Peter Rose

'Coronation Chicken', a new poem by Peter Rose

December 2022, no. 449 • 25 November 2022

‘It is tragic how few people ever “possess their souls” before they die … Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.’                                 Oscar Wilde, De Profundis   Spare me the black ties Spare me t ... (read more)

Editorial - The narrow road to influence

December 2022, no. 449 • 25 November 2022

Fifteen years ago, the new Rudd government announced the creation of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards (PMLAs), to be administered by the Minister for the Arts. There were two prizes at the outset – fiction and non-fiction – each worth $100,000 – tax free to boot. Given the precarious incomes of most Australian writers, the prizes could not have been more welcome. Later, after some lobb ... (read more)

'The Requiem: Verdi’s humane, agnostic Requiem' by Peter Rose

ABR Arts • 31 October 2022

When Alessandro Manzoni died on 22 May 1873, it was an event of major significance in Italy. The poet, novelist, and philosopher – an early proponent of Italian unification – was a hero of the Risorgimento. His novel I promessi sposi (1827), with its appeal to Italian patriotism, was (and remains) one of the most famous Italian novels. Giuseppe Verdi revered Manzoni and mourned him deeply. ... (read more)

Peter Rose reviews 'Childhood' by Shannon Burns

October 2022, no. 447 • 27 September 2022

That the boy depicted in Shannon Burns’s nightmarish memoir survived to write it at the age of forty reflects no credit on society or on those around him. His persistence seems remarkable, given the world he entered. The boy is always referred to thus. Page after page, we learn the extent of his grievous upbringing. His parents – mismatched and poorly educated – stay together for the firs ... (read more)

Editorial – October 2001

October 2001, no. 235 • 16 September 2022

There are times when the act of editorialising seems reckless, if not otiose. Any such column, written on 20 September, runs the dual risk of belatedness – or prematurity. So appalling were the events of 11 September, and so ominous their ramifications, no one can be confident of the likely international developments in coming weeks, days, or even hours. All we can do at ABR is to sympathise wit ... (read more)

'Lucrezia Borgia: A lively performance of a Donizetti rarity' by Peter Rose

ABR Arts • 30 August 2022

Few opera composers were more prolific than Gaetano Donizetti, and 1833 proved to be no exception in his relatively short career, with four separate premières in as many cities, culminating in Lucrezia Borgia, first heard at La Scala on 26 December. That season ran for thirty-three performances. The opera went on to become a popular vehicle for prima donnas (some nearing the end of their careers) ... (read more)

'Editorial' by Peter Rose

November 2001, no. 236 • 08 August 2022

The forbearance of those writers who entered the Australian Book Review and Reader’s Feast Short Story Competition has been as exemplary as their commitment to short fiction. I am pleased to be announce the shortlist: Ian McFarlane: ‘A Balance of Probabilities’ Katarina Mahnic: ‘Flying Recipe’ B.E. Minifie: ‘There Has to be a Resemblance’ Carrie Tiffany: ‘Dr Darnell’s Cure ... (read more)

‘Il Trovatore: A tawdry production of Verdi’s opera’ by Peter Rose

ABR Arts • 20 July 2022

Whenever you hear a good performance of any one of at least half a dozen operas by Giuseppe Verdi, it’s tempting to think: this surely he can never have surpassed. Il Trovatore, from his fecund middle phase, is one such opera. But then one recalls La Traviata and Don Carlo and Otello – on the list goes – and simply marvels at the variety and richness of his oeuvre. Trovatore followed Rigo ... (read more)

'Styptic', a poem by Peter Rose

June 2022, no. 443 • 23 May 2022

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‘Lohengrin: Richard Wagner’s music of hypnosis’ by Peter Rose

ABR Arts • 16 May 2022

Black milk of morning we drink you at nightwe drink you at noontime Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschlandwe drink you at dusktime we drink and drinkDeath is a gang-boss aus Deutschland his eye is bluehe hits you with leaden bullets his aim is true … (from ‘Todesfuge’ by Paul Celan, translated by Jerome Rothenberg) Not long before the 1845 première of Tannhäuser, Richard Wagner was h ... (read more)