STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
Esther Nelson Stanford Calderwood General & Artistic Director David Angus Music Director John Conklin Artistic Advisor
November 11, 2019
Dear Educator, Boston Lyric Opera is pleased to invite high school and college students to attend Final Dress Rehearsals throughout our Season. We look forward to welcoming you and your students to the Emerson Paramount Center for the new American opera, Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers. Opera is an art form that can contain big, difficult emotions and BLO aims to provide a community forum from which to explore and discuss them. The experience of seeing and hearing live, professional opera is second to none, and we encourage you to explore the world of the opera in your classroom as well. We are proud to offer this Study Guide to support your discussions and preparations for Fellow Travelers. We’ve included special insights into this particular production as well as the opera’s history with connections to Social Studies and English Language Arts. Boston Lyric Opera’s mission is to build curiosity, enthusiasm, and support for opera. This Study Guide is one way in which we support the incredible work of educators like you, who are inspired by this beautiful art form and introduce it to your students. As we continue to develop additional Study Guides, we want your feedback. Please tell us about how you use this guide and how it can best serve your needs by emailing education@blo.org. If you’re interested in engaging with us further and learning about additional opera education opportunities with Boston Lyric Opera, please visit blo.org/education to discover more about our programs and initiatives. We look forward to seeing you at the opera! Sincerely,
Rebecca Ann S. Kirk, M.Ed. Manager of Education Programs
TABLE OF CONTENTS FELLOW TRAVELERS SYNOPSIS
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WELCOME, FELLOW TRAVELERS
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THE CREATORS OF FELLOW TRAVELERS
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THE WHO’S WHO OF THE DISTRICT
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SPOTTED: DISTRICT HOT SPOTS
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ALIGNING TIME
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THE IRON CURTAIN DESCENDS...
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THE RED THREAT
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THE LAVENDER THREAT
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THE MARCH GOES ON
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LISTEN UP!
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FELLOW TRAVELERS RESOURCES
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HISTORY OF OPERA: AN OVERVIEW
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THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA
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NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE OPERA
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STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
Fellow Travelers SYNOPSIS
September 1953 to May 1957, in Washington, Dwight Eisenhower is President. Senator Joseph McCarthy is stoking fears that the U.S. Federal Government is full of Communists, Soviet spies, and homosexuals.
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FELLOW TRAVELERS SYNOPSIS
CHARACTERS Timothy Laughlin, tenor An up and coming reporter for The Washington Star (Fictional Character) Hawkins Fuller, baritone A State Department employee (Fictional Character) Mary Johnson, soprano Hawkins’ assistant, and close friend (Fictional Character) Estonian Frank, baritone Mary’s lover (Fictional Character) General Arlie, baritone (Fictional Character) Miss Lightfoot, soprano Hawkins’ secretary (Fictional Character) Lucy, soprano Hawkins’ fiancée (Fictional Character) Tommy McIntyre, baritone New Hampshire Congressman (Historical Person) Joseph McCarthy, baritone Wisconsin Senator (Historical Person) Charles E. Potter, baritone Michigan Senator (Historical Person)
Senator Joseph McCarthy.
FELLOW TRAVELERS SYNOPSIS
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ACT I
At a park in Dupont Circle, an up-and-coming reporter, Timothy Laughlin, sits on a bench reviewing his notes from McCarthy’s wedding when he is approached by State Department employee Hawkins Fuller. The two flirt before going their separate ways. Timothy is hired as a speechwriter for Senator Charles Potter. Timothy meets Tommy McIntyre, who gives him unsolicited advice about Washington politics. Timothy stops by Hawkins’ office to drop off a thankyou gift. At the office, he meets Hawkins’ assistant and best friend Mary, as well as his secretary Miss Lightfoot. Miss Lightfoot mocks Timothy’s fondness for Hawkins after he leaves. Later, at his apartment, Timothy is cooking and writing his sister a letter when Hawkins unexpectedly stops by. The two daydream and make plans. In the afterglow of last night’s encounter with Hawkins, Timothy is torn between his deep Catholic beliefs and his blossoming passion for a man. He attends confession at St. Peter’s Church. Timothy goes to a Christmas party at The Hotel Washington with many high profile politicians and socialites in attendance. While there, he is approached by an Army General about enlisting. Across the room, Mary warns Hawkins about his reckless behavior with Timothy while McIntyre tells Potter about McCarthy’s latest political troubles. Later, Miss Lightfoot overhears an intimate exchange between Hawkins and Timothy. Hawkins has been called into Interrogation Room M304. An interrogator puts Hawkins through a series of humiliating tests in an attempt to determine whether or not he is a homosexual. Afterward, Hawkins goes to Timothy’s apartment to debrief the interrogation; and Hawkins discloses his illicit activities he took part in while away in New York City.
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FELLOW TRAVELERS SYNOPSIS
D.C. streetcar
ACT II
Senator Potter warns Senator McCarthy that the “Adams Chronology” will be his downfall if he does not remove Roy Cohn from his staff. This document details how Roy Cohn and McCarthy pressured the Army to give Cohn’s friend David Schine special treatment. Mary invites Timothy over to warn him of Hawkins’ fickle nature. She then tells him she is pregnant from a one-night stand. Later, Hawkins rejoices that he’s been cleared of allegations of homosexuality. But Timothy cannot celebrate with him, and, in agony over his fraught relationship and sexual identity, tells Hawkins he’s decided to enlist in the Army. Meanwhile, Mary tells Hawkins she is quitting, as she can no longer work in an atmosphere of panic and persecution.
Mattachine Society (pro-gay activist movement) advertisement. 1951.
Two years pass. Timothy writes letters to Hawkins in Chevy Chase and Mary in New Orleans from France, where he is stationed. Hawkins is now married to a woman named Lucy, with a house in the suburbs, but would clearly like to rekindle his relationship with Timothy upon his return. Hawkins rents a house in D.C. for his afternoon flings with Timothy. While they are together, Hawkins expresses that he cannot be everything Timothy wants. Hawkins resolves to end the affair himself. D.C postcard.
Mary is packing when Hawkins stops by, distraught. Hawkins confesses that in order to push Timothy away, he has given Timothy’s name to those investigating alleged homosexuals. He asks Mary to tell Timothy about this betrayal in the hope that it will make Timothy hate him. His dreams dashed, Timothy decides to leave Washington, D.C., and Hawkins Fuller for good. Both heartbroken, they say goodbye.
FELLOW TRAVELERS SYNOPSIS
7
WELCOME, FELLOW TRAVELERS
The opera Fellow Travelers was adapted from the novel of the same name by the American author Thomas Mallon. Though this opera is a work of fiction, the main characters of Hawkins and Fuller, are echoes of the approximately 1,200 Federal employees, men and women, fired from the United States government for their confirmed or suspected sexual orientation, or even affiliation with those confirmed or under suspicion. Written in 2007, Mallon offered an intimate insight into the lives of gay men when their very existence was legally deemed a threat to the government.
Thomas Mallon in Summer 2009.
