Amelia (opera)
Encyclopedia
Amelia is an opera
in two acts by Daron Hagen
to a libretto
in English
by Gardner McFall based on a story by Stephen Wadsworth. It had its world premiere at the Seattle Opera
on May 8, 2010.
issued a grant of $500,000 in 2009 to underwrite the first two revivals of the world premiere production.
between 1966 to 1996. It revolves around the title character, Amelia, who is expecting her first child and explores her relationship with her father, Dodge, a United States Navy pilot who died in the Vietnam War
. The story is told by interweaving various times, realities, and real, historic, and mythological figures.
Outside a suburban tract house a nine-year-old girl named Amelia sings a hymn
to the stars as inside her mother folds laundry. Her father, a navy pilot named Dodge, emerges from the house in dress whites and indicates to her that it is time for bed. Her mother, Amanda, receives news that her husband Dodge has been shot down and is missing over Vietnam. Amelia is sung to sleep by her father and dreams of the final flight of Amelia Earhart
. During the course of the scene it becomes clear that we are seeing the Father and his daughter in flashback and the mother in the present.
Scene 2: America, mid-1990s
Amelia, now aged 31 and in the final trimester of pregnancy
, awakens in the arms of her husband Paul, an aeronautical engineer. Across the room toil Icarus
and Daedalus
on their wings. They are products of Amelia's imagination. It becomes clear that Amelia has serious unresolved emotional and psychological issues with the loss of her father that have been intensified by her pregnancy. In a flashback, she relives the moment her mother told her that her father had gone missing.
Scene 3: Vietnam, mid-1980s
Amelia and Amanda travel to a village in Vietnam after being contacted by a North Vietnamese couple, Huy and Trang, who have information about Dodge. The women communicate with the couple through an interpreter. (Much of the scene is sung in the Vietnamese language
.) As Huy and Trang tell their story, pointing to where Dodge was shot down, the action they describe is played out around them. A Village Political Official threatens a young girl in order to force Dodge to talk. He accidentally shoots her. That girl was the couple's daughter. Dodge crawls to the daughter, closes her eyes, pulls a photo of his own daughter out of his flight suit, presents it to the parents of the girl. Also, he gives them his "final letter", which they conceal from the North Vietnamese Army. “Why did you wait so long to write to us?” Amelia asks the couple. “Because the girl was our daughter,” Trang repliess. He goes to the family altar, takes down a photo, and hands it to Amelia. It is Dodge’s picture of Amelia as a girl. Amanda asks about the envelope. “A letter for you,” says Huy. “Do you have it?” asks Amelia. “We burned it. We were angry.”
Amelia, extremely close to delivery
, bursts into Paul's place of work and confronts him with her concerns. She has a nervous collapse.
Scene 2: A hospital, three days later
Amelia lies in a coma. In a room elsewhere in the hospital a young boy (played by the actor who portrayed Icarus) is dying in a bed, his father (played by the actor who portrayed Daedalus) holds his hand. Amelia has a grown up dream of Amelia Earhart, whose plane materializes above her bed, and who remains for the rest of the opera, a source of inspiration and courage to the real-life Amelia. During the course of the scene, Amelia dreams of her father Dodge, who comes to speak with her about his disappearance, life, and having a baby. She decides to wake up, and does, just after the boy flatlines and dies. Amelia, hard into labor, is wheeled to a delivery room.
Scene 3: The same hospital, a dozen or so hours later
Amelia, who has insisted upon natural childbirth
, despite the grave risk to herself, goes through the final minutes of her labor as, around her, doctors proceed with the business of the hospital, the father receives his boy's belongings in a small plastic bag, is counseled by a priest and grief counselor. The circle of life is drawn closed as people from Amelia's life (including her parents) seem to reappear as other people – doctors, nurses, orderlies. The baby emerges. An elaborate a cappella
nonette ensues for all of the opera's major characters during which Amelia Earhart looks out happily into the opera house, the father puts on his coat and shuffles out, Paul and Amelia admire their new baby.
