Forging an Opera: The Wilder/Hindemith Correspondence

Abstract Published here for what in all but one case is the first time (#2 was previously published in Selected Letters 569–70) is a selection of the correspondence between Thornton Wilder and Paul and Gertrude Hindemith while Paul Hindemith and Wilder were collaborating in 1960 on an opera version of Wilder’s 1931 one-act play The Long Christmas Dinner. Because for the entire time they worked on this project Hindemith was in Europe and Wilder was in the United States, the collaboration was effected entirely through letters and telegrams. The correspondence demonstrates Wilder’s knowledge and command of music and opera, the mutual respect the two men had for one another, and how smoothly they worked together.