The Lily Maid: The Words of a Music-Drama
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Boughton, Rutland. The Lily Maid: The Words of a Music-Drama. Kilcot, Newent, Glos.: Rutland Boughton, 1936. The copy shown here is inscribed by the author.
British composer Rutland Boughton (1878-1960) distinguished between opera and what he called music drama, which he defined as 'a story of the symbolic type which can only be adequately expressed in the continuous emotional mood of music.' Of this highest form of drama, Wagner 'gave us a taste' but did not bring the form to perfection. Boughton composed a number of these symbolic music-dramas, including five that told the story of Arthur, a project on which he worked from 1908 until 1945. He began with The Birth of Arthur (originally called Uther and Igraine) and The Round Table, on both of which he collaborated with poet Reginald R. Buckley. These were followed by The Lily Maid, Galahad, and Avalon.