Jackie O (opera)
Encyclopedia
Jackie O is a chamber opera
in two acts composed by Michael Daugherty
to a libretto
by Wayne Koestenbaum
. The 90 minute work, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera
in 1995 and premiered in 1997, is inspired by American
musical and popular culture
of the late 1960s and episodes in the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
.
premiere took place on August 7, 1997 at the Banff Centre
in Alberta
, conducted by Bruno Ferrandis. Co-produced by Houston Grand Opera's Houston Opera Studio and the Banff Centre, the premiere production was directed by Nicholas Muni, with sets and costumes by Peter Werner, lighting design by Harry Frehner, and choreography by Bruce Brown, who also created the role of Paparazzo.
The work has subsequently received several other US performances including those by the Duquesne University
Opera Workshop in Pittsburgh (1999), Long Leaf Opera in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
(2003), and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance
in Ann Arbor
(2006). Jackie O had its French
premiere on February 2, 2002 at the Opéra de Metz
, and its Italian
premiere on April 3, 2008 in the Teatro Rossini, Lugo, in a co-production with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna
.
and solo voices (soprano
, mezzo-soprano
, tenor
, baritone
and bass
) and a 20 piece orchestra of piccolo
/flute
, oboe
/English horn, clarinet
/bass clarinet, tenor/alto/soprano saxophone
, bassoon
, horn, trumpet
, trombone
/euphonium
, tuba
, harp
, acoustic guitar
, synthesizer
/piano
, percussion and strings
.
" in the style of Gertrude Stein
's libretto for Four Saints in Three Acts
, an opera by 20th century American composer, Virgil Thomson
. Koestenbaum has written both poetry and non-fiction works on opera and on iconic opera singers like Maria Callas
. It is not surprising that in addition to the character of Maria Callas, there are several conscious allusions to the art-form in the Jackie O libretto. These include: Violetta's death aria
from La traviata
, reflected in Addio Del Passato; the funeral pyre from the final scene of Norma
, reflected in The Flame Duet; and both Countess Almaviva's forgiveness aria in The Marriage of Figaro
and the off-stage voice of the imprisoned Manrico in Il trovatore
, reflected in Jack's Song.
Act I begins with a "happening
" in artist Andy Warhol
's studio in New York City
, attended by various celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor
, Grace Kelly
, Aristotle Onassis
, and his lover, Maria Callas. All eagerly anticipate Jackie and sing Jackie's Coming!. Jackie arrives and is fascinated by Onassis. Callas realizes that Onassis is going to leave her for Jackie and sings Addio Del Passato (Goodbye to the past). Onassis and Jackie escape from the party to see a new art movie
, I Am Curious (Yellow)
.
Act II is set on Onassis' yacht
, Christina, and on his private island, Skorpios
. Jackie and Onassis have now been married for a year. On the yacht, Jackie becomes increasingly melancholy and given to trance
-like states. Maria Callas seeks a reunion with Onassis and the two decide to meet (I Will See You At The Lido). In one of her trances, Jackie wanders off to the island, where she and Maria Callas meet and reconcile with each other as they sing The Flame Duet. Jackie and Callas then smash a paparazzo's camera, which gives Jackie the power to communicate with her dead husband
, who is heard as a disembodied voice. She forgives him for his past infidelities in their duet, Jack's Song. The opera ends with Jackie deciding to return to America, wistfully singing The New Frontier Is Here.
- Jackie's Song. (Scored for solo cello, flute/piccolo, bass clarinet, violin, percussion and piano, the piece had previously premiered on its own in 1996 and forms the leitmotif
of Jackie in the opera.
Act I. The Happening
1968
Jackie's Coming!
Egyptian Time
Goldfinger
Painter's Credo
Jackie's Credo
Addio Del Passato
I Am Curious (Yellow)
Finale: Don't Look Back
1968 (reprise
)
Act II. The Island
Scene 1 (On The 'Christina')
I Resemble A God
Stiff Drink
All His Bright Light
I Will See You At The Lido
Scene 2 (On Skorpios)
The Flame Duet
Smash His Camera!
Jack's Song
The New Frontier Is Here
Chamber opera
Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small...
in two acts composed by Michael Daugherty
Michael Daugherty
Michael Kevin Daugherty is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. Influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, Daugherty is one of the most colorful and widely performed American concert music composers of his generation...
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...
by Wayne Koestenbaum
Wayne Koestenbaum
Wayne Koestenbaum is an American poet and cultural critic. He received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University...
. The 90 minute work, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
in 1995 and premiered in 1997, is inspired by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musical and popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
of the late 1960s and episodes in the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
.
Performance history
Jackie O received its first performance in the Cullen Theater, Houston, Texas, on March 14, 1997 with a second performance on March 16, 1997, both conducted by Christopher Larkin. The opera's CanadianCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
premiere took place on August 7, 1997 at the Banff Centre
Banff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, conducted by Bruno Ferrandis. Co-produced by Houston Grand Opera's Houston Opera Studio and the Banff Centre, the premiere production was directed by Nicholas Muni, with sets and costumes by Peter Werner, lighting design by Harry Frehner, and choreography by Bruce Brown, who also created the role of Paparazzo.
The work has subsequently received several other US performances including those by the Duquesne University
Duquesne University
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of...
Opera Workshop in Pittsburgh (1999), Long Leaf Opera in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
(2003), and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance is an undergraduate and graduate institution for the performing arts in the United States. It is part of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The School of Music, Theatre & Dance was founded in 1880 and is currently headed by...
in Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
(2006). Jackie O had its French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
premiere on February 2, 2002 at the Opéra de Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
, and its Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
premiere on April 3, 2008 in the Teatro Rossini, Lugo, in a co-production with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Teatro Comunale di Bologna
The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy, and is one of the most important opera venues in Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season....
.
Scoring
The work is scored for chorusChoir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
and solo voices (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...
, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
, 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...
, 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...
and 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...
) and a 20 piece orchestra of piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
/flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
/English horn, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
/bass clarinet, tenor/alto/soprano saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
, horn, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
/euphonium
Euphonium
The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced"...
, tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
/piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, percussion and strings
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, March 14, 1997 (Conductor: - Christopher Larkin Christopher Larkin Christopher Larkin is an American conductor who is best known for his work within the field of opera. He was Associate Conductor of the Houston Grand Opera for a number of years where he notably conducted the world premieres of Mark Adamo's Little Women and Michael Daugherty’s Jackie O. He is also... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Jackie O | 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... |
Nicole Heaston |
| Maria Callas Maria Callas Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts... |
mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Stephanie Novacek Stephanie Novacek Stephanie Novacek is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who has appeared at many of the world's opera houses. A regular performer at the Houston Grand Opera and Opera Atelier, Novacek is especially known for her performances in contemporary operas and in obscure operas, particularly baroque works,... |
| Grace Kelly Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of... |
mezzo-soprano | Joyce DiDonato Joyce DiDonato Joyce DiDonato is an award-winning American operatic mezzo-soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Handel, Mozart, and Rossini... |
| Andy Warhol Andy Warhol Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art... |
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... |
Daniel Belcher Daniel Belcher Daniel Belcher is an American operatic baritone who has sung at many of the world's leading opera houses. He notably portrayed the role of John Brooke in the world premiere of Mark Adamo's Little Women and played the role of Andy Warhol in the premiere of Michael Daugherty's Jackie O, both with the... |
| Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Sokratis Onassis , commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.- Early life :Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna to Socrates and Penelope Onassis... |
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... |
Eric Owens Eric Owens (bass-baritone) Eric Owens is an American operatic bass-baritone born July 11, 1970 in Philadelphia. He attended Central High School "247", Temple University's Boyer College of Music, and the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia... |
| Liz Taylor Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age... |
soprano | Jonita Lattimore Jonita Lattimore Jonita Lattimore is an American operatic soprano and a faculty member of Roosevelt University's College of Performing Arts. She is a lyric soprano from Chicago's South Side who has performed a wide range of operatic roles as well as oratorio performances with major orchestras both internationally... |
| John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.... |
tenor | John McVeigh |
| Paparazzo | tap dancer, non-singing role | Bruce Brown |
Synopsis
Wayne Koestenbaum has described the loose narrative of his libretto as a "collageCollage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
" in the style of Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
's libretto for Four Saints in Three Acts
Four Saints in Three Acts
Four Saints in Three Acts is an opera by American composer Virgil Thomson with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. Written in 1927-8, it contains about 20 saints, and is in at least four acts...
