark Valley. Libretto by Charles-Henri Ford. (1938) [lost]
• The Wind Remains, zarzuela. Libretto by the composer after a play by Federico Garcia Lorca. (30 March 1943; NY, Museum of Modern Art, cond. Leonard Bernstein.)
• Yerma. Libretto by the composer after the play by Federico Garcia Lorca. (1958)

Paul Bowles' literary career, as the author of The Sheltering Sky and as inspiration for writers like William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, has largely overshadowed his earlier career as a composer. A contemporary of Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson, he composed three operas, two of which survive.

Paul Bowles. The Sheltering Sky (non-operatic film). Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, based on the novel by Paul Bowles. DVD: Warner Home Video. VHS: Warner Studios.

The Wind Remains, on Music of Paul Bowles. Halvorson/Schaufer 2000. Compact disc: RCA 63685.

Paul Bowles. The Sheltering Sky (novel). Ecco 1998.

K. Robert Schwartz. "Incidental Music." Opera News, September 1995, 28-29, 69.

Obituary: Paul Bowles. The Economist, November 27 1999, 91.