The Bridge of San Luis Rey: A Big Read Documentary
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Series: The Big Read
Length: 28:58
There is nothing ordinary about the backdrop of Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey, or the characters in his story. The novel is set in Lima, Peru, in the golden age of the eighteenth-century Spanish colonial empire. Among the exotic cast of characters are the greatest actress of the age, a drunken Marquesa who can’t stop writing letters, an obsessed Harlequin named Uncle Pio, identical twins with a private language, and a legendary ship captain. Nor does the novel lack drama, starting with the very first sentence: “On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.”
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
There is nothing ordinary about the backdrop of Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey, or the characters in his story. The novel is set in Lima, Peru, in the golden age of the eighteenth-century Spanish colonial empire. Among the exotic cast of characters are the greatest actress of the age, a drunken Marquesa who can’t stop writing letters, an obsessed Harlequin named Uncle Pio, identical twins with a private language, and a legendary ship captain. Nor does the novel lack drama, starting with the very first sentence: “On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.”
Transcript
The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Our Town
Radio Show - Transcript
Josephine Reed: Now, The Big Read.
Sam Waterston reads from The Bridge of San Luis Rey...
On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below. [...] The bridge seemed to be among the things that last forever; it was unthinkable that it should break. [...] People wandered about in a trance-like state, muttering, they had the hallucination of seeing themselves falling into a gulf.
Reed: That was Sam Waterston reading from Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
Welcome to The Big Read, a program created by the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It's designed to unite communities through great literature. I'm your host, Josephine Reed. Today, we're talking about Thornton Wilder's T...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oh Sister | Andrew Bird (cover of Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy) | Soldier On EP. | Wegawam Music Company | 2007 | 00:00 |
| on awakening | jeffrey roden | seeds of happiness. | New Albion Records | 2006 | 00:00 |
| Una hora | The Tallis Scholars (Victoria) | Tenebrae Responsories. | Gimell Records | 1990 | 00:00 |
| Ecce quomodo moritur | The Tallis Scholars (Victoria) | Tenebrae Responsories. | Gimell Records | 1990 | 00:00 |
| Cello Suite No. 1 in G major: Prelude | Alexander Rudin (Bach) | Bach: Complete Cello Suites . | Naxos of America, Inc. | 2002 | 00:00 |
| Cello Suite No. 3 in C major: Sarabande | Alexander Rudin (Bach) | Bach: Complete Cello Suites . | Naxos of America, Inc. | 2002 | 00:00 |
| String Quartet in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 (Razumovsky): Allegro | Kodály Quartet (Beethoven) | String Quartets Volume 4. | Naxos of America | 1998 | 00:00 |
| String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 | Kodály Quartet (Beethoven) | String Quartets Volume 7. | Naxos of America, Inc. | 2000 | 00:00 |
| (Heiliger Dankgesange): 1. Allegro Sostenuto, Allegro and 3. Molto Adagio | Kodály Quartet | String Quartets Volume 7. | Naxos of America, Inc. | 2000 | 00:00 |
| Misa Criolla: Agnus Dei, Gloria, and Kyrie | The Choral Arts Society of Washington (DC); Joseph Holt, Conductor | Celebrating Sacred Rhythms. | Naxos of America, Inc. | 2006 | 00:00 |
| Missa O Magnum Mysterium: O Magnum Mysterium | The Oxford Camerata (Victoria); Jeffrey Summerly, Conductor | Victoria: Masses. | Naxos of America, Inc. | 1992 | 00:00 |
Additional Credits
Written and produced by Adam Kampe.
"Oh Sister," written by Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy, Copyright 1975 Ram's Horn Music (SESAC). All rights reserved. International Copyright secured. Used by permission.
Tenebrae Responsories (Tomás Luis de Victoria, arranged by Bruno Turner), G Shirmer, Inc. (ASCAP) o/b/o Chester Music Ltd. [100%]. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Ariel Ramírez's Misa Criolla: Agnus Dei, Gloria, and Kyrie, performed by The Choral Arts Society of Washington (DC), conducted by Joseph Holt, and featured on the album Celebrating Sacred Rhythms (2006), used by permission of WB MUSIC CORP (ASCAP).
Readings by Thornton Wilder from the Thornton Wilder Papers, Yale Collection of American Literature, used by permission of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
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