, an opera by 20th century American composer, Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
. Koestenbaum has written both poetry and non-fiction works on opera and on iconic opera singers like Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
. It is not surprising that in addition to the character of Maria Callas, there are several conscious allusions to the art-form in the Jackie O libretto. These include: Violetta's death aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
from La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, reflected in Addio Del Passato; the funeral pyre from the final scene of Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
, reflected in The Flame Duet; and both Countess Almaviva's forgiveness aria in The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
and the off-stage voice of the imprisoned Manrico in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, reflected in Jack's Song.
Act I begins with a "happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
" in artist Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's studio in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, attended by various celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
, Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Sokratis Onassis , commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.- Early life :Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna to Socrates and Penelope Onassis...
, and his lover, Maria Callas. All eagerly anticipate Jackie and sing Jackie's Coming!. Jackie arrives and is fascinated by Onassis. Callas realizes that Onassis is going to leave her for Jackie and sings Addio Del Passato (Goodbye to the past). Onassis and Jackie escape from the party to see a new art movie
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
, I Am Curious (Yellow)
I Am Curious (Yellow)
I Am Curious is a 1967 Swedish drama film written and directed by Vilgot Sjöman and starring Sjöman and Lena Nyman. It is a companion film to 1968's I Am Curious ; the two were initially intended to be one 3½ hour film...
.
Act II is set on Onassis' yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
, Christina, and on his private island, Skorpios
Skorpios
Skorpios is a private island in the Ionian Sea off the western coast of Greece and just to the east of the island of Lefkada. The 2001 census reported a population of two inhabitants...
. Jackie and Onassis have now been married for a year. On the yacht, Jackie becomes increasingly melancholy and given to trance
Trance
Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
-like states. Maria Callas seeks a reunion with Onassis and the two decide to meet (I Will See You At The Lido). In one of her trances, Jackie wanders off to the island, where she and Maria Callas meet and reconcile with each other as they sing The Flame Duet. Jackie and Callas then smash a paparazzo's camera, which gives Jackie the power to communicate with her dead husband
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, who is heard as a disembodied voice. She forgives him for his past infidelities in their duet, Jack's Song. The opera ends with Jackie deciding to return to America, wistfully singing The New Frontier Is Here.
Musical structure
OvertureOverture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
- Jackie's Song. (Scored for solo cello, flute/piccolo, bass clarinet, violin, percussion and piano, the piece had previously premiered on its own in 1996 and forms the leitmotif
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
of Jackie in the opera.
Act I. The Happening
1968
Jackie's Coming!
Egyptian Time
Goldfinger
Painter's Credo
Jackie's Credo
Addio Del Passato
I Am Curious (Yellow)
Finale: Don't Look Back
1968 (reprise
Reprise
Reprise is a fundamental device in the history of art. In literature, a reprise consists of the rewriting of another work; in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the...
)
Act II. The Island
Scene 1 (On The 'Christina')
I Resemble A God
Stiff Drink
All His Bright Light
I Will See You At The Lido
Scene 2 (On Skorpios)
The Flame Duet
Smash His Camera!
Jack's Song
The New Frontier Is Here
Recordings
- On CD: Michael Daugherty: Jackie O (Nicole Heaston, John McVeigh, Daniel Belcher, Eric Owens, Joyce DiDonato, Jonita Lattimore, Stephanie Novacek; Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Christopher Larkin) Label: London Decca/Argo 455 591-2
- On DVD: Jackie O (Fiona McAndrew, Nora Sourouzian, Simone Alberghini, Paul Carey JonesPaul Carey JonesPaul Carey Jones is a baritone opera singer.-Education:Jones attended Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf...
; Christopher Franklin) Label: Dynamic 33605
External links
- Feature on the Canadian premiere of Jackie O at the Banff Centre including production photographs. Accessed 11 July 2008.
- David Schiff, "Is Headline Opera Yesterday's News?", New York Times, June 7, 1998. (On 20th century operas based on contemporary figures or events, including Jackie O). Accessed 11 July 2008.