Mallon has been applauded for his ability to write from the perspective of the historical bystander, or an ordinary person present for extraordinary historical moments. Mallon’s other works include Henry and Clara, set around the Lincoln assassination, Dewey Defeats Truman, and Watergate. Mallon remarked that he chooses to focus on the past because the cyber revolution has made us more connected than ever--to a fault--and reading about the past can be a way to revisit impactful human connection, such as Timothy and Hawkins’ romance in an era where there were no smartphones to be exposed by or hide behind. Before receiving his Masters and Ph.D. from Harvard University in World War I poetry, Mallon completed his undergraduate thesis on American novelist and political critic Mary McCarthy (no relation to Senator McCarthy), at Brown University. Mary McCarthy, born in 1912, left the Catholic Church at an early age and became an atheist, but remained interested in Catholicism throughout her writing career. As she moved through her life, she became a critic of McCarthyism and Communism, as well as the
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WELCOME, FELLOW TRAVELERS
Vietnam War, even writing a series of essays as the war was occurring in the 1960s. Ms. McCarthy’s enduring legacy on Mallon is remarkably evident. In the 1930s, Mary McCarthy was known as a Fellow Traveler. The term stems from a Russian writer, Poputchik, who was not against the Russian Revolution that was led by the communist-thinking Bolsheviks, but deliberately chose not to write propaganda or fight on the front lines. Interestingly, the Soviet Union allowed these types of indifferent writers and artists flourish, with the belief that someone had to fill the gap until art led by the proletariat (working class) would eventually emerge and replace bourgeois (ruling class) art. Later, the term (with its Russian roots) was used in the United States to identify a person who did not actively designate themselves a member of the Communist Party, but sympathized with its ideas and goals. Thomas Mallon has written ten works of fiction, as well as numerous essays and columns for publications such as The New Yorker and the New York Times. He currently lives in Washington D.C. and teaches English at George Washington University. Out of all of his work, he made this note on the character of Timothy from Fellow Travelers “When I started to make notes on him, the first thing I put down was ‘Date of birth: November 2, 1931’– exactly twenty years earlier than mine. I realized that in some ways I was going to be writing about what my own life might have been like had I been born two decades earlier.” With this admission, it is Mallon himself who comments on the progress we have made as a society since the Cold War. However, his novel, as well as the adaptation into an opera remain all too relevant. 2019 is a moment of fear and persecution, LGBTQ+ citizens are still victims of hate crimes and unfair legislation, not unlike the 1950s. Fellow Travelers may offer a reminder of the progress we still have to make, and the human impact of blind fear.
Mary McCarthy. New York World Telegram and Sun. Library of Congress. 1963.
DISCUSS: Is there an author you feel particularly influences you as a writer? 9
THE CREATORS OF FELLOW TRAVELERS
Fellow Travelers is composer Gregory Spears’ fifth opera. With degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Yale, and Princeton, he currently teaches composition at SUNY Purchase. His canon of work includes operas, vocal, and instrumental works mainly for chamber ensembles. Spears has expressed his love for opera through his relationship to the singer; describing the human voice as the best bridge to the audience. Since his first opera, Paul’s Case, Spears has continued to grow the genre, even writing operas for youth including his most recent opera, Jason and the Argonauts. At present, he is working on a new opera, Castor and Patience, collaborating with the current U.S. Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith. Commissioned by Cincinnati Opera, it will premiere in 2020. Many prestigious institutions including the American Academy for the Arts and OPERA America have lauded his work. Influenced by Romanticism, Minimalism, and early music, the Boston Globe called his music “beautifully unsettling.” Adapting Thomas Mallon’s book, librettist Greg Pierce had a key role in creating the opera Fellow Travelers. Pierce has nine plays under his belt to date, including commissions from the Lincoln Center Claire Tow Theatre, Albee Foundation, Public Theatre Under the Radar Festival, and the New York Public Library. No stranger to music collaborators, however, many of Pierce’s plays are scored including The Quarry and The Landing by composers Randal Pierce and John Kander, respectively. Unlike Mallon, Pierce does not often write historic realism, rather surreal fictional works, so collaborating on Fellow Travelers represented a new challenge for him. Fellow Travelers is his first opera. In addition to his playwriting career, Greg Pierce has published several
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THE CREATORS OF FELLOW TRAVELERS
Gregory Spears. Gregoryspears.com
Greg Pierce. Photo by Ben Esner. Gregpierce.com
short stories in literary magazines including the New England Review and the Berkeley Fiction Review. He graduated with a B.A. from Oberlin and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College.
American Minimalism is branch of modern classical music developed in the 1960s by composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass. This music is characterized by repetition, drones, silence, and sustained harmonic modulations not bound by any musical form.
Fellow Travelers premiered at Cincinnati Opera in 2016, and was commissioned by Opera Fusion: New Works, a collaboration between the opera company and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Since the premiere, the opera has been performed by the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Minnesota Opera, both in 2018. The cast and orchestra reflect the intimacy of the opera, with seventeen musicians in the orchestra and a cast of nine. With short scenes, Pierce crafted a conversational flow. Spears’ score is tonal, lyrical, and the instruments create minimalist soundscapes, such as the humdrum of an office typewriter or a brief quote of a popular Christmas carol. Spears described his compositional inspiration in the premiere’s program notes: “Particularly in Tim and Hawk’s public interactions, love cannot simply “speak” its name. Music must bridge the gap. … From this starting point, I looked for ways
to express the innuendo-driven world of Hawk and Tim while maintaining a relatively cool musical surface. … I tried to do this by blending two disparate styles: American minimalism and the courtly, melismatic singing style of medieval troubadours.” Fellow Travelers was met with glowing reviews, and the New York Times deemed it among the best classical music of 2016. A commercial recording was released in 2017, and can be found on Spotify, YouTube, and other popular streaming services. Peter Rothstein, the founding Artistic Director of Theatre Latte Da in the twin cities, will be directing Fellow Travelers to bring the story to life for Boston Lyric Opera’s performances of the East Coast premiere of the work. He also directed the production at Minnesota Opera last year. Rothstein has a rich career directing musicals, plays, and opera with a particular affinity for the development of new work. His operatic repertoire is vast, having directed massive operas such as Puccini’s Madama Butterfly for the Guthrie Theatre, and Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte for Minnesota Opera. He has also directed important gay narratives of our generation, namely the documentary theater piece, The Laramie Project, about the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard. Rothstein, a gay man, has been honored by the Lavender Magazine for his work. He has been named Minnesota’s Artist of the Year and has received prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, and National Alliance for Musical Theatre. Recently, he won the Drama Desk Award for “Unique Experience” for All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.
DISCUSS: What aspect of Fellow Travelers are you most curious to see presented on stage? 11
THE WHO’S WHO OF THE DISTRICT In Washington D.C. at the time, who you associated with was of utmost importance. Those accused of being Communist or homosexual were dismissed from their jobs, purely on the basis of who they were seen talking to or spending time with. Because Fellow Travelers is firmly rooted in history, the opera’s librettist, Greg Pierce, adapting Mallon’s words, references several important figures from America’s political scene. These are names that would have been known to all Americans at the time, blasting across the news.
Joseph McCarthy: A U.S. Senator from Wisconsin,
David Schine: G. David Schine was a fervent
and a leader of a subcommittee to uncover and oust all Communists and homosexuals in the Federal government during The Cold War. His name was soon associated with accusations of treason and the resulting hearings – often carried out without proper (or any) evidence—were termed McCarthyism. Hundreds of people were imprisoned, and tens of thousands lost their jobs and were blacklisted against any further employment. Eventually he took his personal-political crusade against Communism so far as to accuse the U.S. Army of being compromised by Communist spies. After a series of court hearings, in 1954, the U.S. Senate voted to censure Senator McCarthy from any further involvement in his subcommittees. He was stripped of his power, yet remained in office until his death in 1957.
anti-Communist, publishing a six-page antiCommunist pamphlet in 1952. After befriending Cohn, he was brought onto McCarthy’s team as a consultant. Schine left his life in the political arena after the Army-McCarthy hearings.
Roy Cohn: Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel. He is well known as a prosecutor at the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple accused of Soviet espionage--and found guilty. He is famous for threatening the U.S. Army in order to get his anti-Communist propagandist friend, David Schine, out of the army draft. In 1954, the Army-McCarthy hearings accused the two of strong-arming special treatment for Schine. Cohn resigned after the hearings.
DID YOU KNOW? Roy Cohn was a lawyer and mentor to current President Donald Trump, until his death in 1986.
Charles Potter: Elected in 1952, Potter was the only Senator to serve on the subcommittee for Korean War Crimes--another proxy war the United States provided direct military assistance to.
Adlai Stevenson: The 1952 Democratic candidate for President who had served in the State Department, and was defeated by President Eisenhower. Scott McLeod: McLeod was the head of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Security and Consular Affairs from 1953 to 1957. He was the principal official responsible for charging individuals with conspiracy or homosexuality during McCarthyism. He developed the standards for “determining homosexuality.”
Behind the Scenes Roy Cohn is fictionalized in Tony Kushner’s 1991 Pulitzer Prize winning play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Cohn is portrayed as a closeted homosexual, haunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg. He is also dying of AIDS, which the real Roy Cohn did die of during the AIDS epidemic. Though fiction, some speculated that Cohn was indeed a closeted homosexual, and even in a secret relationship with David Schine, despite his anti-homosexual fervency.
