opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
in one act by
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
Hugo Weisgall
Hugo David Weisgall (October 13, 1912 – March 11, 1997) was an American composer and conductor, known chiefly for his opera and vocal music compositions. He was born in Ivančice, Moravia (then part of Austria-Hungary, later in his childhood ...
. The English language
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
's 1889
play of the same name
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* Pla ...
. It premiered at the
White Barn Theatre
The White Barn Theatre was a theater founded in 1947 by actress and producer Lucille Lortel on her property in Norwalk, Connecticut. The theater premiered numerous plays by established playwrights that often continued to successful Broadway and Off ...
in
Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
History
...
on August 9, 1952 and was dedicated to that theatre's founder, the actress
Lucille Lortel
Lucille Lortel (née Wadler, December 16, 1900 – April 4, 1999) was an American actress, artistic director, and theatrical producer. In the course of her career Lortel produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, five of which were nominated for ...
.
About the opera
''The Stronger'' is an approximately 25 minute staged
duodrama A duodrama is a theatrical melodrama for two actors or singers, in which the spoken voice is used with a musical accompaniment for heightened dramatic effect. It was popular at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th.
Closely rela ...
that is in many respects a
monologue
In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...
with one singing role, Estelle (
coloratura soprano
A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs, leaps and trills.
The term '' coloratura'' refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component o ...
), and one silent role, Lisa. The opera takes place at a bar on Christmas Eve. The two women meet at the establishment and Estelle talks to her friend Lisa about her family. In the course of the conversation Estelle informs Lisa that she knows that Lisa is in love with her husband Harold. As Estelle leaves the bar she comes to the conclusion that she, Estelle, is the stronger of the two women. The Stronger at usopera.com /ref> But is she? Weisgall said of the opera:
"From the first I regarded this piece as an experiment, a kind of operatic exercise. My primary task was to find ways to translate Strindberg’s psychological monodrama, with its rapid, constantly changing moods and its almost total lack of sustained moments, into musical terms. The chief problem was that the music had to function alternately as background and foreground—at times pure atmosphere, then shifting between characterizing the protagonist, Estelle, and picturing the physical movements of the wordless Lisa. Also I sought somehow to balance the two roles more equally. Rather than conform to the traditional theatrical interpretation in which “the star” plays the silent role and comes out on top, I tried to leave open the question as to which of the two women is really “the stronger."Hugo Weisgall on ''The Stronger'', 1971 /ref>
Performance history and recordings
''The Stronger'' was first performed at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut for four performances in August 1952 by the Hilltop Opera Company of Baltimore, Maryland. The production used piano accompaniment and soprano Eva Bober portrayed Estelle for three of the four performances. Weisgall had composed the work specifically for the group during the spring and summer prior to its premiere.
The first performance of the work with an orchestra (scaled for only 8 musicians) was given at the Composers Forum at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in New York City, New York in January 1955 with soprano Adelaide Bishop and the
Columbia Chamber Orchestra
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
under the baton of
Siegfried Landau Siegfried Landau (September 4, 1921February 20, 2007) was a Germany, German-born American Conducting, conductor and composer.
He was born in Berlin, the son of Ezekiel Landau, an Orthodox rabbi, and Helen (Grynberg) Landau. He was a music student ...
. That 1955 performance was recorded and another recording of the opera was made with soprano Johanna Meier and the
Aeolian Chamber Players The Aeolian Chamber Players is an American musical ensemble that is dedicated to the performance of chamber music. Founded in 1961 by violinist Lewis Kaplan, the group has been the resident ensemble at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine since 1964 ...
on the
New World Records
New World Records is a record label that was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to celebrate America's bicentennial (1976) by producing a 100-LP anthology, with American music from many genres. Bishop also sang the role for the opera's New York City premiere in 1950 and directed the opera for a 1995 production starring soprano Darynn Zimmer at the White Barn Theatre. Soprano
Joyce Mathis
Joyce Mathis (1944 – before April 2009) was an American soprano who was a concert artist, recitalist, and opera singer from the 1960s into the early 1990s. She is considered a part of the first generation of black classical singers to achieve ...
performed the work at the
92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...
in 1969 in a concert organized by the
League of Composers The League of Composers/ International Society for Contemporary Music is a society whose stated mission is "to produce the highest quality performances of new music, to champion American composers in the United States and abroad, and to introduce Am ...
. The
Baltimore Opera Company
The Baltimore Opera Company (BOC) was an opera company in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, U.S.A., based at the Baltimore Lyric Opera House.
On 12 March 2009, the 58-year-old opera company announced plans to pursue Chapte ...
staged the work in 1985 in a triple bill titled "American Portraits" that also included
Thomas Pasatieri
Thomas Pasatieri (born October 20, 1945) is an American opera composer.
Life and career
Pasatieri was born in New York City, United States. He began composing at age 10 and, as a teenager, studied with Nadia Boulanger. He entered the Juilliard S ...
's ''La Divina'' (1952) and the world premiere of
Lee Hoiby
Lee Henry Hoiby (February 17, 1926 – March 28, 2011) was an American composer and classical pianist. Best known as a composer of operas and songs, he was a disciple of composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Like Menotti, his works championed lyricism at a ...
's '' Italian Lesson''.
Initially Weisgall had intended for ''The Stronger'' to be a work that could be performed as a pair with his opera '' The Tenor'' (1952). However, years later he determined that it would fit better as part of a trilogy with two other operas he composed: ''
Purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...