An American Tragedy
composer: Tobias Picker
librettist: Gene Scheer
an opera in two acts
Premiere: 2 December 2005, New York, NY, The Metropolitan Opera
Orchestra instrumentation: 2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2-4.2.2.1-timp.1perc(xyl, ratchet, whip, high tam-t, h.h, cym, tub bells, high gong, low gong, b.d)-pno·hp-org(in pit)small portable onstage organ-str
Cast of characters: Roberta Alden · soprano - Sondra Finchley · mezzo-soprano - Clyde Griffiths · baritone - Elvira Griffiths · mezzo-soprano - Elizabeth Griffiths · mezzo-soprano - Samuel Griffiths · tenor - Gilbert Griffiths · tenor - Orville Mason · baritone - Hortense · soprano - SATB Chorus - boy soprano - three additional children’s voices
Publisher: Schott Helicon Music
Duration: 145' 0''
Year of composition: 2005
Edition: performance material
Language: English
Material on hire
Description
'Based on a true story, Theodore Dreiser's novel AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY is one of American literature's great, universal subjects. The central character Clyde Griffiths is Everyman, and his dilemma is at the heart of the American experience, then as well as now. The people upon whom Dreiser's characters were based also echo throughout the pages of the entire opera. They are the haunting spirits that made the story and the writing of the music "real" for me. The heartbreaking handwritten letters of Grace Brown, the tragic real life factory worker Dreiser brings us so painfully close to, inspired me to give them song as they are projected onto the stage in all their endless optimism and sorrow.’ (Tobias Picker)
An American Tragedy is Tobias Picker's fourth opera. His first opera Emmeline was a runaway hit at both the Santa Fe Opera and New York City Opera and was subsequently broadcast on national television. Upcoming are new productions of his Therese Raquin by Opera Theatre Europe at the Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in March 2006 and Fantastic Mr. Fox at Opera East (UK), scheduled for the 2006-07 season.
You might also be interested in:
Tobias Picker: Emmeline - An Opera in two Acts
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