We all know opera is old. Ticket sales are down at the big houses. Attendance is lower. Donors are giving as much and there are far fewer of them around. Is classical music dying?
Nah. Its still alive and kicking. Reading the scholarly literature, classical music has been “dying” in some way or another almost since its creation. See one of my favorite infographics below.
I would love to get into the nitty gritty of what we can do to keep this artform alive and kicking (even more so than it already is), but that is another blog post for another day.
Today, I want to talk about relevance in modern music. You might think opera was written by a lot of dead white guys over 100 years ago. Very not true! There are composers writing new works every day. Well, not everyday, because operas are big and long and take a bit of time, but you know what I mean. But there are new works about modern topics out there!
You might be wondering why you haven’t heard of any. First off, unless you are a truly hardcore opera aficionado, it’s a bit hard to keep track of what new works there are. With the musicals (also a super fun genre of modern music, we will get to them more in a minute), they typically have a long run in one theater when they are first premiered. The same cast performs the same show 7 times a week for months or even years at a time. With that many performances, you can get more people in the seats. That means more word of mouth reviews if the show is really good. And because of the long run, those first audiences can tell their friends about the show and those friends have time to make plans, buy tickets and also get to the show.
The way opera works is that there are usually only a few weekends of a show before it closes. And due to the vocal intensity of singing without mics, operas typically plan their shows for every other night so that the cast has time to rest. That means significantly less opportunities to see a new opera. Which means less word of mouth advertising, etc.
Musicals also tend to license their scores in a different way. A hit new show often quickly makes an original cast recording so people can listen at home. They arrange and sell piano books of their music for intermediate of beginner players to learn from. There are just so many more opportunities for the music to spread.
Opera, not so catchy. It is much harder to reduce a full orchestra to a piano score (musicals generally just have the singer and then the pit band. Many less notes). The way music gets passed around, its almost like a closely guarded secret instead of a monetization opportunity. Don’t ask me why, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Maybe the demand just isn’t there? But I do know there are a few new operas we looked into including in this show but we can’t find the music anywhere!! Not even a transcribed, error filled free version online.
(for those unfamiliar with the word transcribed, it means a person listens to some music and writes down all the notes they hear. Rhythms, notes, words, everything. It is a skill they try to teach you in music school but I am convinced its actually magic and I don’t have it.)
There are many other fascinating reasons why modern opera is so hard to find, but I want to pivot to talking about a few of the shows themselves. Spreading awareness if you will. I will try to include recordings as much as possible, but again, they are rare and difficult to track down.
The first show is maybe more mid-modern. It was written by a composer who passed away in 2021. Carlisle Floyd lived in Tennessee and is known mostly for his operatic works. His show Susannah is how Elizabeth and I met! My first lead in an opera. It was terrifying and exhilarating! The thing I love about this show is that it deals with a subject more relatable to modern audiences and takes place in rural America, again a more relatable setting.
The music is distinctly American. Elizabeth can probably talk more about his sound. I just know that when I hear it, I do think about purple mountain majesty and amber waves of grain. It reminds me of a hot summer day with the bugs humming and only gentle rustle of leaves. Getting too poetic, back on track.
The plot is about a young beautiful girl growing up in Appalachia. She is happy and kind and lives with her brother as their parents died when they were young. A traveling preacher comes into town and the trouble starts. The town elders are all men and quite puritanical. And what do puritanical men like to do? They blame their thoughts and actions on others and take no responsibility. They are looking for a place for the preacher to do some baptizing of new parishioners and they come across Susannah bathing nude in the river. The river on HER property. Don’t get me started on how they were also trespassing as well as being peeping Toms. They blame Susannah for making them feel a certain way and tell the preacher that she is a harlot and the devil. The preacher, also being a puritanical man, sees this fallen woman as an opportunity. He turns the town against her asking her to repent for crimes she did not commit (she refuses). Then he isolates her and rapes her because clearly, being naked on your own land means you are definitely asking for it. Her brother finds out and shoots the preacher. The whole town gets up in arms and comes pitchforks held high to chase Susannah away. But this girl doubles down and fends them off her land with a shotgun laughing maniacally because her whole world has collapsed for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
If you can’t tell from my long, detailed, and opinionated explanation of that plot, I feel very passionately about Susannah’s plight. And that is the joy of these newer plot lines. We, as modern humans, understand and related that much more to these characters. Sure, we can understand the start-crossed love of Romeo and Juliette, but removed from that time period, we miss details about social classes, marital customs, the background politics that shaped that time in history. Its just not as intuitively relatable. To listen to this tale of Americana check out the links below.
