Paul Bunyan

E121578

Paul Bunyan is a 1941 operetta by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by W. H. Auden, based on the American folk legend of the giant lumberjack.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Paul Bunyan canonical 1

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf operetta
stage work
basedOn Paul Bunyan (American folk legend)
catalogueNumber Op. 17 (often cited without opus number)
character Ben Benny
Fido
Hel Helson
Johnny Inkslinger
Moppet
Paul Bunyan (American folk legend)
surface form: Paul Bunyan (character)

Poppet
Sam Sharkey
Slim
Tiny
Western Union Boy
composer Benjamin Britten
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
firstRunReception mixed critical reception
genre comic opera
operetta
hasAnimalCharacter Blue Ox
hasChorusType animals’ chorus
workers’ chorus
hasNumberOfActs 2
hasPrologue true
language English
laterReception more favorable reception after revivals
librettist W. H. Auden
mainCharacter Paul Bunyan (American folk legend)
surface form: Paul Bunyan (character)
narratorType spoken narrator
notableRecording English Opera Group recording
orchestration orchestra
premiereCity New York City
premiereCountry United States of America
surface form: United States
premiereDate 1941-05-05
premierePlace Columbia University
surface form: Columbia University, New York City
setting North American forest
structure prologue and two acts
style 20th-century classical music
American popular idioms
subjectMatter Old West
surface form: American frontier

American logging industry
theme identity and community
industrialization and nature
myth of American expansion
timePeriodOfSetting early 20th century
vocalForces chorus
solo voices

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

W. H. Auden wroteLibrettoFor Paul Bunyan