DISCUSS: What do you think it would have been like to work with these figures in the U.S. government? 12
SPOTTED: DISTRICT HOT SPOTS
Where you socialized outside of work in the nation’s capital showed status, and revealed the type of people you likely spent time with as well. Imagine if Instagram or Snapchat existed in the 1950s. Similar to these virtual worlds, there were places you could go if you did not want to be seen, and places you could go for the exact opposite. Some places and people could help your career, others could crush it. The map below marks several of the locations mentioned in the opera:
WASHINGTON DC
DUPONT CIRCLE
HOTEL WASHINGTON
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
TO
PO
SAINT PETER’S CHURCH ON CAPITOL HILL
M AC RI VE R FUN FACT: Dupont Circle is host to the Capital Pride Parade. It is a historically gay neighborhood and remains so to this day.
DISCUSS: Where do you go to be seen, noticed, and even recognized among your social circles? Where do you go to be out and meet people but be anonymous? 13
Aligning Time There were many important historical moments during the Cold War and LGBTQ+ history, which have influenced the fictional events Thomas Mallon described in his novel and composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pierce adapted into the opera Fellow Travelers.
LGBTQ+ History Timeline
1892 The words “bisexual” and “homosexual” are used with the modern definition for the first time in Charles Gilbert Chaddock’s translation of Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis.
LEGEND Fellow Travelers’ Timeline Cold War History Timeline LGBTQ+ History Timeline
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ALIGNING TIME
1938 House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) is formed, seeking out alleged Communist spies and sympathizers. LGBTQ+ History Timeline Cold War History Timeline
1942 Psychiatrists in the U.S. military develop guidelines for recruiters to identify and exclude gay men from service.
ALIGNING TIME
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1947 March - President Truman passes the Truman Doctrine, calling for containment of Communism using military intervention. This doctrine was the basis for American Cold War policies. • The State Department begins firing suspected homosexuals under President Truman’s National Security Loyalty Program. • The U.S. Park Police initiates a “Sex Perversion Elimination Program” in Washington D.C., that targeted gay men on park property for arrest and intimidation. LGBTQ+ History Timeline Cold War History Timeline
1948 The high-profile Alger Hiss trial convinces people of the necessity of HUAC. • Kinsey’s study of sexuality in the U.S. reveals that 50 percent of American men and 28 percent of American women have “homosexual tendencies.” • Congress passes an act “for the treatment of sexual psychopaths,” which allows for arrest and punishment of people who act on same-sex desire.
Alger Hiss at his trial with HUAC, New York World Telegram and Sun, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs, 1950.
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ALIGNING TIME
1953 • June - American citizens Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed for espionage--an accusation still contested today. • March - Joseph Stalin, ruler of the Soviet Union, dies and is replaced by Nikita Khrushchev. • July - Korean War ends after 3 years. • September - Hawkins Fuller and Timothy Laughlin meet on a park bench in Dupont Circle • December - Mary warns Hawkins at The Hotel Washington Christmas party that he is becoming “reckless” with Timothy. Whispers about Roy Cohn’s “numbered days” and more cases of “exposed” homosexuals are heard around the party. LGBTQ+ History Timeline Cold War History Timeline Fellow Travelers Timeline • April - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs Executive Order #10450 that bans homosexuals from working for the Federal government, saying they are a security risk. Many local governments follow suit. • Senator Clyde Hoey’s (North Carolina) subcommittee concludes after three years, releasing a final report Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government, summarizing its findings and recommendations. The report cites that during the past three years, 5,000 homosexuals had been detected in the military and civilian workforces. The report concludes that gay people should not be employed by the Federal government because they are “generally unsuitable” and constitute “security risks” due to their supposed vulnerability to blackmail and weak “moral fiber.” • One, the first openly lesbian and gay national publication in America, puts out its first issue.
One magazine. 1953. Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
ALIGNING TIME
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1954 • Summer - The Geneva Accords ends Vietnam’s war with France, and divides Vietnam into communist North, led by Ho Chi Minh, and U.S-friendly South. • March - U.S. tests a hydrogen bomb while developing nuclear weapons. • The Adams Chronology reveals that Senator McCarthy used unethical tactics and he is censured by Congress. • July - Roy Cohn resigns. March - Senator Potter warns McCarthy that Roy Cohn will be his downfall after it is revealed Cohn threatened the U.S. Army into giving his friend, David Schine, special treatment.
Photograph of The Geneva Conference convening. 1954.
LGBTQ+ History Timeline Cold War History Timeline Fellow Travelers Timeline
1955
1956
May - The Warsaw Pact is signed, binding Central and Eastern European countries in the Soviet sphere of influence: East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union.
Two years have passed and Timothy has been stationed in France with the U.S. Army. Hawkins is married to Lucy now, and lives in the suburbs.
September - The first known lesbian rights organization in the United States forms in San Francisco, The Daughters of Bilitis.
African-American novelist and intellectual, James Baldwin publishes Giovanni’s Room, a gay love story. • October -The Hungarian Revolution begins against Communist rule in the capital Budapest. Hungary falls to Communism in November.
Hungarian protest in Red Square in Budapest against Soviet occupation. Taken by Gabor B. Racz, 1956.
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ALIGNING TIME
1975 The Civil Service Commission states people can no longer be barred or fired from Federal employment because of their sexuality.
1964 Title VII Civil Rights Act passes prohibiting employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, or religion. LGBTQ+ History Timeline Cold War History Timeline Fellow Travelers Timeline
1957
TODAY
• President Eisenhower enacts the Eisenhower Doctrine, committing military aid to Middle Eastern countries threatened by Communist aggression.
Even though the CSC ended their ban on employing people who identify as homosexual in the Federal government, there is currently a case before the Supreme Court to determine whether Title VII applies to LBGTQ+ employees.
• May - Senator Joseph McCarthy dies of liver failure. May - Hawkins and Timothy reconnect, and just as quickly, say goodbye when Hawkins reveals he has given Timothy’s name to the U.S. government as a homosexual. • A Navy report concludes that there is no evidence that “homosexuals cannot acceptably serve in the military,” or that they are security risks. The report will not be released for a decade. • The American Civil Liberties Union declares that, “homosexuality is a valid consideration in evaluating the risk factor in sensitive positions,” even advising lesbians facing discrimination to
ALIGNING TIME
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THE IRON CURTAIN DESCENDS...
On March 5th, 1946, on the heels of World War II, Winston Churchill, England’s Prime Minister, gave a speech that marked the beginning of what would come to be known as The Cold War. He firmly stated, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” The strong curtain Churchill spoke of was the ideological divide between Western capitalism and Russian Communism that was spreading across the globe.
Prime Minister of England Winston Churchill. 1942. Library of Congress Print and Photographs.
Communist Party U.S.A logo
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THE IRON CURTAIN DESCENDS...
In 1848, the German philosopher Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto. Russia, then ruled by a monarchy, was rife with restless peasants and discontented industrial workers, making the environment ripe for Marx’s theories of equality. Communism is a political ideology that has informed a type of government where the state owns all major resources, such as property, education, manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation. Simply put, the core idea of communism is that everyone shares the benefits of labor equally in a society so that, in theory, the class system is eliminated. As Marx predicted, worker discontent grew in Russia with the government squashing uprisings across the countryside in response to unfair and punitive government actions. Marx’s Manifesto, combined with very poor living conditions in Russia, sparked a revolution. In 1917, Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party led the October Revolution, in which the monarchy was overthrown and a provisional government was established. In 1924, dictator Joseph Stalin took power and formed the Soviet Union, guiding the country through
The Red Army entering Odessa in 1919.
