Little Women (opera)
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Little Women (1998) is the first opera composed by American composer Mark Adamo to his own libretto after Louisa May Alcott's tale of growing up in New England after the American Civil War, Little Women. The opera also includes text by John Bunyan (Beth's setting of The Pilgrim's Progress), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Dr. Bhaer sings "Kennst du das Land"), and Alcott herself (an excerpt of one of her thrillers at the beginning of Act II, which is spoken and mostly omitted on the audio recording).
Performance history
Commissioned by the Opera Studio of Houston Grand Opera (HGO), then under the guidance of General Director David Gockley, Little Women was first performed on March 13, 1998 in a smaller scale production.[1] The success of this first production prompted Gockley to pronounce it "destined to be an American classic" and scheduled the opera for a mainstage premiere of ten performances in March 2000 — making it the first of HGO's twenty-some commissions to be so revived.
G. Schirmer published the opera in May 1998; National Public Radio broadcast the recording of the premiere the following September; and there have been more than 35 distinct productions, professional and academic, domestic and international, since the world premiere, ranging from established American stages (Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Pacific), to newer, more progressive companies (Fort Worth Opera, Opera Columbus) from American summer festivals (Glimmerglass Opera, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera), to international venues (Teatro de la Ciudad in Mexico City, World Expo in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan), and to conservatories (Indiana University at Bloomington, Anderson University (three of this cast died in a small plane crash in Bloomington a few years later), Westminster Choir College, New England Conservatory of Music, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of the Philippines College of Music.)
The American television premiere took place on August 29, 2001 on PBS's Great Performances (a co-production between Houston Grand Opera and Thirteen/WNET New York), and the world premiere recording of the HGO production was released on Ondine on August 28, 2001.
Little Women had its Australian premiere in May 2007 at the Adelaide Festival. The opera premiered in Israel in July 2008, in Tel Aviv. Little Women had its European Premiere in Bruges, Belgium on August 1, 2009. The performers were participants in the Intermezzo Foundation's Young Artist Program.[2] The Canadian premiere took place on January 30, 2010, performed by the Calgary Opera.[3]
Critical reaction
While some critics have argued that the score's reach exceeds its grasp — Opera News suggests that "the nontonal pages never quite mesh with the arias' flights of aching, Bernsteinian lyricism" — critical consensus has largely followed that of John Rockwell of The New York Times, who, on the occasion of the March 2003 New York City Opera premiere, called Little Women a "masterpiece".
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, March 13, 1998[1] (Conductor: - Christopher Larkin) |
Televised Cast,[4] August 29, 2001 (Conductor: - Patrick Summers) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jo | mezzo-soprano | Stephanie Novacek | Stephanie Novacek |
| Laurie | tenor | Chad Shelton | Chad Shelton |
| Meg | mezzo-soprano | Joyce DiDonato | Joyce DiDonato |
| Beth | soprano | Laura A. Coker | Stacey Tappan |
| Amy | soprano | Jennifer Aylmer | Margaret Lloyd |
| John Brooke | baritone | Daniel Belcher | Daniel Belcher |
| Cecilia March | mezzo-soprano/contralto | Katherine Ciesinski | Katherine Ciesinski |
| Alma March | mezzo-soprano | Tiffany Jackson | Gwendolyn Jones |
| Friedrich Bhaer | bass-baritone (or mezzo-soprano) | Edward Scott Hendricks | Chen-Ye Yuen |
| Gideon March | bass-baritone | Christopher Scott Feigum | James Maddalena |
| Dashwood | bass-baritone | Christopher Scott Feigum | Derrick Parker |
Song List
Act I
1. Four Little Chests All In A Row
2. Laurie - The Very Same, Madam
3. Couldn't I Un-bake The Breads
4. Barrister! It's A Quarter Past!
5. Again We Meet To Celebrate
6. Major, Minor
7. Truth or Fabrication!
8. Supper, Half An Hour!
9. Madness. No. Mania No.
10. Rigmarole? It's Another Game.
11. There Was a Knight Once
12. Oh, This Cannot be Borne.
13. She That IS Down Need Fear No Fall
14. Our Own Fanny Mendelssohn
15. Mr. John Brooke, Laurie's Tutor
16. Long May Our Comrades Prosper Well
17. Things Change Jo
18. I Understand. You're Leaving Us
19. Aunt? Now, I Haven't Done Any Shading Yet
20. We Stand Together on the old
21. Jupiter Ammon! The Poetry!
22. We Stand Together On This Old/New Day
23. Don't Dare Suggest It, Laurie
Act II
1. Cockling? Cackling?
2. Drizzling In New York
3. But That's Why I Loved It! So Lurid and Preposterous
4. Kennst Du Das Land, Wo Die Zitronen Bluhn?
5. Do You Know The Land Where The Lemon Trees Bloom?
6. It's Lovely. My Father Swears By Him
7. She's Asked For You
8. Have Peace Jo
9. She Who Is Down Need Fear No Fall
10. That's The Problem With Solitaire: You Always Need A King
11. My Joy Beyond Measure, Mother!
12. She Sounds Very Happy. I Hope Laurie Feels The Same
13. You, Alone: A Mansion Of Stone
14. So The Days Go By, And The Summers Fly
15. Let Me Look At You
