The Mormon opera, Deseret, A Saints Afflictions,
appeared in New York in October 1880. Its composer, Dudley Buck, who
was not a member of the church, capitalized on the American hysteria about
polygamy and fashioned a comedic melodrama of cavalry soldiers, native
Americans, a Salt Lake City polygamist and his wives, one baby and an
unscrupulous Indian agent.
I became aware of this opera only recently, when
Darrell Babidge, Assistant Professor of Voice at Brigham Young University, wrote to ask me about
it. Janet Bradford, head
of the Music/Dance Library at BYU, discovered a libretto
for Deseret in the Harold B. Lee Library
collection. She led us to
a selection of arias that were published and are now housed (and available as
PDF files) at the Library of Congress.
Think Gilbert and Sullivans I Am the Very Model of
a Modern Major General as you read this aria sung by the villainous character,
Joseph Jessup:
I fear that the Lieutenant may discover my
duplicity,And not believe that I was driven to it by
necessity;So I will git me up and git and fly from this
vicinity,And take with me a specimen of Mormon
femininity.
I cringe when I say Deseret is a Mormon opera. Bucks opera (libretto by W.
A. Croffut) and another opera named Deseret by Leonard Kastle (libretto by Anne Howard
Bailey), which was commissioned and broadcast by NBC-TV in 1961, are Mormon
operas in the way that the molto-Italiano Puccinis La Boheme is French. That is, not very.
So what about Mormon opera (translation: operas
written by Mormons)?
The church has a rich history of vocal performance
about which it is justifiably proud. As an institution, the church
supported singers and composers from its early days onward. It built halls for secular
performances and has made a very, very large choir, of all things, its principal
ambassador to the world.
In western music, opera has been historically viewed
as an ultimate achievement. Few classical composers we
label great have not dipped their toes in operatic waters. That said, I would challenge
any of you readers to name five operas written by LDS composers. Take a minute. Think. Anybody?
Well, Ive written the librettos for three, so Ive
got a little head start on you, but I would not have dared to take a stab at a
comprehensive list. I
couldnt say whether there were 10, 20, or maybe even more. With a little extra time on my
hands over the holidays, I found myself flipping through library card catalogs,
online composers sites, and talking to a few friends. Heres what I
found.
The number 53
Im now aware of 53 Mormon operas. I suspect the final tally, if
we knew everything collecting dust in attics and elsewhere (or worse: unknown
and lost), would be something north of 70 scores. These are not oratorios,
musicals, cantatas, song cycles, or orchestral works with vocal soloists (that
number would be very large indeed); these are operas.
This is an amazing number for a bunch of
reasons. For all its
patronage of music, the church is not in the business of staging operas
(although its universities have done it with some regularity), so opera
composers have written these works without the kind of patronage otherwise
available to creative artists in LDS culture. Said another way, there are no
operas on display at Temple Square. Operas are expensive to stage,
take a long time to write and carry high risks for all involved. An opera is an ante,
upped. So the existence
of any Mormon operas is something of a miracle. Repeatedly, as I talked to LDS
composers for this article, they were surprised to learn that anyone else in the church was writing opera. Fifty-three is a big
number.
Dont feel bad that you dont know much about Mormon opera. As Mormon
scholarship goes, almost nothing has been written on the subject. I guess these composers are
not the kind of pioneers that have attracted attention. Even those specialists whom
youd imagine to know such things are in the dark. Heres what I mean: Go to a church
university and ask a vocal major or a composition major to sing something from a
Mormon opera, and youll get a blank stare. Ask an opera company with an
LDS director or with church members on its board if it has ever produced Mormon
work, and theyll look at you like youre from Mars. Walk through a church-friendly
bookstore and look for a CD bin with the label Mormon Opera. Youll be looking a long
time.
A superficial introduction
Let me tell you about the Mormon operas Ive
found. Some of the
churchs most-loved composers have tried their hands at opera, including Evan
Stephens, Leroy Robertson, Merrill Bradshaw and Crawford Gates. But heres something
intriguing: More than two-thirds of Mormon operas have been written in the past
20 years. How to
account for that?
