Photograph © Antonio Green 2013
Troubled Island
Dominique-René de Lerma
Dominique-René de Lerma
We
know that opera in Italy began at the start of the seventeenth century
when the late Renaissance realized that Greek drama involved singing,
but the fragments of ancient notation could not be deciphered. So those
interested in the rebirth of this art elected to write new music to
qualify the emotions intended in retelling the Greek stories. Soon
after, Monteverdi's musical psychological depiction raised the
declamatory text so that a rich history of musical theater was born.
The entertainment became so attractive that the French, Germans, and
British began adopting musical styles that were harmonious with their
own languages. But the increased complexity of productions -- acting,
singing, the sets, the instrumentalists -- became so expensive that only
a few courts or united magnates could support the productions, and that
obligated governmental financial support. Nonetheless, the public was
captivated, especially in Italy -- it was no longer an entertainment
only for the wealthy -- except in the United States. With a government
that showed no interest in the arts until the 1960s, opera became
largely a social event where those of financial means could impress each
other from their ornate boxes. Never mind those who were seated on the
ground floor, who saw opera as music of the people.
There
had been efforts by the African Americans to participate, perhaps not
fully realizing that atavistic urge for ritual, music, and theatrics
that had permeated their ancestral sociology. No aspect of music in
Africa is regarded as a cultural adornment; it is that essential element
that validates the rites of passage.
While
an interest in opera was part of that desire of African Americans to
"elevate" the culture, the motivation differed from many of those who
subscribed to the new Metropolitan Opera. Their efforts were almost
consistently frustrated for want of financial support and in the past
they had to use their talents in minstrelsy, with a aria or ensemble
thrown in at the finale of a show, taken for the most part from the
current Italian repertoire.
So
there were composers also. The first operas by a Black composer were
those by Saint-Georges, performed in Paris in the final days before the
French Revolution. The music was praised, but the librettos (by a
second person) blemished the results.
The
number of operas by Black Americans is enormous and is constantly
growing. But only one has ever been produced by a non-Black company.
That total is enlarged when we properly include contemporary ballad
operas -- those works in more popular musical styles, with dialogue and
contemporary plots like Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Weber's Der Freischütz --
works recently termed "musicals." And we do not yet speak of those
operas from Nigeria and Ghana, created without any reference to the
European tradition.
But
the composition of an opera takes a lot of time; it is not worth it to
invest months of work without any income, not knowing if it would ever
be staged and only hoping then that the work would be a success.
Mozart, who loved opera from his pre-teen years, was more than hesitant
to consider this investment if he were not reasonably assured of a
production. William Grant Still's passion to write operas urge was so
great, it won over an assurance of production. "All of my life, my aim
has been opera." That interest must have had origins in the old
one-sided RCA 78rpm recordings collected by his step-father: arias sung
by Caruso, Galli-Curci, and those others who had sung Italian opera in
the early days of recordings.
If the opera were a success, the time invested is worth it. The
current status assures the composer of substantial reward from
performance rights as well as access to the performance materials.
Still was so convinced that Troubled Island would be properly recognized that he had dreams of a new home in La Jolla.
But
this was not to be. Prior to production, a group of New York music
critics planned to give unsupportive reviews. The work was a great
success with the audiences, but that was not enough. The sordid details
are provided in Just tell the story by Judith Anne Still and
Lisa M. Headlee, which book provides highly significant information on
the entire post-Harlem Renaissance scene..
In
1936, Still secured Langston Hughes to write the libretto for an opera
on the liberation of Haiti from European colonialism -- Troubled Island.
Hughes left the next year to cover the Spanish Civil War as a
journalist, leaving a portion of the text to be provided by Mrs. Still,
Verna Arvey, already adept with writing. The composition was finished
in 1939 and the première was set for the New York City Center première
in 1945, to be conducted by Leopold Stokowski (whose extensive works for
civil rights has yet to be told and to whom the opera was dedicated).
The plans were enthusiastically supported by New York's opera-loving
mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, and an equally activist Eleanor Roosevelt,
wife of the President. But Stokowski resigned in 1945 and left New York
for a position with the Hollywood Bowl; the production was delayed.
When the conductor Laszlo Halasz began production plans in 1946, the
Board of Directors stated funds were not available for this work,
although they were able to mount other works. Plans for 1948 were
changed, but Troubled Island was finally staged in 1949 on the
final day of March, the first of April and the first of May (the third
performance was conduted by Julius Rudel). Excepting the newspaper
coverage, it was a success, with 22 curtain calls. Nevertheless, future
performances were cancelled.
It
was a mixed cast, but with several major singers of the time. The role
of Dessalines was initiated by Robert Weede, with the second and third
performances provided by Lawrence Winters (who gave up hopes of an
American career and moved to Hamburg three years later). The role of
Papaloi was created by Robert McFerrin, Sr., six years before he became
the first Black male with the Metropolitan Opera and one year before the
birth of his son, who had a career of his own. Francis Bible and Marie
Powers were already well established artists. The two choreographers
were Jean Léon Destiné and George Balanchine. The composer was pleased
with the casting, not minding that some had to adjust their complexion.
