Adaptations
The novel was adapted into an opera by Paula M. Kimper, to a libretto by Wende Persons. It debuted at the Lincoln Center Festival in 1998, and has been revived several times since. Alma Routsong gave her approval to the project shortly before her death, but did not survive to hear more than a few songs from the score performed privately. The idea for the opera originated with Persons's crush on a soprano in 1981, when Persons wrote the music to impress her. When she was rejected, she kept the work until she met Kimper and they both revived its creation in 1989.
Concerning the 1996 pre-premiere of the semi-staged final draft, with piano accompaniment, The New York Times claimed it had "an accessible, attractively lyrical score" and that, "Sarah has a gorgeous, Ravelian aria at the start of the second act." The 1998 premiere of the completed work was also well reviewed: The Opera News claimed "the opera bubbles with glorious vocal writing" and the best parts were the duets between Patience and Sarah, but that Parson Peel's music actually stole the show.
Read more about this topic: Patience And Sarah