NYTimes.com: 'Treemonisha' 'is not a rag opera or a folk opera, but, as Joplin intended, a serious American grand opera'

[“Excerpts from the opera 'Treemonisha' were sung by, from left, Kevin Thompson, Krysty Swann, Kenneth Overton and Robert Mack at the Schomburg Center in Harlem.” (Richard Termine for The New York Times ]

NYTimes.com

Critic’s Notebook

For City Opera, Spare Show May Signal Future

By Anthony Tommasini

Published: June 7, 2011

“If New York City Opera were a thriving company with stable finances, a clear vision and a home base, the gratifying program it presented on Monday night at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem would have come across simply as a successful effort at community outreach.

“The event was a celebration of Scott Joplin’s 'Treemonisha,' with excerpts from the opera performed by five gifted young singers, along with five dynamic dancers, accompanied by the pianist Bradley Moore. The pianist and Joplin champion Roy Eaton was the host for the program and also played two of the composer’s popular piano pieces, 'Solace' and 'Maple Leaf Rag.' An enthusiastic audience filled the inviting 340-seat Langston Hughes Auditorium.”

“It was touching to hear the excerpts from 'Treemonisha' performed in the neighborhood where Joplin lived when he wrote this opera, which he considered his major work, though it was never performed in his lifetime, and he had to publish the piano/vocal score at his own expense. He moved to New York in 1907, and, Mr. Eaton said, his last residence was not far from the Schomburg Center. The son of a former slave and a free-born black woman, Joplin died in 1917 at about 50. (His birth date is uncertain.)

“Though there are jaunty ragtime songs and dances in 'Treemonisha,' this is not a rag opera or a folk opera, but, as Joplin intended, a serious American grand opera, with an extensive overture, instrumental preludes to the second and third acts, formal arias with beguiling vocal writing, recitatives and elaborate ensembles. With a libretto by Joplin, the story is set in 1866 on a plantation in Arkansas surrounded by a dense forest. It tells of Treemonisha, an 18-year-old woman, the adopted child of ex-slaves, who has had a private education and become a source of enlightenment to her community.”

“The singers conveyed their respect for the piece through their heartfelt and handsome singing: the soprano Marsha Thompson as Treemonisha; the mezzo-soprano Krysty Swann as Monisha; the bass Kevin Thompson as Ned; the tenor Robert Mack as Remus; and the baritone Kenneth Overton in a delightful double turn as the shifty conjurer Zodzetrick and a wise, though verbose, minister named Parson Alltalk.” [Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was a Ragtime and Classical composer and pianist of African descent who is profiled at AfriClassical.com]