Tristram Shandy (opera) Tristram Shandy (opera) Tristram Shandy is an unfinished opera project by Michael Nyman based on his favorite novel, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman", by Laurence Sterne, begun in 1981. The project has been perpetually on hold for want of a commission, but at least five excerpts of the opera have been performed publicly, and one has been released on a commercial recording. The first excerpt of the opera appeared in 1983: "I'll Stake My Cremona to a Jew's Trump," (from Volume V, Chapter 15) which appeared in an eponymous short documentary by Sara Jolly. It was written
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman instance, are reminiscent of the works of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century, and the novel as a whole, with its focus on the problems of language, has constant regard to John Locke's theories in "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding". Arthur Schopenhauer cited "Tristram Shandy" as one of the greatest novels ever written. As its title suggests, the book is ostensibly Tristram's narration of his life story. But it is one of the central jokes of the novel that he cannot explain anything simply, that he must make explanatory diversions to add context and colour to his tale, to