An American Tragedy (opera)

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An American Tragedy (opera)

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An American Tragedy
Opera by Tobias Picker
Front cover of Dreiser's An American Tragedy
Librettist	Gene Scheer
Language	English
Based on	Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy
Premiere	December 2, 2005 (2005-12-02) Metropolitan Opera, New York City

An American Tragedy is an opera in two acts composed by Tobias Picker, with a libretto by Gene Scheer. This was Picker's fourth opera, written four years after the debut of Thérèse Raquin (also composed with Scheer). Based on the 1925 Theodore Dreiser novel, An American Tragedy, the opera was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, and premiered in New York City on December 2, 2005.^[1]^[2]

It received its West Coast premiere by the Santa Monica College Opera Theater in 2010,^[3] and was produced at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2014.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Roles

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Role	Voice	Premier Cast, 2004 (Conductor: James Conlon)
Roberta Alden	Soprano	Patricia Racette^[7]
Sondra Finchley	Mezzo-Soprano	Susan Graham
Clyde Griffiths	Baritone	Nathan Gunn
Elvira Griffiths	Mezzo-Soprano	Dolora Zajick
Elizabeth Griffiths	Mezzo-Soprano	Jennifer Larmore
Bella Griffiths	Soprano	Jennifer Aylmer
Samuel Griffiths	Tenor	Kim Begley
Gilbert Griffiths	Tenor	William Burden
Orville Mason	Baritone	Richard Bernstein
Grace Marr	Soprano	Clare Gormley
Young Clyde	Boy Soprano	Graham Phillips
Hortense	Soprano	Anna Christy

Synopsis

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This has been described as a progressive drama of temptation, responsibility, and faith. Clyde Griffiths, son of a Midwestern missionary, is a young man working as a bellhop in Chicago, where he flirts with young society women. He relocates to New York upon being offered a position in his Uncle Samuel's shirt factory. Wasting no time, he pursues one of the young workers there, Roberta Alden, after being warned not to by fellow workers. Clyde quickly moves on to a new love interest in Sondra Finchley. Before long, Clyde is juggling Roberta and Sondra, but Roberta soon confides that she is pregnant. Clyde believes his true love is Sondra, and feels resentful of Roberta, who hopes to marry him. Clyde schemes to rid himself of the burden of an unwanted lover with a child on the way.^[8]

Note from the composer

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"Based on a true story, Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy is one literature's great, universal subjects. The central character Clyde Griffiths is Everyman, and his dilemma is at the heart of the American experience, then as well as now. The people upon whom Dreiser's characters were based also echo throughout the pages of the entire opera. They are the haunting spirits that made the story and the writing of the music 'real' for me. The heart-breaking hand-written letters of Grace Brown, the tragic real life factory worker Dreiser brings us so painfully close to, inspired me to give them song as they are projected onto the stage in all their endless optimism and sorrow."^[9]

References

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^ Tommasini, Anthony (5 December 2005). "Dreiser's Chilling Tale of Ambition and Its Price". The New York Times.
^ Ross, Alex. "Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy".
^ Kikkert, Wendy (May 12, 2010). "West Coast Premiere of 'An American Tragedy'".
^ Woolfe, Zachary (2014-07-29). "So Much Doomed Passion (Published 2014)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
^ "Glimmerglass Festival An American Tragedy July 25". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
^ Dalton, Joseph (2014-07-23). "Flawed 'American Tragedy' at Glimmerglass". Times Union. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
^ "World Premiere, An American Tragedy, Metropolitan Opera House: 12/02/2005". archives.metoperafamily.org. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
^ "Metropolitan Opera | An American Tragedy". www.metopera.org. Archived from the original on 2018-07-24. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
^ Picker, Tobias. "Composer Note". Archived from the original on 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2015-01-22.

External links

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Schott Music, An American Tragedy
Excerpt with Patricia Racette on Youtube
Photos from the opera Archived 2020-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
An American Tragedy on Tobias Picker's Official Website Archived 2020-06-12 at the Wayback Machine

v t e Tobias Picker
Opera	Emmeline (1996) Fantastic Mr. Fox (1998) Thérèse Raquin (2001) An American Tragedy (2005) Dolores Claiborne (2013) Awakenings (2022) Lili Elbe (2023)
Orchestral	Old and Lost Rivers Keys To The City The Encantadas
List of compositions by Tobias Picker · Category:Compositions by Tobias Picker

v t e Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy (1925)
Adaptations	An American Tragedy (film) An American Tragedy (opera) A Place in the Sun (film) An American Tragedy (musical)
Related	Murder of Grace Brown

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