But he was alerted prior to the performance of a problem.
"Billy,
because I'm your friend I think I should tell you this -- The critics
have had a meeting to decide what to do about your opera," critic Howard
Taubman told Still. "They think the colored boy [Still was then 54!]
has gone far enough, and they have voted to pan your opera." (Perhaps
it would be judicious not to call attention to the same attitude, still
rampantly present among the radical right-wing politicians more than
sixty years later regarding another "colored boy.") The complete work
was never heard again until 19 October 2013 when the South Shore Opera
Company presented a single sold-out performance in the Paul Robeson
Theatre, South Shore Cultural Center on South Shore Drive. Prefatory
remarks were offered by Lesly Condé, consul general of Haiti.
Scenes
had been excerpted for a performance at the Schomburg Center for
Research in Black Culture on 31 March 2009, commemorating to the day the
première of sixty years earlier. This was prefaced by comments from
the Schomburg's director, Howard Dodson, and on the work's history by
Cori Ellison of the New York City Opera. The performers were from Opera
Noire, a New York ensemble established by Robert Mack, Kenneth Overton,
and Barton Coleman, which readily won support from conductor Willie
Anthony Waters, soprano Martina Arroyo, and mezzo-soprano Hilda Harris
(the latter stars of the Metropolitan Opera).
In
the future are plans for a British production by Black Swan
Productions. A Series of "workshop performances" were offered the
Londoners at Gatehouse from 31 October through 2 November, only days
after the Chicago production, and there are rumors that a film of the
opera is under consideration.
A
mural, twenty-four feet long, adorns the wall of 2520 West View Street
in Los Angeles, painted by Noni Olabisi and Charles Freeman,
commissioned by the Cultural Affairs Office of the city. Depicting the
Haitian Revolution, Olabsi has portrayed William Grant Still right in
the middle of the work.
The
plot concerns the first days of the birth of Haiti's freedom, a event
that in Black history worried Americans who had already experienced
Black rebellions. In fact, the United States did not recognize this
continent's first Black government until 1862 -- more than a
half-century later -- by Abraham Lincoln in the early days of this
country's own civil war.
The
Chicago production had originally announced the opera would be with
orchestra, but sufficient funding was not available. Given Still's
distinctive orchestral voice, this was very unfortunate. The orchestra
was replaced by two pianos, performed more than satisfactorily by Peter
Slavin and Pedro Yanez.
Kirk
Walker, who sang the bass role of Dessalines, was rescued by opera from
a childhood that was more tragic than is stereotypic
(http://online.wsj.con/articles/SB850511590445857000). He had just made
his operatic debut when, in 2000, he won the regional competition of
the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He is now a member
of the Lyric Opera's American Artists program, performing for young
people throughout the Midwest's inner cities.
Gwendolyn
Brown (contralto, Azelia) was also a regional winner of the Met
auditions, and a successful contestant with the Caruso International
Voice Competition, the New York Oratorio Society, and the National Opera
Association.. A Fiskite, she has performed the role of Maria in Porgy and Bess in Boston, Seattle, Washington, New Orleans, Germany, Italy, Spain, Amsterdam, and Brussells.
Tenor Antonio Watts (Stenio) may be heard at http://www.youtube.com.watch?v=bhTDhu9mEG0.
Cornelius V. Johnson, III, artistic director of the South Shore Opera Company, sang the role of Vuval.[1] A graduate of Morehouse College, he is a music professor within the City Colleges of Chicago.
Very highly recommended is the brief coverage of the opera company, found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12BXVi_KkkZs.
This
performance marked the opera company's fifth season. It is a "small
but marvelously ambitious" troupe, reviewer Andrew Patner commented. He
and Noah Kahrs seem to be the only representatives from the press,
despite the unquestioned interest of the major newspapers when the cast
appears with the Lyric Opera. Is the assumption that a Black production
does not merit attention? We have even heard that the Lyric did not
send a representative to see how well their protégés did when on their
own, formally invited or not.
But
Steve Robinson was present. He is Executive Vice President of WFMT,
Chicago's splendid FM radio station, heard locally at 98.7, but by
others internationally (this writer being one) with computer assistance
at www.wfmt.com. Robinson is a Boston University graduate, whose work
for Chicago radio has merited formal recognition from ASCAP and won both
the Deems Taylor and Dushkin awards.
Serving
as my proxies were my son Antonio and his wife, Emilisa. Although they
opted for the VIP tickets (reserved seating, followed by the dinner),
they were among a large number who initially found no seating available;
the hall's 600 seats were filled. The overflow was then accommodated
with supplementary seating which had to be brought into the theater.
Following the performance they went to a huge hall and stood in a long
line for the buffet supper. During this period they were able to speak
with the conductor Leslie Dunner and the cast (Antonio holds a master's
degree from Northwestern University with stage experience in Illinois,
California, and Maryland and made his radio debut in Lyons, although by
profession he is a computer specialist). He was struck by the wish the
performers expressed for more than this single performance -- and,
judging by the size of the audience and their reception, this would have
been readily justified. Learning a role takes a great deal of time
(indications are that those who were paid received an honorarium of only
$200). His belief that the work, now having succeeded so well in this
try-out, should now be scheduled by the Lyric Opera. A major factor in
this production, however, was the presentation of this work by a Black
composer and performers sent a strong message to an audience that now
might wish to see this opera mounted by the Lyric. Perhaps even more
valuable was the number of teenagers attending the South Shore
production.