, wrote that "the expressive range of Hagen’s music broadens memorably to accommodate the cascade of divergent emotions en route to a grand, life-affirming unaccompanied ensemble for the nine principal singers." Anthony Tommasini, in the New York Times, described the opera as "earnest and original, if heavy-handed and melodramatic. ... a serious, heartfelt and unusual work." Bernard Jacobsen, in the Seattle Times, wrote, "Besides cleverly enabling the sung text to emerge with rare clarity, Hagen has fashioned a score of impassioned and compelling beauty. His melodic lines are eminently singable, and his sumptuous orchestral writing constantly enchants the ear. ...it stands as an achievement at once profound and hugely enjoyable." Ivan Katz, in the Huffington Post, wrote "Daron Aric Hagen's score is well-composed and, in many respects, a work of genius. He tends to write in a more facile manner for the women, but his writing for the men (especially tenor William Burden) is complex and highly effective."
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in two acts by Daron Hagen
Daron Hagen
Daron Aric Hagen , is an American composer, conductor, pianist, educator, librettist, and stage director of contemporary classical music and opera.- Early life and education :...
to a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Gardner McFall based on a story by Stephen Wadsworth. It had its world premiere at the Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera
The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often...
on May 8, 2010.
Background and performance history
In 2007 Amelia became Seattle Opera's first new commission in 25 years.. The Andrew W. Mellon FoundationAndrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City and Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969...
issued a grant of $500,000 in 2009 to underwrite the first two revivals of the world premiere production.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 8 May 2010 (Conductor: Gerard Schwarz Gerard Schwarz Gerard Schwarz is an American conductor. He was music director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2011.In 2007 Schwarz was named music director of the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina, having served as principal conductor since 2005... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Amelia | mezzo soprano | Kate Lindsey Kate Lindsey Kate Lindsey is a mezzo-soprano opera singer from the United States.Lindsey holds a Bachelor of Music Degree with Distinction from Indiana University. Her many awards include the 2007 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, the 2007 George London Award in memory of Lloyd Rigler, the 2007 Lincoln Center... |
| Dodge | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
William Burden |
| Amanda | mezzo soprano | Luretta Bybee |
| Paul | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Nathan Gunn Nathan Gunn Nathan Gunn is an operatic baritone from the United States.He has appeared in many of world's well-known opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera,... / David McFerrin |
| The Flier | lyric soprano Lyric soprano A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre which can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have... |
Jennifer Zetlan Jennifer Zetlan Jennifer Zetlan is an American operatic soprano. Born in Delaware, she studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the Juilliard School. In 2007 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as one of the French actresses in Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace... |
| Icarus / Young Boy | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Nicholas Coppolo |
| Daedalus / Father | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Jordan Bisch |
| Helen | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Jane Eaglen Jane Eaglen Jane Eaglen is an English dramatic soprano particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner and the title roles in Bellini's Norma and Puccini's Turandot.-Background:... |
| Young Amelia | lyric soprano Lyric soprano A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre which can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have... |
Ashley Emerson |
| Trang / Nurse | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Karen Vuong |
| Huy / Doctor | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
David Won |
| Interpreter | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Museop Kim |
| Chaplain | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Craig Grayson |
| Commanding Officer | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Wesley Rogers |
| Political Official | speaking role | Karl Marx Reyes |
| NVA Soldiers | speaking role | Monty Noboru Carter, Leodigario del Rosario, Alex Mansouri |
Synopsis
The opera is set in America and VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
between 1966 to 1996. It revolves around the title character, Amelia, who is expecting her first child and explores her relationship with her father, Dodge, a United States Navy pilot who died in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The story is told by interweaving various times, realities, and real, historic, and mythological figures.
Act 1
Scene 1 - America, the Mid-1960sOutside a suburban tract house a nine-year-old girl named Amelia sings a hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
to the stars as inside her mother folds laundry. Her father, a navy pilot named Dodge, emerges from the house in dress whites and indicates to her that it is time for bed. Her mother, Amanda, receives news that her husband Dodge has been shot down and is missing over Vietnam. Amelia is sung to sleep by her father and dreams of the final flight of Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
. During the course of the scene it becomes clear that we are seeing the Father and his daughter in flashback and the mother in the present.
Scene 2: America, mid-1990s
Amelia, now aged 31 and in the final trimester of pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
, awakens in the arms of her husband Paul, an aeronautical engineer. Across the room toil Icarus
Icarus
-Space and astronomy:* Icarus , on the Moon* Icarus , a planetary science journal* 1566 Icarus, an asteroid* IKAROS, a interplanetary unmanned spacecraft...
and Daedalus
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a skillful craftsman and artisan.-Family:...
on their wings. They are products of Amelia's imagination. It becomes clear that Amelia has serious unresolved emotional and psychological issues with the loss of her father that have been intensified by her pregnancy. In a flashback, she relives the moment her mother told her that her father had gone missing.
