The Scarf is a chamber opera

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 one act by composer Lee Hoiby

Lee Hoiby

Lee Henry Hoiby 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 during a time when such compositions were deemed old fashioned and irrelevant to modern society...

. The work uses an English 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 Harry Duncan that is based on the short story The Witch by Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

. Composed in 1955, the opera premiered on June 20, 1958 at the very first Festival dei Due Mondi

Festival dei Due Mondi

The Festival dei Due Mondi ' is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958...

 in Spoleto

Spoleto

Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...

, Italy

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...

 in a production produced by Gian Carlo Menotti

Gian Carlo Menotti

Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...

 and conducted by Reinhard Peters. The cast included Patricia Neway

Patricia Neway

Patricia Neway is an American operatic soprano and musical theatre actress who had an active international career during the mid-1940s through the 1970s. She is particularly remembered for creating roles in the world premieres of several contemporary American operas, most notably Magda Sorel in...

 as Miriam, John McCollum

John McCollum

John McCollum is an American tenor who had an active singing career in operas, concerts, and recitals during the 1950s through the 1970s. As an opera singer he performed with companies throughout North America, mostly working with second tier opera houses...

 as Reuel, and Richard Cross

Richard Cross (bass-baritone)

Richard Cross is an American bass-baritone who had an active international opera career from the late 1950s through the 1990s. Possessing a rich and warm voice, Cross sang a broad repertoire that encompassed works from a wide variety of musical periods and styles...

 as the Postman. The work received its American premiere the following year at the New York City Opera

New York City Opera

The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...

.

Synopsis

The opera takes place in the kitchen of an isolated farmhouse during a snowy February night. The story follows Miriam (soprano), a young woman unhappily married to an oppressive and much older husband, Reuel (tenor). She had married him to save her family's farm after the death of her father. A heavy snowstorm breaks out just as a young and handsome Postman (baritone) arrives. Miriam shelters him during the storm and falls almost instantly in love with the Postman. In order to win his love she weaves a magic red romance-inducing scarf. As she weaves Miriam tells the Postman about happier days growing up on the farm as he warms himself by the fire. He eventually falls asleep, after which Miriam uses her occult powers to wish for the Postman to take her away. The Postman wakes and the two kiss before he leaves wearing the magic red scarf. To Miriam's horror the scarf comes back wrapped around the neck of her husband Reuel. The two get into a fight and Miriam ends up strangling Reuel to death with the scarf.

Sources

• American Opera by Elise Kuhl Kirk at books.google.com