Several LDS composers have written only one opera,
but the bulk of Mormon operas have been written by composers who specialize in
the genre. Three
composers have written seven or more, and five other composers have two or more
operas to their credit.
What follows is the briefest introduction of these
composers work. Whenever
possible, Ive provided links to Web sites in order for you to get a peek (or an
audio clip) of this music. Off we go.
Christian Asplund, composer-in-residence at Brigham Young University, has
written seven chamber operas to date, his most recent is provocatively
titled, History of Church, A Family
Home Opera (2006). I particularly love The Archivist (1996, libretto by Lara Candland), which I
find mysterious and edgy. Asplunds operas bend expectations and rethink what
music and drama have to say to each other.
Murray Borens 10 operas (about the same number
Puccini finished) are big, more traditional opera house scores. Starting as a student at BYU
in the 1970s and then returning to its composition faculty later, his operas
have alternated between religious and secular sources. His operas
adapted from secular literature are based on medieval mystery plays, W. B.
Yeats, James Joyce and Willa Cather. The librettists for his
religious works have included Orson Scott Card (Abraham & Isaac),
Eric Samuelsen (Emma, Eliza) and me (The Book of Gold). He also crafted two operas
from the Book of Mormon (Mormon/Moroni). Heres a YouTube clip from his
most recent opera, sung by the sublime Jennifer Welch-Babidge.
A number of Mormon opera composers are quite
young. For all the talk
about the graying audience for classical music, young people are flocking to the
dramatic intensity of the form, and its audience base is expanding, particularly
through new media and innovative broadcasting. Young LDS composers have
developed relationships with performance groups in their communities and a few
have even founded companies themselves. For the most part, these
entrepreneurial adventures are happening far from Utah, and perhaps for that
reason, they are under the radar of many church members and its
publications. It wont
surprise you to learn that many Mormon operas have very little, if anything, to
do with stories or characters overtly LDS. To my mind, that doesnt make
them any less Mormon. Two thematic exceptions are
new operas by Harriet Petherick Bushman, Long Walk Home (2006) that tells the story of the Willie
and Martin handcart companies, and Crawford Gates Joseph, Joseph (2005) that portrays the frontier prophet,
both of which had performances in Salt Lake City in 2006.
M. Ryan Taylors Abinadi (2003) is the most recent composer to set a
Book of Mormon story as an opera. A production was staged at BYU
shortly after Taylors M.F.A. graduation. A scene of the opera is
YouTubeable. Abinadi comes a generation
after Merrill Bradshaw started (and then stopped) work on the opera Coriantumr (1967), based on a play by Clinton
Larson.
The opera composers who are using secular texts are
high-minded and literary. Their operas tackle writers
such as Plato and Aeschylus (Peter McMurray), Nathaniel Hawthorne
(Rowan Taylor), Oscar Wilde (Jeanette
Boyack), and Cervantes (William Call). Heres a link to a podcast
about McMurrays A Rooster for
Asclepius (2008). These are contemporary, bracing works.
For a time, Mormon composers seemed to be waiting for
patronage within LDS culture, if not from the church itself. Perhaps theyve thrown up
their hands now. From my
point of view, the most exciting news is that they are at work. Unlike many composers in the church
whose output seems restricted to rearranging hymns, all of these artists are
creating something bold and new. To me, this is as it should
be; it is what artists do.
In addition to the young turks, Im eager to hear the
operas of our most recognized composers. High on my wish list is a
performance of Marie Barker Nelsons update of the Orpheus legend, Orpheus Lex, an opera completed in
2005. An orchestral
fantasy based on the opera was recorded by Gerard Schwartz and the Seattle
Symphony. Heres a
tantalizing MP3 clip of it.
