We were eager to talk to Christopher, as he is the librettist for Philip Glass's opera Appomattox, which opens next Friday at the San Francisco Opera, and is the Big Event of the Fall in music. Actually, judging by the overwhelming response of Glass's sold-out concert last Friday, where we did run into Christopher enjoying a pre-performance glass of wine in the lobby, it will be a big deal.

We had talked to him earlier in the morning, scrambling to take notes as he talked fast and with enthusiasm, and explained how the creative team came together: "I had worked with Philip on a movie I directed, the Secret Agent. Two or three years ago, we also did an opera together, Waiting for the Barbarians, in Germany and in later in Austin. He pulled me and said he wanted to make an opera about the last week of the civil war. I knew nothing about the civil wars." Neither do we! The libretto deals with two generals, Robert Lee and Ulysses Grant, "putting an end to the civil war in a rational, civilized manner." These two were more statesmen than anyone around nowadays, he said.