World War II. By 1979, communism had spread across Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and gained popularity in smaller political parties across Europe and North America. Though allied by the close of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union became quick enemies at the end of the war. A faction of the Communist Party sprouted in America in 1919, and hit its peak in 1942, due to the influx of industry, immigrant workers, and the emergence of labor unions. Before The Cold War ramped up, Americans were already fearful of communism. With fear growing from real and imagined threats, and the Russian Revolution having just occurred, the U.S government passed The Espionage Act (1917), The Sedition Act (1918), and the Immigration Act
(1918). This series of legislation strengthened the government’s investigation into private citizens, especially Italian and Eastern European immigrants. Though never gaining any real power across Western countries, Communism was not a welcome idea and was treated as a fundamental threat to American democracy. Tensions between Communist and Capitalist countries and their ideologies ebbed and flowed with decades of proxy wars in places such as Vietnam and Afghanistan, and multiple leadership changes in the Soviet Union and America, until the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991. Communist ideas remain today in the governments of Cuba, Laos, China, North Korea, and Vietnam.
DISCUSS: Why was America was so afraid of Communism? Can you think of similar fears or “threats” our government has today? 21
THE RED THREAT
Why the Color Red? After the Russian Revolution of 1917, power was not immediately consolidated or agreed upon. The Red Army was led by Vladmir Lenin, who fought specifically for their Bolshevik form of socialism. Meanwhile, The White Army, made up of various other factions of socialists, fought for their form of government. The color red was used in leftwing European movements long before Russian socialism, but in specifically Russian, and later Chinese socialism, red represents the blood of the workers that sacrificed for the revolution and the country. The reference to the color would stick, as the Bolsheviks carried out mass killings later referenced as “The Red Terror” as they consolidated power in 1918. Incidentally, both the flags of the Soviet Union and China are primarily red. Because of all this, Americans began to refer to communists as “the Reds” when The Cold War broke out, hence the title “The Red Scare” or “Red Threat” when referencing the decades of communist witch hunts.
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower led the country as it entered into the Cold War after serving as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II. However, the Cold War was fought in a different way than most wars, and was an especially stark contrast to the devastation of World Wars I and II. The United States and the Soviet Union competed covertly, legally, technologically, culturally, and most terrifyingly-through a nuclear arms race. Americans would watch on their family television sets as the United States beat the Soviet Union to land a man the moon, and school children learned what to do in the event of a nuclear attack.
The U.S. along with other democratic nations, passed several measures attempting to curb the Soviet Union’s influence on developing countries. These indirect ways of fighting each other were why it was termed a “cold” war. American life was affected every day as the atmosphere of paranoia, fear, and suspicion spread rapidly. Citizens began to distrust their neighbors and question any behavior that deviated from the social norm. Even the small possibility that one’s coworker might be a spy was enough to drive Americans and lawmakers to sell each other out as a risk to the country.
Estonia was “assigned” to the Soviet sphere of influence in a secret pact with the Nazis during World War II. The Soviet occupation of Estonia (before it became an independent country) was brutal and unwelcomed. There were mass arrests and deportations of natural born Estonians to remote parts of the Soviet Union. All traces of their native culture erased by the Soviet forces. Though there was Estonian resistance, it ended by 1956 and remained under heavy Soviet occupation until the 1990s.
Though no war was fought on United States or Soviet soil, several countries became proxies for the two countries’ ideological feud. These wars, known as proxy wars, competed for each country’s military resources. The United States used them to contain Communism’s spread into countries with American diplomatic interests. The Middle East, and the ‘Near East’ (including China, Vietnam), and Latin America were the most vulnerable areas of the world to be fought over in these proxy wars, and ultimately led to greater instability for these countries. In 1957,
THE RED THREAT
Notes of Diplomacy As the Cold War was a battle of ideologies, both countries competed to demonstrate their cultural worth to the world. By the 50s, Jazz had been culturally recognized as an American-born genre. The State Department poured massive amounts of money into sending American musicians abroad to countries threatened by communism. Prominent Jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillispie, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington were sent to Africa and Asia as cultural diplomats, to promote the freedom and democratic nature of America through Jazz performances. Ironically, these AfricanAmerican musicians were still victims of segregation laws when they returned home.
President Eisenhower enacted the Eisenhower Doctrine, committing military assistance specifically to Middle East countries threatened by Communist aggression. With many of these proxy wars, the decision to send U.S. military and was partially to contain Communism, and partially to protect American economic self-interest. Senator Joseph McCarthy is one of the most notable names in American Cold War history. Fellow Travelers focuses on his efforts to expose Communist and homosexual subversion in the United States. The House Committee on UnAmerican Activities (HUAC), whose goal was to root out, expose, and punish Communist spies and sympathizers, was actually never staffed by Senator McCarthy. Similar committees had existed since World War II ended, with one such committee accusing The Federal Theatre Project of being infiltrated by Communists. HUAC became a permanent committee in 1945.
While Communist espionage very much existed, there were few Communists actually living and working in the United States. The culture of fear and suspicion, however, was pervasive. Interrogation tactics were forceful, dramatic, and invasive. Panic and persecution plagued D.C. with the press, such as The Washington Star, fueling the propaganda. Thousands of state and federal employees were fired under suspicion or “proof ” of being a threat to United States security--merely because of their suspected beliefs, sexual orientation, or even country of origin. The film and performing arts industry was hit hard in Hollywood, with over 500 employees losing their jobs and being blacklisted including opera librettists and composers Arnold Schoenberg, Bertolt Brecht, Leonard Bernstein, and Aaron Copland. Many colleges and universities were also susceptible to these types of investigations of their faculty in particular, for any sort of foreign or loosely political ties.
Allegory American playwright Arthur Miller (who also, was under investigation by HUAC) drew comparisons between communities racked by mass hysteria the McCarthy era - and the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th century in his 1953 classic The Crucible.
McCarthy led aggressive campaigns until 1954, when his tactics ultimately led to the downfall of HUAC, basically by association. McCarthy finally went too far when he accused the U.S. Army of harboring Soviet spies. In 1959, former President Truman deemed HUAC, “the most unAmerican thing in the country today.”
DISCUSS: If the opera is set in Washington during this time of fear and persecution, how do you think the music of the opera might convey this tension? What kind of emotional atmosphere do you expect to see and hear in the opera? 23
THE LAVENDER THREAT
The term ‘lavender’ was recorded as a synonym for ‘homosexual’ by Gershon Legman in The Language of Homosexuality: An American Glossary in 1941. Few history books discuss this other group deemed a “threat” to U.S. security during the Cold War-homosexuals. While Mallon’s novel, hence the opera, is set in the early years of this period, in reality, the Lavender Scare lasted over twenty years.
Historically in the Western world, homosexuality was considered socially abnormal and deviant, justified by medico-legal, pseudo-psychological studies, and religious texts/ideology. Even as the expression of it became more socially acceptable in urban centers, the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, used by psychiatric professionals to diagnose mental disorders, added homosexuality as a psychological disorder in 1952, and did not remove it until 1973. The dominant justifications for persecution during the Lavender Scare, was that homosexuals lacked “moral fiber” and could “cripple a whole government office,” and that due to their social deviance, they were subject to blackmail and therefore a national security risk. Political leaders claimed this “sexual perversion” weakened the image of strength of the United States in the face of Communism. In 1947, after an uptick in sexual crimes in cities, the U.S. Park Police began a “Pervert Elimination Campaign” in D.C. parks frequented by gay men, resulting in intimidation and violent attacks. In 1953, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, calling all homosexuals a security risk and banning them from Federal employment. Senator Joseph McCarthy and his colleague Roy Cohn were mainly responsible for firing or blackmailing gay men in current Federal jobs. The Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments, founded in 1950 headed by Senator Hoey, chaired the investigations into suspected homosexuality and issued a report in 1953, aligning all of the government’s intelligence agencies as, “in complete agreement that sex perverts in government constitute security risks.” The methods by which they made accusations of
1962 Sunday Mirror column on “how to spot a homosexual”
24
THE LAVENDER THREAT
Senator Joseph McCarthy and his lawyer Roy Cohn confer during the Army-McCarthy hearings. 1954.
homosexuality were determined through a series of humiliating “tests,” such as how one walked. Senator McCarthy viewed both Communists and homosexuals as godless, secretive, and undermining the traditional Christian, family values that pervaded the 1950s. “The American Family” (mother, father and kids as an autonomous unit) was embraced after the destruction of World War II, and churches saw the highest attendance in the country’s history. McCarthy himself was a devout Roman Catholic-just like the character of Timothy and other Irish Catholic immigrants who came to America at the turn of the 20th century. The Church condemned same-sex activities, and many men struggled with the commitment to their religion and their sexuality. As the Communist threat and religious values grew
in influence, the government made being gay in public nearly impossible. If someone was accused, almost all interrogations ended in a confession, firing, or resignation--regardless of the underlying truth. The persistent and pervasive fear of this looming threat against the United States, and all the democratic values it holds dear, allowed the Lavender Scare to take hold and last for over two decades. Even half a century later, discrimination against LGBTQ+ people serving in the Federal government and military branches continues in different forms today. Want to learn more? There’s a movie. www.thelavenderscare.com
DISCUSS: Have you ever had to address conflicting inner beliefs such as Timothy does between his faith and love for Hawkins? 25
THE MARCH GOES ON
Transgender Pride Flag created in 1999 by Monica Helms.
