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A performance of The Wolf of Gubbio, June 1980, in the new piazza of Covent Garden, London, the day after the redesigned Market was formally opened by the Queen. In the background is the portico of the renowned St. Paul’s Church designed by Inigo Jones.
The Wolf of Gubbio is a modern ecological parable, a chamber opera in two acts for young persons, with book and lyrics by Peter Porter set to music by Ronald Senator. In the traditional legend, the wolf harasses the good townsfolk of Gubbio, until St. Francis intervenes. In this version, however, it is the Gubbio citizens who are the predators who ravage and pollute nature, and the wolf is the victim. St. Francis becomes the present-day saint of ecology, who admonishes the greedy townspeople and mediates a new agreement between them and the wolf.
Wonderfully comic and serious at the same time, with a musical score of memorable melodies and sometimes passionate harmonies, this opera deserves to be done wherever a few lead singers and a chorus are available-- and that means about a thousand schools just in England alone.
Musical Times