• Premiere: December 9, 2018 / Benjamin Hewat-Craw, baritone; Hilary Griffiths, piano / All Saint's Anglican Church / Cologne, Germany 

• Instrumentation: Medium or Low Voice & Piano

• Duration: 15'

• Text: Adapted from the personal ads of the London Review of Books, as published in THEY CALL ME NAUGHTY LOLA - Personal Ads from the London Review of Books (2006). 

 

Program Note

 

While on holiday in the UK, I found a copy of THEY CALL ME NAUGHTY LOLA – Personal Ads from the London Review of Books (2006). Intended to be a forum where people with similar literary tastes could meet and exchange ideas, the LRB Personals quickly went off the rails. Inspired by the Oscar Wilde quote, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance” – this set tells the story of a poor soul seeking love and finding it in the only other person who accepts all the bizarre and quirky needs he has on display – himself.

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