Even as huge strides have been made in the march for equal rights, homophobia and persecution of LGBTQ+ identified people remains ever-present. The Civil Rights movement, beginning with Title VII anti-discrimination act in 1964, was a turning point for the country. This year is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots (1969) in which black, transgender women led riots against the police raids occurring in gay bars across New York City. It is marked every year by pride marches that take place in cities across the country. The first gay minister was ordained by the United Church of Christ in 1972, and since then, many churches have welcomed LGBTQ+ congregants and ministers, while the practice of conversion therapy has been minimized. In 1978, the first openly gay San Francisco politician, Harvey Milk, was assassinated. As the decade turned, the AIDS 26
THE MARCH GOES ON
crisis killed thousands of gay men, in a public health crisis that was largely ignored by the Reagan Administration. In the 21st century, President Obama repealed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the U.S military for the first time in history. Legal bans on discrimination in hiring and housing practices on the basis of sexual orientation are now standard practice in most states. More and more celebrities and politicians are speaking up for gay rights on worldwide stages. The Trump administration has had a complicated relationship with LGBTQ+ citizens, especially as the movement for transgender rights has grown. The administration has been passive to gay rights infractions in Chechnya (Russia) and
FUN FACT: The first Queer Musicology conference took place in 1992 at University of California, Berkeley.
(2013), and trans-themed chamber opera As One (2014) by Laura Kaminsky.
Protests against the arrests and disapearence of gay men in Chechyna
Uganda. Being gay is still punishable by death in ten countries. The United States is not one of these, but there are small conservative factions within the U.S. that call for the death sentence for anyone who is not cis-gender heterosexual. Meanwhile persecution and violence are still pervasive, with calls for the repeal of gender-neutral bathroom laws and hate crimes including murder of transgendered people, especially those of color. Fellow Travelers stands as one of the few operas that have a queer-centric love story. The theater industry has started to diversify their narratives to increase queer representation on stage. This is evident in seminal works such as RENT, Fun Home, Bare: A Pop Opera, Kinky Boots, The Laramie Project, and Angels in America, as well as many new works being developed in theatres across the country today. Brooklyn-based American Opera Projects premiered the first lesbian opera, Patience and Sarah by Paula Kimper and Wendy Larson at Lincoln Center in 1998. Operas telling these stories are still rare, and several companies have begun commissioning more diverse work including New York City Opera, which premiered the opera Stonewall by Iain Bell, in 2019. American Opera Projects also premiered Spears’ own Paul’s Case
Beyond homophobia, the atmosphere of fear that saturated every aspect of life depicted in Fellow Travelers, is a reality for many today. While some fear their very livelihood is being threatened by a decade of liberal domestic policies, school-aged children are now practicing safety drills to prepare for armed intruders, and refugees and immigrants are perceived threats to national security. Even communism still “threatens” American democracy on the world’s stage through relations with and sanctions against China. All while a political debate about the world’s climate continues against news reports of increasingly devastating natural disasters. You may not have been alive during the Cold War, but we all can certainly relate to the immediacy of the feeling of fear during that time.
Protests against family separations at the border and ICE arrests in Washington D.C., 2018.
DISCUSS: What stories do you feel are important to be told through the arts that are not being told yet? If these stories were described using music, what might that music sound like to convey the emotion of the story? 27
LISTEN UP!
Fellow Travelers: Scene 1a, Park in Dupont Circle
Spears opens his opera with a minimalist soundscape. A piano keeps a steady beat as deep woodwinds come in with a repetitive pattern. Listen closely to hear each layer added on. As you listen, can you hear how the style shifts into a more tonal, romantic style? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3p13gCKGiY
Glassworks: No. 5, Facades, Philip Glass
Philip Glass epitomizes American minimalist music. Compare Spears’ opening scene and this piece. What sounds the same? Are there similar instruments? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ438-J1kcs
Fellow Travelers: Scene 4b, Timothy’s Apartment, “Bermuda”
Spears noted that he needed to use instrumentation to express the love that Hawkins and Timothy could not be open with. In this scene, they dream of a far away place where they can be together. How does Spears express this love in his instrumentation? In its tonality? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SGcijKXh6k
Fellow Travelers: Scene 5, St. Peter’s Church, “Last Night”
Timothy confesses to a priest at St. Peter’s Church, grappling with his faith and sexuality. Pierce’s natural libretto and poetic use of the English language come out here. What can you tell about Timothy’s emotional state through this piece? What do you hear in the singing or music that tells you that? (i.e. upswing in tempo, held notes, etc) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNTtGz68uQo
Fellow Travelers: Scene 6, The Hotel Washington, “All Seem to Say”
Unlike “Bermuda,” “All Seem to Say” has a very different vibe. The music seems to be unsettled, frantic, and slightly atonal. Do these elements work together to express the atmosphere of paranoia and secrecy in the room? Extra credit: Can you hear the popular Christmas music Spears’ quotes in this piece? What song is it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXSOeJsCH0k
“A Chantar” composed by the Comtessa Beatriz de Dia, a famous female troubadour in 12th century. Performed by Catherine Bott. Spears noted the troubadour vocal tradition as inspiring his Fellow Travelers composition process. Listen to the vocal line in this piece and compare it to the piece below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydsCLsXjNVo
28
LISTEN UP!
Fellow Travelers: Scene 14b, Brick House, “Our Very Own Home”
Hawkins shows Timothy the house he bought for them to be together. Both this piece, and the piece above, are about love. How do the vocal lines demonstrate that? Do you notice the melisma (vocal runs, sung to one syllable of text) from the 12th century piece in this piece by Spears? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3vzmJmwuK0
Fellow Travelers: Scene 16, Park in Dupont Circle, “Shed Any Tears over Joe’s Death?”
In the final scene, when Timothy and Hawkins say goodbye, Spears returns to the theme that was playing when they originally met on the park bench in Dupont Circle. Can you hear where it repeats? Does it sound exactly the same? How is it different? Why do you think Spears chose to return to this at the end? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Js969Zmws
?
GENERAL QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOUR LISTENING • What instruments are playing? • How fast is the music? Are there sudden changes in speed? Is the rhythm steady or unsteady? • Key/Mode: Is it major or minor? (Does it sound bright, happy, sad, urgent, dangerous?) • Dynamics/Volume: Is the music loud or soft? Are there sudden changes in volume (either in the voice or orchestra)? • What is the shape of the melodic line? Does the voice move smoothly or does it make frequent or erratic jumps?Do the vocal lines move noticeably downward or upward? • Does the type of voice singing (baritone, soprano, tenor, mezzo, etc.) have an effect on you as a listener? • Do the melodies end as you would expect or do they surprise you? • How does the music make you feel? What effect do the above factors have on you as a listener? • What is the orchestra doing in contrast to the voice? How do they interact? • What kinds of images, settings, or emotions come to mind? Does it remind you of anything you have experienced in your own life? • Do particularly emphatic notes (low, high, held, etc.) correspond to dramatic moments? • What type of character fits this music? Romantic? Comic? Serious? Etc.
LISTEN UP!
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FELLOW TRAVELERS RESOURCES Boston Lyric Opera stands as an ally to our LGBTQIA+ patrons, students, and staff. If you are a college student, most campuses have an LGBTQ+ resource center. Below you can find more resources in Boston for yourself, a friend or family member.