Murray Boren has three operas that were composed to
the stage of a piano-vocal score that have never been orchestrated and
produced. That needs to
be remedied. I also found
operas for children on the list, particularly some of the operas by Charis Bean
Duke that were written to be performed by children. Wait until you hear music from
them: absolutely enchanting. Id love to see productions of them
and take along my kids. Listen to the sweet aria,
What a Girl from The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer (2008) on Dukes MySpace
page.
Im also curious to hear music from the group of
dissertation operas, as I call them, works that were completed for a university
degree, almost certainly were never performed, and hint at what might have
happened had the composers had time, a little money, and somebody to tell them
to keep going. I say its
not too late.
What happens now?
Where does that leave you, dear reader? I suggest advocacy. Listen to some of this music,
send some of these composers an e-mail of encouragement, forward this
to people you think might enjoy it, expect LDS musicians whom you know to know
this music, buy a little of it yourself. Scholars, write about it. Singers, learn it. Producers, program it.
How to begin? Fortunately, some of this
music is available online, and the composers are eager to oblige those whose are
interested with access to musical scores. Libraries have more of this
music than youd imagine. The primary repository today
for Mormon Opera is the Music/Dance Library at BYU. It is becoming a major archive
of LDS scores, recordings and documents in part because it let it be known to
LDS composers that their music was welcome there. If I were an LDS composer, I
would make a habit of sending one copy of everything I wrote to the
library. Some composers
have Web sites with bits of their work available for free listening and
download. Because of the
costs of recording an opera in a studio, very few of these works are available
commercially. The links
throughout this article will take you through the gates. Go exploring.
Finally, in my preparatory reading, I came
across the story of Leroy Robertson and his opera, Pegeen in his biography. He was at the end of his
life. He had a bad heart,
and his body was speedily failing, particularly his sight. He had spent a lifetime
dedicated to music at the highest level. For a time, he was one of the
most decorated composers in America. And he committed his life to
the church and to church music.
Robertson had been thinking of tackling an opera
project for years and finally settled upon J. M. Synges Playboy of the Western World. It would be his last
composition. Despite near
blindness, he made his own adaptation of the play and composed the first of
three acts. Then, he showed it to colleagues in New York who were
enthusiastic. He
continued to write. This
must have been a physically heroic undertaking. At the time of his death in
1971, the piano-vocal score for Pegeen was completed for the first two acts and
much of the third. His
manuscripts are in boxes at the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library,
waiting.
A list of Mormon operas
- Christian AsplundHistory of Church, A Family Home
Opera (2006) (text: composer and Lara
Candland)Sunset with Pink Pastoral (2005)
(text: Lara Candland)Liquid Girls (2000)
(text: Lara Candland)Floralesque (1998)
(text: Lara Candland)The Archivist (1996)
(text: Lara Candland)The Open Curtain (1995)
(text: Brian Evenson)A Girls Body at Crepuscule (1995)
(text: Lara Candland)
- Murray BorenThe Book of Gold (2005)
(text: Glen Nelson)Eliza (2004)
(text: Eric Samuelsen)The Singers Romance (1998)
(text: Glen Nelson)The Dead (1993)
(text: Glen Nelson)Mormon/Moroni (1987) (two
operas, the final scene of Mormon is the first scene of Moroni)Emma (1983) (text: Eric Samuelsen)
A Christymas Playe (1982)
(adaptation of a medieval mystery play)Abraham & Isaac (1977)
(text: Orson Scott Card)The Only Jealousy of Emer ((1973)
