''Yerma'' is an

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 three acts by Heitor Villa-Lobos based on the tragedy of the same name by

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

History

''Yerma'' was commissioned in 1955 by an old friend of Villa-Lobos, Hugh Ross, the conductor of the New York Schola Cantorum, and by John Blankenship, at that time head of the drama department at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

. The original plan was that García Lorca's play would be translated into English by the Scottish poet

Alastair Reid Alastair Reid (22 March 1926, in Whithorn – 21 September 2014, in Manhattan) was a Scottish poet and a scholar of South American literature. He was known for his lighthearted style of poems and for his translations of South American poets Jo ...

, but Villa-Lobos immediately began setting the original Spanish text. It was composed partly in New York, partly in Paris, and was finished in 1956. ''Yerma'' was first performed by the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newl ...

in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on August 12, 1971 (erroneously reported in one source as July 12), and repeated just once, on August 18. The Santa Fé premiere was produced by

Basil Langton Basil Calvert Langton (9 January 1912 – 29 May 2003) was an English actor, director and photographer, who made a career on both sides of the Atlantic. He was an authority on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and compiled an archive of more than ...

, choreographed by

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

, with scenery by Allen Charles Klein. Paintings by

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

were projected on the walls during the intermissions.

Martin Bernheimer Martin Bernheimer (28 September 1936 – 29 September 2019) was a German-born American music critic. Described as "a widely respected and influential critic, who is particularly knowledgeable about opera and the voice", Bernheimer was the chief ...

, "World Premiere of Opera ''Yerma''", ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' (August 16, 1971): E1. In 1983 the opera was staged for the first time in Brazil, at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, with Aurea Gomez and Benito Maresca, conducted by , and in 1987 this Spanish-language opera was performed for the first time in a Spanish-speaking country, at the Teatro Solís in Montevideo. The title role was sung by the Mexican soprano María Luisa Tamez, supported by Brazilian tenor Benito Maresca and Uruguayan baritone Fernando Barabino. Staging was by Jorge Curi, and David Machado conducted. A concert version was presented from July 12–21, 1989 by Opera on the Move in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank's Latin American Festival, "Viva!", with

Anna Steiger Anna Justine Steiger (born 13 February 1960Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura (eds.) (2001)"Steiger, Anna" ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 10th Edition, Volume 6. Accessed online via Highbeam, 12 July 2012.) is a British and Ame ...

in the title role and

Odaline de la Martinez Odaline de la Martinez (born 31 October 1949) is a Cuban-American composer and conductor, currently residing in the UK. She is the artistic director of Lontano, a London-based contemporary music ensemble which she co-founded in 1976 with New Zeala ...

conducting, while the European staged premiere was given by the

Bielefeld Opera The Bielefeld Opera is the venue of Städtische Bühnen Bielefeld (Municipal stages Bielefeld) in Bielefeld, Germany. It is a ''Dreisparten Haus'' (three-department house), offering plays, music (opera, musical theatre), and ballet. The main pe ...

in 1991. The opera was given its second staging in Brazil at the

Teatro Amazonas The Amazon Theatre () is an opera house located in Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. It is the location of the annual ''Festival Amazonas de Ópera'' (Amazonas Opera Festival) and the home of the Amazonas Philharmonic Or ...

Manaus Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...

in April 2010. The lead roles were taken by

Eliane Coelho Eliane Coelho (born in 1951 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian soprano singer. She was a soprano in the Frankfurt Opera and performed dozens of roles at the Vienna Staatsoper. Biography Coelho began studying architecture at a college in Rio de ...

, Marcelo Puente, Homero Velho, and Keila de Moraes. Marcelo de Jesus conducted.

Roles

Reception

Despite the fact that it occurred twelve years after the composer's death, the Santa Fé premiere of ''Yerma'' attracted widespread attention from the press, not only from American publications like the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', but also from several Swiss newspapers and the Brazilian daily, '' Jornal do Brasil'', the latter no doubt because the opera was the work of the most distinguished Brazilian composer of his time.

Recordings

* Villa-Lobos: ''Yerma''. , John Wakefield,

Frederica von Stade Frederica von Stade OAL (born June 1, 1945) is a semi-retired American opera singer. Since her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1970, she has performed in operas, musicals, concerts and recitals in venues throughout the world, including La Scala, th ...

, Theodor Uppman,

Elaine Bonazzi Elaine Bonazzi (August 28, 1929 – January 29, 2019) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active international career from the 1950s through the 1990s. A singer with an unusually broad repertoire that encompassed both classical and c ...

. conductor:

Christopher Keene Christopher Keene (December 21, 1946 – October 8, 1995) was an American conductor. Early life and education Keene was born in 1946 in Berkeley, California, the son of Yvonne (née Cyr) and Jim Keene. His mother was of Acadian, German, and Sco ...

. Live recording, August 12, 1971, Santa Fe. CD recording, 2 audio discs: analogue, 4¾ in., stereo. CDALD4442S]. Duluth, Georgia: House of Opera, n.d.''Yerma''
House of Opera

References

Sources * * *

History

Roles

Reception

Recordings

References

Further reading