LOCAL Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Trangender and Queer Youth https://www.bagly.org/ Comprehensive list of LGBTQ+ organizations for youth in Massachusetts. https://www.glad.org/overview/youth-organizations/massachusetts/ Fenway Health provides LGBTQ+ focused services for the Boston area. https://fenwayhealth.org/
NATIONAL The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25. https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ For further learning: LGBTQ+ History https://www.glsen.org/article/lgbtq-history-1 The Gay Rights Movement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62OtM_vt5k
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FELLOW TRAVELERS RESOURCES
WEBSITES Britannica. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/fellow-traveler Britannica. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-McCarthy Center for European Studies. University of North Carolina. Karl Marx to Joseph Stalin. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://europe.unc.edu/iron-curtain/history/communism-karl-marx-to-joseph-stalin
Cincinnati Opera. (2016). Fellow Travelers. Retrieved from https://www.cincinnatiopera.org/fellow-travelers CNN. LGBT Rights Milestones Fast Facts. (2019).
Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/19/us/lgbt-rights-milestones-fast-facts/index.html
Gregory Spears. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gregoryspears.com History. (2019). Communism Timeline. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/russia/communism-timeline History. (2019). Joseph McCarthy. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/joseph-mccarthy Lunden, J. (2019). ‘Stonewall’ Opera Marks Uprising’s 50th Anniversary.
Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2019/06/22/734788572/stonewall-opera-marks-uprising-s-50th-anniversary
Minnesota Opera. (2018). Fellow Travelers. Retrieved from https://mnopera.org/season/2017-2018/fellow-travelers/ Morris, B. J., & American Psychological Association. (n.d.). History of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Social Movements. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/history New Music USA. (n.d.). Gregory Spears. Retrieved from https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/gregoryspears Pierce, G. (n.d.). Greg Pierce. Retrieved from http://www.piercegreg.com/ Rothstein, P. 2019. Peter Rothstein. Retrieved from https://www.peter-rothstein.com Salazar, F. (2017). LGBT Opera Retrospective: How Similar is the Opera World to Hollywood in Terms of Representation? Retrieved from https://operawire.com/lgbt-opera-retrospective-how-similar-is-the-opera-world-to-hollywood-in-terms-of-representation
Spears, G. (n.d.). Program Notes. Retrieved from https://www.americancomposers.org/2017/09/06/spears/ University of Nottingham. (2017). What is ‘Lavender Linguistics’?
Retrieved from https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/conference/fac-arts/english/lavlang24/why-lavender.aspx
NEWS ARTICLES Adkins, J. (2016). “These People Are Frightened to Death” Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare. Prologue Magazine of the National Archives , 48(2). Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html
Brenner, M. (2017). How Donald Trump and Roy Cohn’s Ruthless Symbiotic Relationship Changed America. Vanity Fair. Retrieved from https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-roy-cohn-relationship
Driscoll, F. P. (2017). Sound bites: Gregory Spears. Opera News.
Retrieved from https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2016/6/Departments/Sound_Bites_—_Gregory_Spears.html
Ghosh, P. (2011). Why Is The Color Red Associated With Communism? International Business Times. Retrieved from https://www.ibtimes.com/why-color-red-associated-communism-295185
INTERVIEWS The Key West Literary Seminars. Interview with Thomas Mallon. (2008). Littoral. Retrieved from http://www.thomasmallon.com/fellow_travelers__2007__101618.htm
University of Chicago Press. An Interview with David K. Johnson: Author of The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government. (2004). Retrieved from https://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/404811in.html
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS Adams, J. Chronology of efforts made by Senator McCarthy and Staff Members of the Senate Permanent Investigating Subcommittee to Put Pressure on the Army with a View to Securing Special Treatment for Former Consultant of the Committee, G. David Schine, Chronology of efforts made by Senator McCarthy and Staff Members of the Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee to Put Pressure on the Army with a View to Securing Special Treatment for Former Consultant of the Committee, G. David Schine (1954). Washington D.C. Retrieved from https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/
exhibitions/artifact/chronology-efforts-made-senator-mccarthy-put-pressure-army-john-adams-march-11
FELLOW TRAVELERS RESOURCES
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RENAISSANCE
1500
32
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
BAROQUE
1600-1750
CLASSICAL
1730-1820
THE HISTORY OF OPERA People have been telling stories through music for millennia throughout the world. Opera is an art form with roots in Western Europe dating back hundreds of years. Here is a brief timeline of its lineage.
ROMANTIC
1790-1910
20th CENTURY
1900
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
33
1598
RENAISSANCE
Jacopo Peri, a member of the Camerata, composed the world’s first opera – Dafne, reviving the classic myth.
1573
1607
The Florentine Camerata was founded in Italy, devoted to reviving ancient Greek musical traditions, including sung drama.
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) wrote the first opera to become popular, Orfeo, making him the premier opera composer of his day and bridging the gap between Renaissance and Baroque music. His works are still performed today.
Toccata from L’Orfeo. Claudio Monteverdi Favola in musica. Reprint of the First Edition of the core, Venice 1609, via Wikimedia Commons 34
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
1689 Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) simple and elegant chamber opera, Dido and Aeneas, premiered at Josias Priest’s boarding school for girls in London.
BAROQUE
1637
1712
The first public opera house, Teatro San Cassiano, was built in Venice, Italy.
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759), a German-born composer, moved to London, where he found immense success writing intricate and highly ornamented Italian opera seria (serious opera). Ornamentation refers to stylized, fast-moving notes, usually improvised by the singer to make a musical line more interesting and to showcase their vocal talent.
1673 Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) an Italian-born composer, brought opera to the French court, creating a unique style, tragédie en musique, that better suited the French language. Blurring the lines between recitative and aria, he created fast-paced dramas to suit the tastes of French aristocrats.
Dido and Aeneas, 1747, Pompeo Batoni, via Wikimedia Commons THE HISTORY OF OPERA
35
1805 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) although a prolific composer, wrote only one opera, Fidelio. The extremes of musical expression in Beethoven’s music pushed the boundaries in the late Classical period and inspired generations of Romantic composers.
CLASSICAL
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770- 1827)
1750s A reform movement, led by Christoph Gluck (1714-1787), rejected the flashy, ornamented style of the Baroque in favor of simple, refined music to enhance the drama.
1767 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote his first opera at age 11, beginning his 25-year opera career. Mozart mastered, then innovated in several operatic forms. He wrote opera serias, including La clemenza di Tito, and opera buffas (comedic operas) like Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). He then combined the two genres in Don Giovanni, calling it dramma giocoso (comedic drama). Mozart also innovated the Singspiel (German sung play), featuring a spoken dialogue, as in Die ZauberflĂśte (The Magic Flute). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756- 1791)
36
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
1853 Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) completed La Traviata, a story of love, loss, and the struggle of average people, in the increasingly popular realistic style of verismo. Verdi enjoyed immense acclaim during his lifetime, while expanding opera to include larger orchestras, extravagant sets and costumes, and more highly trained voices.
ROMANTIC
THE GOLDEN AGE OF OPERA
Giuseppe Verdi
1816
1842
Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) composed Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), becoming the most prodigious opera composer in Italy by age 24. He wrote 39 operas in 20 years. A new compositional style created by Rossini and his contemporaries, including Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini, would, a century later, be referred to as bel canto (beautiful singing). Bel canto compositions were inspired by the nuanced vocal capabilities of the human voice and its expressive potential. Composers employed strategic use of register, the push and pull of tempo (rubato), extremely smooth and connected phrases (legato), and vocal glides (portamento).
Inspired by the risqué popular entertainment of French vaudeville, Hervé created the first operetta, a short comedic musical drama with spoken dialogue. Responding to popular trends, this new form stood in contrast to the increasingly serious and dramatic works at the grand Parisian opera house. Opéra comique as a genre was often not comic, rather realistic or humanistic. Grand Opera, on the contrary, was exaggerated and melodramatic.
A scene from 19th-century version of the play The Barber of Seville by Pierre Beaumarchais. Its origins in the commedia dell’arte are shown in this picture which portrays Figaro dressed in the costume and mask of Harlequin. 1884, via Wikimedia Commons
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
37
1896 Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) La bohème captivated audiences with its intensely beautiful music, realism, and raw emotion. Puccini enjoyed huge acclaim during his lifetime for his works.