Andrew Patner, highly respected journalist and regular commentator on WFMT, wrote an extensive review for the Sun-times:
"Symbolism alone could have made this a special night. Performed at
the South Shore Cultural Center is the old home of the South Shore
Country Club, founded in the early 1900s as a Whites-and
Protestants-only lakefront redoubt, in the Center's Paul Robeson Theatre
by an all-Black cast before a standing-room-only, largely
African-American crowd, the event would have carried bite even if it did
not concern the Haitian Revolution -- complete with the sounds of
African drums and the moves of the native dancers ... To mark its fifth
anniversary, the small but marvelously ambitious South Shore Opera
Company rightly chose to focus on singers and staging and to have
conductor Leslie B. Dunner lead a rich two-piano adaptation of Still's
wide-ranging score by performer-composer Peter Slavin (partnered by the
equally accomplished Pedro Yanez). With a cast of 25, including a
superb chorus prepared by Charles Thomas Hayes, directed by Amy
Hutchinson, designers Shanna Philipson (collectively period and
Caribbean production) and Julian Pike (lights) and eight dancers added
for Kia Smith's strong choreography, South Shore made a handsome and
convincing case for a production with full orchestra. Given Lyric Opera
of Chicago's current interest in serious community engagement and
production, a
local
partnership would be a great place to start ... Bravo to South Shore
Opera Company for rescuing the collaborative work of these men [Still
and Hughes] largely lost to history, and preparing the way for its wider
rediscovery."
The
Lyric Opera of Chicago, which justly prides itself among the world's
leading companies, has been nurtured on the obligatory diet of Verdi,
Puccini, and Wagner, but in recent years has enriched the scene with new
works by William Bolcom and Anthony Davis (the latter notably by Amistad).
Patner's
unrestrained enthusiasm is a far cry from the reports of that cabal of
covert racists in 1949: "Composer Still's music, sometimes lusciously
scored, sometimes naively melodic, often had more prettiness than power.
In all, Troubled Island had more of the soufflé of operetta than the soup bone of opera" [Time magazine]. "One was never sure one was hearing a first-rate performance of an inferior work or a second-rate performance of a good one" [John Briggs, in the New York post].
"The result is a mixture of styles signifying talent and a feel for
opera but achieving little more than a suggestion of it" [Miles
Kastendieck in the New York Journal-American and Christian Science Monitor]. The journalists were true to their pre-performance pledge, if not to the musical obligation of their profession.
The
only recordings, not professionally produced, are from the New York
performance. These are only available from William Grant Still Music
(809 W. Riordan Road, Suite 100, Box 109, Flagstaff AZ 86001-0810; phone
928-526-9355, fax 928-526-0321; Email wgsmusic@bigplanet.com). The
two-cassette version (WSGTI-3001) is $14.95; the CD version
(WGSTI-3001CD) is $21.00.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Troubled opera" in Time (1949/IV11). Available at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0.9171.8000096.00.html.
"William Grant Still" (includes a list of his nine operas) Available at http://www.usopera.com/composers/still.html
"Winters sings at Center; Baritone is heard in Troubled Island with City Opera Unit" in New York times (1949/IV/11).
André, Naomi, ed. Blackness in opera, ed. by Naomi André, Karen M. Bryan, and Eric Saylor. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012.
Cheatham, Wallace. Dialogues on opera and the African American experience. Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 1997.
Kahrs, Noah. "Revolutionary revival; For one night, Troubled Island returned to life" in South Side weekly (2013/X/22). Available at http:/southsideweekly.com/revolutionary-revival/
Kernoodle, Tammy Lynn. "Arias, Communists, and conspiracies: The history of Still's Troubled Island" in Musical Quarterly, v83n4 (1999) p487-508.
Patner, Andrew. "Overdue Chicago premiere of Troubled Island, a triumph" in Sun-times media (2013/X/20).
Quin, Carolyn L. "William Grant Still" in American music, v28n4 (2010/Winter)
Smith, Eric Ledell. Blacks in opera; An encyclopedia of people and companies, 1873-1993. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Co., 1995.
Soll, Beverly. Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas of William Grant Still. 3 vols. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 1998.
Soll, Beverly. I dream a world; The operas of William Grant Still. Layetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2005.
Soll, Beverly. Spiritualism and religion in the operas of William Grant Still. Houston: National Association of African American Studies, 2005.
Still, Judith Anne. Just tell the story by Judith Anne Still and Lisa M. Headlee. Flagstaff: The Master-Player Library, 2006.
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Dominique-René de Lerma
[1] President
of the South Shore Opera Company of Chicago is Lillian King, public
relations management is in the hands of Gary Osserwaade. The
organization's secretary is Bobbie Greer. Email address:
opera@southshoreopera.org.
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