Scene 3: Vietnam, mid-1980s
Amelia and Amanda travel to a village in Vietnam after being contacted by a North Vietnamese couple, Huy and Trang, who have information about Dodge. The women communicate with the couple through an interpreter. (Much of the scene is sung in the Vietnamese language
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
.) As Huy and Trang tell their story, pointing to where Dodge was shot down, the action they describe is played out around them. A Village Political Official threatens a young girl in order to force Dodge to talk. He accidentally shoots her. That girl was the couple's daughter. Dodge crawls to the daughter, closes her eyes, pulls a photo of his own daughter out of his flight suit, presents it to the parents of the girl. Also, he gives them his "final letter", which they conceal from the North Vietnamese Army. “Why did you wait so long to write to us?” Amelia asks the couple. “Because the girl was our daughter,” Trang repliess. He goes to the family altar, takes down a photo, and hands it to Amelia. It is Dodge’s picture of Amelia as a girl. Amanda asks about the envelope. “A letter for you,” says Huy. “Do you have it?” asks Amelia. “We burned it. We were angry.”
Act 2
Scene 1: America: the mid-1990sAmelia, extremely close to delivery
Childbirth
Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
, bursts into Paul's place of work and confronts him with her concerns. She has a nervous collapse.
Scene 2: A hospital, three days later
Amelia lies in a coma. In a room elsewhere in the hospital a young boy (played by the actor who portrayed Icarus) is dying in a bed, his father (played by the actor who portrayed Daedalus) holds his hand. Amelia has a grown up dream of Amelia Earhart, whose plane materializes above her bed, and who remains for the rest of the opera, a source of inspiration and courage to the real-life Amelia. During the course of the scene, Amelia dreams of her father Dodge, who comes to speak with her about his disappearance, life, and having a baby. She decides to wake up, and does, just after the boy flatlines and dies. Amelia, hard into labor, is wheeled to a delivery room.
Scene 3: The same hospital, a dozen or so hours later
Amelia, who has insisted upon natural childbirth
Natural childbirth
Natural Childbirth is a philosophy of childbirth that is based on the notion that women who are adequately prepared are innately able to give birth without routine medical interventions. Natural childbirth arose in opposition to the techno-medical model of childbirth that has recently gained...
, despite the grave risk to herself, goes through the final minutes of her labor as, around her, doctors proceed with the business of the hospital, the father receives his boy's belongings in a small plastic bag, is counseled by a priest and grief counselor. The circle of life is drawn closed as people from Amelia's life (including her parents) seem to reappear as other people – doctors, nurses, orderlies. The baby emerges. An elaborate a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
nonette ensues for all of the opera's major characters during which Amelia Earhart looks out happily into the opera house, the father puts on his coat and shuffles out, Paul and Amelia admire their new baby.
Critical response
Heidi Waleson, in the Wall Street Journal, described the work as "both highly original and gripping. ... Amelia is a modern opera with traditional values: Ms. McFall's multilayered libretto never loses sight of its story, and Mr. Hagen's restless, questioning music never loses its heart." George Loomis, in the Financial TimesFinancial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, wrote that "the expressive range of Hagen’s music broadens memorably to accommodate the cascade of divergent emotions en route to a grand, life-affirming unaccompanied ensemble for the nine principal singers." Anthony Tommasini, in the New York Times, described the opera as "earnest and original, if heavy-handed and melodramatic. ... a serious, heartfelt and unusual work." Bernard Jacobsen, in the Seattle Times, wrote, "Besides cleverly enabling the sung text to emerge with rare clarity, Hagen has fashioned a score of impassioned and compelling beauty. His melodic lines are eminently singable, and his sumptuous orchestral writing constantly enchants the ear. ...it stands as an achievement at once profound and hugely enjoyable." Ivan Katz, in the Huffington Post, wrote "Daron Aric Hagen's score is well-composed and, in many respects, a work of genius. He tends to write in a more facile manner for the women, but his writing for the men (especially tenor William Burden) is complex and highly effective."
Video
- Seattle Opera's official Amelia preview trailer
- Composer Daron Hagen interviewed by Texas Public Radio's John Clare about Amelia