remastered & redesigned reissue

Neither has been identified by some as an opera (it was commissioned by the Roma Opera), but it makes use of none of the conventions of traditional opera. There is no story, no mise-en-scène.

The intensity results from emotional/aesthetic tension, not plot manipulation or character confrontation. The music does not attempt to accompany or depict the text in the usual fashion; instead Feldman has created a kind of musical equivalent to the environment that Beckett's words suggest, invoking the same atmosphere and sharing a similar vision. – Art Lange