Template:Did you know nominations/Cyberiada (opera)

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Allen3 ^talk 15:03, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Cyberiada (opera)

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~~... that the opera Cyberiada by Krzysztof Meyer (pictured), on a libretto by the composer based on Stanislaw Lem's science fiction stories The Cyberiad, was staged twice?~~

Reviewed: Alistair Hinton

Created by Voceditenore (talk), Gerda Arendt (talk). Nominated by Gerda Arendt (talk) at 09:53, 16 July 2013 (UTC).

All ok, but given the 2nd production was this May, "was" is over emphatic, & date indications are useful, suggest:
ALT1 ... that the 1970 opera Cyberiada by Krzysztof Meyer (pictured), with a libretto by the composer based on Stanislaw Lem's science fiction stories The Cyberiad, has received two productions? —— Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnbod (talk • contribs) 15:43, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, fine with me, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:58, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

for ALT1 then - I wrote it but it just tweaks the previous, so I don't think needs a 2nd review. Johnbod (talk) 21:04, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

Regrettably, the newly added fact to ALT1—of it being a 1970 opera—is not cited in the article with an inline source citation. I do agree that ALT1 reads better, and it should be fine once that hook fact is properly cited. BlueMoonset (talk) 04:05, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Just sticking my nose in here....These are a very boring hooks (so what if it was performed twice/had two productions?). They also try to cram way too much information into the hook. It doesn't encourage the reader to actually go to the article to find out more. What's wrong with...

ALT2... that Krzysztof Meyer's opera Cyberiada is based on a series of humorous science fiction stories by Stanislaw Lem (pictured)?

Voceditenore (talk) 05:07, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

I've also added an alternative image (Stanislaw Lem) which is much better quality and more attractive than the snap of the composer. Voceditenore (talk) 11:36, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Fine with me, or you could just omit the 1970 from ALT1, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:25, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

I like ALT2, and also like the image of Lem. However, the hook statement "is based on a series of humorous science fiction stories by Stanislaw Lem", while I believe it is accurate, is not backed up by the source given, which merely says "Libretto by the composer, after Stanislaw Lem's novel (in Polish)"—novel rather than stories, and no mention that the original stories are humorous. It shouldn't be too difficult to find sources that correctly describe The Cyberiad; unfortunately, the English Wikipedia article has no inline source citations that you can use. For now, however, not only should ALT2 not be used, but the article's sourcing needs a bit of adjustment. BlueMoonset (talk) 03:04, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

OK. I've repeated the stuff about the libretto in the second sentence of the "Background and performance history" section, which is the basis for the hook. It says:

"The composer himself wrote the libretto which is based on Stanislaw Lem's The Cyberiad, a darkly comic series of science fiction short stories."

That sentence has three citations. The first states: "libretto kompozytora na podstawie cyklu opowiadań Stanisława Lema" (libretto by the composer based on the cycle of short stories by Stanisław Lem). The second states: "Based on short stories by the Polish writer Stanisław Lem, Cyberiada (The Cyberiad) is an allegorical dark comedy with serious overtones." The third, which is an off-line book entitled 100 Most Popular Science Fiction Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies, states on p. 259: "The Cyberiad (1967) is a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots." Is that enough? Can you infer from a description of The Cyberiad as being about a mechanical universe ruled by robots (in a book about science fiction) that they are science fiction stories? Or do we need a fourth citation which explicitly states they are science fiction? Voceditenore (talk) 04:53, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

PS I removed the citation from Janusensemble.free.fr (not added by me). It is a verbatim German translation of the copyright English description of Meyer's stage works by his publisher Sikorski here. I have substituted this for the citation where the Janus Ensemble had been used. Note that this Sikorski source is OK for information about the premiere conductor, director, etc. However, it erroneously calls Sem's Cyberiad a "novel", an error corrected in their fuller description of the work itself here. This latter source is used for 2 other citations in the synopsis section. Voceditenore (talk) 07:26, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

Approving ALT2 hook as fully sourced and in the article; striking ALT1. The Cyberiad is about a "mechanical universe ruled by robots", so it's clearly science fiction. Thanks for the careful work, Voceditenore. BlueMoonset (talk) 01:57, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Adding: the image of Lem is on Commons and has a valid license, so it can be used with the ALT2 hook if so desired. (It's a nice image, especially with that tiny creature in the foreground.) BlueMoonset (talk) 02:01, 25 July 2013 (UTC)