OperaWire
June 22, 2020
By David Salazar
William Grant Still’s “Troubled Island” is a historic opera.
The work, which includes a libretto by Langston Hughes and Verna
Arvey, had its world premiere on March 31, 1949, at the New York City
Opera making it the first opera composed by a Black composer to be
produced by a major opera company in the United States.
***
The opera is set in Haiti in 1791 and centers on a group of slaves
preparing a rebellion against their White tormentors. The slaves are led
by Dessalines, who laments, alongside his wife Azelia, the challenges
of being in love in his state of bondage. His friend Martel laments the
fate of the Black man as a slave.
A voodoo priest and priestess tell the slaves that it is time to
strike for freedom. Dessalines rips off his shirt, bares his scars from
the whips of the white men, and makes a stand for freedom.
In the second act, Dessalines is now Emperor. He dictates letters to
Vuval, who opposes his regime and laughs at him for wanting schools and
other nonsense. Dessalines drives Vuval away.
Dessalines comments on the heavy burden he carries to Martel and his
desire to have just land where black people can be separate from white
people. Martel, however, tells him that Haiti must be a land of equality
for all people. Meanwhile, Dessalines’ new Empress Claire plots with
Vuval to overthrow Dessalines.
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