This one includes a bit more context and includes the Revival scene, which is just spot on for a preacher at his pulpit. Forgive the crackle, its an old recording. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWoSCIbDh2Y
This is a trailer for the San Francisco Opera version. Gives a bit more visual context to the show. And I love the Trees on the Mountain Theme, which is what you hear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3o3xel7FlM
Carole as Susannah in 2016, preshow, in her dressing room. So young. So innocent. They fixed the micro bangs on the wig for the second show, I promise.
Another great modern composer is Jake Heggie. He has written Dead Man Walking (2000), a story based on the book by the same name. The book was written by Sister Helen Prejean, a real-life nun who worked with death row inmates. The story takes place in Louisiana in the 1980s. This is an example of an opera that follows a true story and does just an incredible job of telling it. If you want to feel something, go see this show, it is an experience.
The show opens with the crime that lead to Joseph DeRocher’s incarceration. Depending on the production, it can get graphic. Joseph and his brother find two teens making out in a car. The brothers jump the teens, restraining the boy while they rape the girl. The boy struggles too much so they shoot him. The girl screams. In a panic, Joseph stabs her until she is silent.
We next see Sister Helen in her convent. She has been exchanging letters with Joseph, who is on death row, and he requests her to be his spiritual advisor on his journey toward death. Sister Helen agrees. She is met with doubt and hostility. Many people think Joseph is past redemption and she is wasting her time.
The opera takes us through the court proceedings as Joseph and Sister Helen attempt to get the life sentence commuted. It is full of angry members of the victims’ families and an uncooperative Joseph, who is refusing to repent, confess, or make peace with his actions. The commutation is denied.
The second act is the unfolding of events that precede Joseph’s turn in the execution chamber. I won’t spoil the journey as it is complicated. Full of moments of real human emotions, doubt, connection, strength, and all that human stuff. It’s deep. Maybe opera has always been like this but we don’t catch the details due to the passage of time, but this show has so much nuance. It lives in the grey area between right and wrong. There are no villains, and no heroes. The characters are just people. And its refreshing.
The music too, lives in this space between worlds. Dissonant and beautiful at the same time. It grates on you just as much as it draws you in. Take a listen to a few arias and see what you think.
This Journey- sung by Sister Helen- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPRgRhiTjkc
A Warm Night-sung by DeRoche- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slqgX82iRa4
He Will Gather Us Around- ensemble- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GtSxcmh4As
Cool promo shot from the Metropolitan Opera's production of Dead Man Walking
There are so many other shows I want to talk about. Silent Night, by Mark Campbell (the story of the WWI Christmas Truce), Bel Canto, by Jimmy Lopez (based on the Ann Pachett novel, the story of a hostage situation), Fire Shut up in My Bones, by Terence Blanchard (a tale of coming of age and revenge), and so many more! I will have to wait and write more posts soon!
All this to say, that opera is very much alive and well in this modern world. It can sometimes be a bit hard to find, as most shows travel around and are produced fairly sporadically at first. But if you are interested in being on the cutting edge of opera future, Minnesota Opera premiers one new work every season. You could see the latest trend in opera before its even a trend! Next season, the show is called The Snowy Day. They are also doing a concert version of Fire Shut Up in My Bones (I definitely want tickets to that. Who wants to go with me??). So stay fresh on the opera front. And stay tuned to this blog. I’ll write about musical theater next. (Meant to do it here, but I just had so much to say!!)
-your friendly neighborhood soprano
P.S. - The cover image is from a show called Akhnaten, by Philip Glass. He was the composer who experimented with serial music. Basically, the whole opera is built on these subtly shifting repetitive patterns. I am OBSESSED with this show and the Met's production. If you have a chance to stream it, do. Your mind will be blown. I'll wrote a whole post about it later.
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