- (adaptation of W. B. Yeats play)Jeanette BoyackThe Birthday of the Infanta: A Chamber
Opera (1957) (adaptation of an Oscar Wilde
story)
- Merrill BradshawCoriantumr (1967,
fragment, listed as Sarahs Soliliquoy in his archive) (adaptation of the
Clinton Larson play)
- Harriet Petherick BushmanLong Walk Home (2006)
(text: original libretto by the composer)
- William CallCamila o El Curioso Impertinente (1987,
2007) (text: adaptation of Cervantes Don Quixote)Izzie: Pyramus and Thisbe (1992,
2000)First Cast a Stone! (1998,
2000)Death and Life: A Chamber Opera (1965)
(text: Eliza R. Snow)
- Vickie S. ChristensenThe Immigrant for Soloists, Choruses & Chamber
Orchestra: A Composition (2000) (text: Emma Lazarus, Timothy Robinson
and Holly Robinson)
- Joseph DowningEmmaus (1991)
- Charis Bean DukeA Little Princess (2009)
(adaptation of the Francis Hodges Burnett novel)The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2008)
(adaptation of the Mark Twain novel)The Snow Queen (2007)
(adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson story)The Man Who Couldnt Tell a Lie (2006)
(adaptation of Juan Verdades story)The Tale of the Firebird (2006)
(adaptation of a Russian Folk Tale)The Nightingale (2005)
(adaptation of the Han Christian Anderson story)Margery Kempe (1999)
(based on a 14th century
story)The Inkeepers Wife (1996)
- (original libretto)Crawford GatesJoseph, Joseph (2005)
- Brian HulseThe Game (2004)
(adaptation of a Jack London story)All Gold Canyon (2004)
(adaptation of a Jack London story)The Letter (2003)
(adaptation of a Edith Wharton story)
- Beth Bennett MarchantToyland Fantasy: A Children's Operetta in Two
Acts (1945)
- Peter McMurrayA Rooster for Asclepius (2008)
(text translated/compiled by composer and Brian Fairley from Plato, Pindar and
Ovid)The Nightingale (2006)
(text translated/compiled by composer, Joshua Billings and
Paul Franz from Aeschylus and Hesiod)
- Marie Barker NelsonOrpheus Lex (2005)
(text: David Kranes)
- Leroy RobertsonPegeen (1971,
incomplete) (adaptation of John Synge play)
- William SalmonAtsumori: A Music Drama Based on a No Play by Seami,
as Translated by Arthur Waley (1977)Orpheus
Agamenon
- Evan StephensThe May Queen or the Innocents Saved (circa
1880)Gypsy Maids (circa
1880) (aka Leonora, the
Gypsy Maid)Old Maids (circa
1880) (aka Old Maids and
Bachelors, aka The Orphans of New York/The Old Maids)
- M. Ryan TaylorThe Other Wise Man (2006)
- Abinadi (2003)
- In the Great Walled Country: A Childrens
Opera (2002)
- Rowan TaylorThe Birthmark (1960)
(adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne story)
Related Works:
Michelle WillisWillis has composed 20 childrens operas in
collaboration with schoolchildren. The children write the libretto based on
fairy tales and sing to her original melodies for them. Then, she uses the tunes
create a score for a full production.
Elisa Mazzucato YoungMr. Sampson of Omaha (1888)
(text by composer and Fred Nye ) Elisa, who was not a member of the church,
married Brigham Bicknell Young, the prophet Brigham Youngs nephew. The comic opera was
conducted in Salt Lake City by George Careless.
Warm thanks to: Priscilla Taylor, Peter McMurray,
Murray Boren, Janet Bradford, Harriet Petherick Bushman, Charis Bean Duke,
Darrell Babidge and Michael Hicks for their assistance in putting this article
together.
Further reading:
"'Hail, Cumorah! Silent Wonder': Music Inspired by
the Hill Cumorah," by Roger L. Miller, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies:
Volume - 13, Issue 1, 2004.
Mormons, Opera, and Mozart, by Gideon O.
Burton, BYU Studies, 43.3
(Fall, 2004): 23-29.The Children Sang: The Life and Music of Evan
Stephens, by Ray L. Bergman, 1992,
Northwest Publishing, Inc.Leroy Robertson Music Giant from the
Rockies, by Marian Robertson Wilson,
1996, Blue Ribbon Publications.
Mormonism and Music, by Michael Hicks, 1989, University of Illinois
Press.
Glen Nelson lives with his family in Midtown Manhattan and makes his living as a writer and editor.