Ensiklopedia Dunia

Technopedia Center

Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science
S1 Informatics S1 Information Systems S1 Information Technology S1 Computer Engineering S1 Electrical Engineering S1 Civil Engineering

faculty of Economics and Business
S1 Management S1 Accountancy

Faculty of Letters and Educational Sciences
S1 English literature S1 English language education S1 Mathematics education S1 Sports Education

Bilby's Doll - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bilby's Doll
Opera by Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd in 2004 with the National Medal of Arts
Librettist	Floyd
Language	English
Based on	A Mirror for Witches by Esther Forbes
Premiere	February 27, 1976 (1976-02-27) Houston Grand Opera

Bilby's Doll is an opera in three acts composed by Carlisle Floyd. The libretto is based on the 1928 American novel A Mirror for Witches by Esther Forbes.

Bilby's Doll was Floyd's eighth opera. It had its premiere on February 27, 1976, at the Houston Grand Opera in a production by David Pountney with sets by Ming Cho Lee. The original cast, conducted by Christopher Keene, included Catherine Malfitano, Joy Davidson, Thomas Paul, and Jack Trussel. Houston Grand's general director David Glockley commissioned the work in honor of the US Bicentennial.^[1]^[2]

Synopsis

Bilby's Doll is the story of Doll Bilby, a French orphan whose spirituality and imagination collide with the hostility and practical ideals of the Puritan colony where she is raised by her foster parents.

Doll was brought to Massachusetts from France by Jared Bilby, her foster father. She declines a marriage proposal from Titus Thumb, a young ministerial student, saying that her natural parents were burned as witches in France and she worries that she might also become a witch. Instead, she meets and marries a man who pretends he is a demon, but who is later revealed to be the estranged and opportunistic son of the minister Zelley, Doll's friend and supporter.

Although she is at first devastated by the revelation of her lover as a mortal, Doll's belief that her husband is a demon is restored as she dies giving birth in a jail cell.^[1]

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 27 February 1976^[3]
Jared Bilby (a former sea captain)	bass	Thomas Paul
Doll Bilby (the Bilbys' foster daughter)	soprano	Catherine Malfitano
Hannah Bilby (Jared Bilby's wife)	mezzo-soprano	Joy Davidson
Deacon Thumb (a prosperous farmer)	tenor	Thomas Page
Titus Thumb (his son)	baritone	Alan Titus
Mr. Zelley (a clergyman)	bass-baritone	Tom Fox
Goody Goochy (the village midwife-undertaker)	contralto	Nell Evans
Mrs. Thumb (wife of Deacon Thumb)	soprano	Barrie Smith
Shad	tenor	Jacque Trussel
Mr. Increase Mather	bass	David Cornell
Silas (the tavern keeper)	baritone	Jon Enloc
Town Crier	tenor
Sorrow (twin daughter of Deacon and Mrs Thumb)	soprano
Labour (twin daughter of Deacon and Mrs Thumb)	soprano
First Suitor (suitor of the widowed Hannah Bilby)	tenor
Second Suitor (suitor of the widowed Hannah Bilby)	baritone
Mr. Kleaver (the village doctor)	baritone
Captain Buzzey (the local constable)	baritone
Young Boy	non-singing
Goody Greene	non-singing
A Servant Boy	non-singing
Judge Bride	non-singing
Judge Lollimour	non-singing
People of Cowan Corners and Salem, Deputies, Judges' retinue

References

^ ^a ^b Carlisle Floyd: Bilby's Doll at Boosey & Hawkes
^ Bender, William (March 8, 1976). "Music: Houston's Doll". Time.
^ Margaret Ross Griffel (2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780810883253.

External links

Carlisle Floyd, Boosey & Hawkes

v t e Carlisle Floyd
Operas	Susannah (1955) Wuthering Heights (1958) The Passion of Jonathan Wade (1962) Markheim (1966) Of Mice and Men (1970) Flower and Hawk (1972) Bilby's Doll (1976) Willie Stark (1981) Cold Sassy Tree (2000)
Category

Categories: