PERSPECTIVE — Among the North American opera world’s most encouraging developments in recent years has been the surge of contemporary offerings by a range of composers, including John Adams, Anthony Davis, Missy Mazzoli, and Ellen Reid.
Even high-profile companies like the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago have made major commitments to new works such as Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Jeanine Tesori’s Blue. And it doesn’t seem far-fetched to declare that Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, a biting examination of the morality of capital punishment, has become part of the standard repertoire, with scores of productions worldwide since its 2000 premiere.
At the same time the presence of contemporary operas has expanded, companies have, not surprisingly, continued to present the traditional mix of classics from the distant past. What has increasingly gotten squeezed out are classic American operas — for our purposes, 20th-century works before the landmark 1987 premiere of John Adams’ Nixon in China.
Obviously, a few such titles do get produced regularly, including George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1935), undoubtedly the best-known American opera of all time, and Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, which premiered in 1956. But once-admired American operatic composers like Lee Hoiby (1926-2011) and Hugo Weisgall (1912-1997) are rapidly being forgotten, and major operatic works from this time have received scant attention in recent decades.
Why the decline? There is only so much room on operatic seasons, and most 20th-century American operatic composers and titles don’t have the bankable name recognition of earlier classics or come with the glitz or novelty of commissions and premieres. In addition, opera companies, which largely present operas composed by white men, are rightly putting greater emphasis on inclusion and diversity.
It also doesn’t help that companies that once championed American opera have pulled back considerably from the commitment. The New York City Opera, perhaps this country’s most ardent champion of American opera for many decades, is a shadow of its former self.
Lyric Opera of Chicago was a hotbed of American opera when Ardis Krainik served as general director from 1981 until her death in 1997. Under her watch, the company presented such works as Dominick Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allen Poe (1976) in 1990, Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra (1966) in 1991, and Susannah in 1993. But Lyric Opera has not presented a 20th-century American opera since Porgy and Bess in 2008 and 2014.
Here is a look at the recent production history since 2000 of four other notable yet mostly little-seen 20th-century American operas based on data from member companies of Opera America, the national operatic support organization:
- The Cradle Will Rock (1937), Marc Blitzstein. This milestone work, which blurs the boundaries between opera and musical theater, is set in mythical Steeltown, U.S.A., during a labor uprising. It has had two productions — Nashville Opera in 2019 and Opera Saratoga in 2017.
- The Consul (1950), Gian Carlo Menotti. The story of a political dissident on the run in an unidentified totalitarian country was Menotti’s first full-length opera, and it remains one of his most produced. It has received 20 productions, including the Baltimore Concert Opera in 2019 and Chicago Opera Theater in 2017.
- Six Characters in Search of an Author (1959), Weisgall. Commissioned by New York City Opera and based on the well-known play of the same title by Luigi Pirandello, the opera tells the story of the staging of an opera. It has had no productions since 2000.
- Summer and Smoke (1971), Hoiby. This dark thriller, with a libretto by Lanford Wilson based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name, has only been produced twice — at Central City (Colo.) Opera in 2002 and the Manhattan School of Music in 2010.
The Des Moines Metro Opera has also regularly paid heed to American opera with such productions as Susannah in 2010 and Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land (1954) in 2018. There have been a few other noteworthy bright spots as well, like the Santa Fe Opera’s 2016 presentation of Barber’s Vanessa, which was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 1958.
Despite this overall grim picture, some summer festivals have maintained their commitment to American opera. Central City Opera premiered Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe in 1956 and has regularly revived it, including a 60th-anniversary production in 2016. This summer, Central City is presenting a new production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene from July 13 through Aug. 3. Although Weill was born in Germany, he became a naturalized American citizen in 1943 after fleeing the Nazis, and he infused this work with elements of jazz and blues.
But more needs to be done. First, American opera companies should recognize that there is a problem and make a point of reexamining this repertoire. Summer opera festivals, whose audiences tend to be more open-minded and adventurous, seem like particularly suitable venues for such explorations. But if Lyric Opera of Chicago could be an American opera bastion in the 1990s, why can’t other fall-to-spring companies take on this challenge?
Just as Baroque troupes like Chicago’s Haymarket Opera Company have gone back and made wonderful rediscoveries from the 17th and 18th centuries that have sparked audience excitement, mainstream companies need to go on similar treasure hunts in the 20th century. While not every work is worth reviving, there is no shortage of compelling, overlooked titles that deserve a fresh look.