1871 Influenced by French operetta, English librettist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) began their 25-year partnership, which produced 14 comic operettas including The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Their works inspired the genre of American musical theater.
Giacomo Puccini
1865
1874
Richard Wagner’s (1813-1883) Tristan und Isolde was the beginning of musical Modernism, pushing the use of traditional harmony to its extreme. His massively ambitious, lengthy operas, often based in German folklore, sought to synthesize music, theater, poetry, and visuals in what he called a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). The most famous of these was an epic four-opera drama, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which took him 26 years to write and was completed in 1874.
Johann Strauss II, influenced largely by his father, with whom he shared a name and talent, composed Die Fledermaus. This opera popularized Viennese musical traditions, namely the waltz, and shaped German operetta.
Richard Wagner Mikado theatre poster, Edinburgh, 1885, via Wikimedia Commons 38
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
1922
20th CENTURY
Alban Berg (1885-1935) composed the first completely atonal opera, Wozzeck, dealing with uncomfortable themes of militarism and social exploitation. Wozzeck is in the style of 12-tone music or Serialism. This new compositional style, developed in Vienna by composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), placed equal importance on each of the 12 pitches in a scale, removing the sense of the music being in a particular key.
1911
1927
Scott Joplin, “The King of Ragtime,” wrote his only opera, Treemonisha, which was not performed until 1972. The work combined the European late-Romantic operatic style with African American folk songs, spirituals, and dances. The libretto, also by Joplin, was written at a time when literacy among African Americans in the southern United States was rare.
American musical theater, commonly referred to as Broadway, was taken more seriously after Jerome Kern’s (18851945) Show Boat, words by Oscar Hammerstein, tackled issues of racial segregation and the ban on interracial marriage in Mississippi.
Hammerstein and Kern Scott Joplin
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
39
1935 American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937), who was influenced by African American music and culture, debuted his opera, Porgy and Bess, in Boston, MA with an all African American cast of classically trained singers.
40
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
Porgy and Bess by the New York Harlem Theatre, 2009
1945
1957
British composer Benjamin Britten (19131976) gained international recognition with his opera Peter Grimes. Britten, along with Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), was one of the first British opera composers to gain fame in nearly 300 years.
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), known for synthesizing musical genres, brought together the best of American musical theater, opera, and ballet in West Side Story—a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet in a contemporary setting.
Benjamin Britten
Leonard Bernstein
1987 John Adams (b. 1947) composed one of the great minimalist operas, Nixon in China, the story of Nixon’s 1972 meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Musical Minimalism strips music down to its essential elements, usually featuring a great deal of repetition with slight variations.
John Adams
TODAY Still a vibrant, evolving art form, opera attracts contemporary composers such as: Philip Glass (b. 1937), Mark-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960), Jake Heggie (b. 1961), Thomas Adès (b. 1971), and many others. These composers continue to be influenced by present and historical musical forms in creating new operas that explore current issues or reimagine ancient tales.
BLO’s production of Philip Glass’ opera, In the Penal Colony. Photo: T. Charles Erickson
THE HISTORY OF OPERA
41
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA
42
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA
WHY DO OPERA SINGERS SOUND LIKE THAT?
So Young Park as Queen of the Night Photo: Eric Antoniou
Opera is unique among forms of singing in that singers are trained to be able to sing without amplification, in large theaters, over an entire orchestra, and still be heard and understood! This is what sets the art form of opera apart from similar forms such as musical theater. To become a professional opera singer, it takes years of intense physical training and constant practice— not unlike that of a ballet dancer—to stay in shape. Additionally, while ballet dancers can dance through pain and illness, poor health, especially respiratory issues and even allergies, can be severely debilitating for a professional opera singer. Let’s peek into some of the science of this art form.
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA
43
How the Voice Works Singing requires different parts of the body to work together: the lungs, the vocal cords, the vocal tract, and the articulators (lips, teeth, and tongue). The lungs create a flow of air over the vocal cords, which vibrate. That vibration is amplified by the vocal tract and broken up into words by consonants produced by the articulators.
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BREATH
Any good singer will tell you that good breath support is essential to produce quality sound. Breath is like the gas that goes into your car. Without it, nothing runs. In order to sing long phrases of music with clarity and volume, opera singers access their full lung capacity by keeping their torso elongated and releasing the lower abdomen and diaphragm muscles, which allows air to enter into the lower lobes of the lungs. This is why we associate a certain posture with opera singers. In the past, many operas were staged with singers standing in one place to deliver an entire aria or scene, with minimal activity. Modern productions, however, often demand a much greater range of movement and agility onstage, requiring performers to be physically fit, and disproving the stereotype of the “fat lady sings.”
VIBRATION
If you run your fingers along your throat you will feel a little lump just underneath your chin. That is your “Adam’s Apple,” and right behind it, housed in the larynx (voice-box), are your vocal cords. When air from the lungs crosses over the vocal cords, it creates an area of low pressure (Google The Bernoulli Effect), which brings the cords together and makes them vibrate. This vibration produces a buzz. The vocal cords can be lengthened or shortened by muscles in the larynx, or by increasing the speed of airflow. This change in the length and thickness of the vocal cords is what allows singers to create different pitches. Higher pitches require long, thin cords, while low pitches require short, thick ones. Professional singers take great pains to protect the delicate anatomy of their vocal cords with hydration and rest, as the tiniest scarring or inflammation can have noticeable effects on the quality of sound produced.
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA
RESONANCE
Without the resonating chambers in the head, the buzzing of the vocal cords would sound very unpleasant. The vocal tract, a term encompassing the mouth cavity, and the back of the throat, down to the larynx, shapes the buzzing of the vocal cords like a sculptor shapes clay. Shape your mouth in an ee vowel (as in eat), and then sharply inhale a few times. The cool sensation you feel at the top and back of your mouth is your soft palate. The soft palate can raise or lower to change the shape of the vocal tract. Opera singers always strive to sing with a raised soft palate, which allows for the greatest amplification of the sound produced by the vocal cords. Different vowel sounds are produced by raising or lowering the tongue. Say the vowels: ee, eh, ah, oh, oo and notice how each vowel requires a slightly lower tongue placement. This area of vocal training is particularly difficult because none of the anatomy is visible from the outside!
ARTICULATION
The lips, teeth, and tongue are all used to create consonant sounds, which separate words into syllables and make language intelligible. Consonants must be clear and audible for the singer to be understood. Because opera singers do not sing with amplification, their articulation must be particularly good. The challenge lies in producing crisp, rapid consonants without interrupting the connection of the vowels (through the controlled exhale of breath) within the musical phrase.
Perfecting every element of this complex singing system requires years of training, and is essential for the demands of the art form. An opera singer must be capable of singing for hours at a time, over the top of an orchestra, in large opera houses, while acting and delivering an artistic interpretation of the music. It is complete and total engagement of mental, physical, and emotional control and expression. Therefore, think of opera singers as the Olympic athletes of the stage, sit back, and marvel at what the human body is capable of! 45
Different Voice Types
C B C B Soprano MezzoSoprano
C B
Bass The lowest male voice, basses often fall into two main categories: basso buffo, which is a comic character who often sings in lower laughing-like tones, and basso profundo, which is as low as the human voice can sing! Doctor Bartolo is an example of a bass role in The Barber of Seville by Rossini.
Contralto Tenor
C B
Baritone Bass
C
D
E
F
G
A
110HZ
D
E
F
G
A
220HZ
D
E
F
G
A
440HZ
D
E
F
G
A
880HZ
D
E
F
Opera singers are cast into roles based on their tessitura (the range of notes they can sing comfortably). There are many descriptors that accompany the basic voice types, but here are some of the most common ones:
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THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA
Baritone A middle-range male voice, baritones can range from sweet and mild in tone, to darker dramatic and full tones. A famous baritone role is Rigoletto in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Baritones who are most comfortable in a slightly lower range are known as Bass-Baritones, a hybrid of the two lowest voice types.
Tenor The highest male voice, tenors often sing the role of the hero. One of the most famous tenor roles is Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliet. Occasionally men have cultivated very high voices singing in a range similar to a mezzo-soprano, but using their falsetto. Called the Countertenor, this voice type is often found in Baroque music. Countertenors replaced castrati in the heroic lead roles of Baroque opera after the practice of castration was deemed unethical.
Each of the voice types (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass) also tends to be sub-characterized by whether it is more Lyric or Dramatic in tone. Lyric singers tend toward smooth lines in their music, sensitively expressed interpretation, and flexible agility. Dramatic singers have qualities that are attributed to darker, fuller, richer note qualities expressed powerfully and robustly with strong emotion. While it’s easiest to understand operatic voice types through these designations and descriptions, one of the most exciting things about listening to a singer perform is that each individual’s voice is unique, therefore each singer will interpret a role in an opera in a slightly different way.
Contralto Occasionally women have an even lower range that overlaps with the highest male voice. This voice type is more rare and they often play male characters, referred to in opera as trouser roles.
Mezzo-Soprano Somewhat equivalent to the lower female alto role in a chorus, mezzo-sopranos (mezzo translated as “middle”) are known for their full and expressive qualities. While they don’t sing frequencies quite as high as sopranos, their ranges do overlap, and it is a “darker” tone that sets them apart. One of the most famous mezzo-soprano lead roles is Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen.
Soprano The highest female voice. Some sopranos are designated as coloratura as they specialize in being able to sing very fast moving notes that are very high in frequency and light in tone, often referred to as “color notes.” One of the most famous coloratura roles is The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
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THE PHYSICS OF OPERA SINGERS What is it about opera singers that allows them to be heard above the orchestra? It’s not that they are simply singing louder. The qualities of sound have to do with the relationship between the frequency (pitch) of a sound, represented in a unit of measurement called hertz, and its amplitude, measured in decibels, which the ear perceives as loudness. Only artificially produced sounds, however, create a pure frequency and amplitude (these are the only kinds that can break glass). The sound produced by a violin, a drum, a voice, or even smacking your hand on a table, produces a fundamental frequency as well as secondary, tertiary, etc. frequencies known as overtones, or as musicians call them, harmonics.
For instance, the orchestra tunes to a concert “A” pitch before a performance. Concert “A” has a frequency of about 440 hertz, but that is not the only pitch you will hear. Progressively softer pitches above that fundamental pitch are produced in multiples of 440 at 880hz, 1320hz, 1760hz, etc. Each different instrument in the orchestra, because of its shape, construction, and mode in which it produces sound, produces different harmonics. This is what makes a violin, for example, have a different color (or timbre) from a trumpet. Generally, the harmonics of the instruments in the orchestra fade around 2500hz. Overtones produced by a human voice—whether speaking, yelling, or singing—are referred to as formants. As the demands of opera stars increased, vocal teachers discovered that by manipulating the empty space within the vocal tract, they could emphasize higher frequencies within the overtone series—frequencies above 2500hz. This technique allowed singers to perform without hurting their vocal chords, as they are not actually singing at a higher fundamental decibel level than the orchestra. Swedish voice scientist, Johann Sundberg, observed this phenomenon when he recorded the worldfamous tenor Jussi Bjoerling in 1970. His research showed multiple peaks in decibel level, with the strongest frequency (overtone) falling between 2500 and 3000 hertz. This frequency, known as the singer’s formant, is the “sweet spot” for singers so that we hear their voices soaring over the orchestra into the opera house night after night.
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Prof. Tecumseh Fitch, evolutionary biologist and cognitive scientist at the University of Vienna, explains the difference between a fundamental frequency and formant frequency in the human voice. For an opera singer, the lower two formants (peaks on a graph) determine the specific vowel sound. The third formant and above add overtones that are specific to each particular singers’ voice, like a fingerprint. When two people sing the same note simultaneously, the high overtones allow your ear to distinguish two voices
A RESONANT PLACE The final piece of the puzzle in creating the perfect operatic sound is the opera house or theater itself. Designing the perfect acoustical space can be an almost impossible task, one which requires tremendous knowledge of science, engineering, and architecture, as well as an artistic sensibility. The goal of the acoustician is to make sure that everyone in the audience can clearly understand the music being produced onstage, no matter where they are sitting. A perfectly designed opera house or concert hall (for non-amplified sound) functions almost like gigantic musical instrument.
Boston Opera House – photo by John Wolf
Boston Symphony Hall, opened in 1900, with acoustical design by Harvard physicist Wallace Clement Sabine, was the first concert hall to be designed with scientific acoustic principles in mind. Each seat was mathematically designed and placed for maximum acoustical perfection.
Reverberation is one key aspect in making a singer’s words intelligible or an orchestra’s melody clear. Imagine the sound your voice would make in the shower or a cave. The echo you hear is reverberation caused by the large, hard, smooth surfaces. Too much reverberation (bouncing sound waves) can make words difficult to understand. Resonant vowel sounds overlap as they bounce off of hard surfaces and cover up quieter consonant sounds. In these environments, sound carries a long way but becomes unclear or, as it is sometimes called, wet as if the sound were underwater. Acousticians can mitigate these effects by covering smooth surfaces with textured materials like fabric, perforated metal, or diffusers, which absorb and disperse sound. These tools, however, must be used carefully, as too much absorption can make a space dry – meaning the sound onstage will not carry at all and the performers may have trouble even hearing themselves as they perform. Imagine singing into a pillow or under a blanket. The shape of the room itself also contributes to the way the audience perceives the music. Most large performance spaces are shaped like a bell – small where the stage is, and growing larger and more spread out in every dimension as one moves farther away. This shape helps to create a clear path for the sound to every seat. In designing concert halls or opera houses, big decisions must be made about the construction of the building based on acoustical needs. Even with the best planning, the perfect acoustic is not guaranteed, but professionals are constantly learning and adapting new scientific knowledge to enhance the audience’s experience.
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NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE OPERA You will see a full dress rehearsal – an insider’s look into the final moments of preparation before an opera premieres. The singers will be in full costume and makeup, the opera will be fully staged, and a full orchestra will accompany the singers, who may choose to “mark,” or not sing in full voice, in order to save their voices for the performances. A final dress rehearsal is often a complete run-through, but there is a chance that the director or conductor will ask to repeat a scene or section of music. This is the last opportunity that the performers have to rehearse with the orchestra before opening night, and therefore they need this valuable time to work. The following will help you better enjoy your experience of a night at the opera:
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OPERA CHECKLIST Arrive on time! Latecomers will be seated only at suitable breaks in the performance and often not until intermission. Dress in what you are comfortable in so that you may enjoy the performance. For some, that means dressing up in a suit or gown, for others, jeans and a polo shirt fit the bill. Generally “dressy-casual” is what people wear. Live theater is usually a little more formal than a movie theater. Please do not take off your shoes or put your feet on the seat in front of you. Respect your fellow opera lovers by not leaning forward in your seat so as to block the person’s view behind you, and by turning off (not on vibrate) cell phones and other electronic devices that could make noise during the performance. Lit screens are also very distracting to your neighbors, so please keep your phone out of sight until the house lights come up. Taking photos or making audio or video recordings is strictly forbidden. Do not chew gum, eat, drink, or talk while the rehearsal is in session. If you must visit the restroom during the performance, please exit quickly and quietly. At the very beginning of the opera, the concertmaster of the orchestra will ask the oboist to play the note “A.” You will hear all the other musicians in the orchestra tune their instruments to match the oboe’s “A.” After all the instruments have been tuned, the conductor will arrive. Be sure to applaud! Feel free to applaud or shout Bravo at the end of an aria or chorus piece if you liked it. The end of a piece can be identified by a pause in the music. Singers love an appreciative audience! It’s OK to laugh when something is funny! When translating songs and poetry in particular, much can be lost due to a change in rhythm, inflection and rhyme of words. For this reason, opera is usually performed in its original language. In order to help audiences enjoy the music and follow every twist and turn of the plot, English supertitles are projected. Listen for subtleties in the music. The tempo, volume, and complexity of the music and singing depict the feelings or actions of the characters. Also, notice repeated words or phrases; they are usually significant. Sit back, relax and let the action on stage pull you in. As an audience member, you are essential to the art form of opera—without you, there is no show!
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