Cabildo (opera)

"Cabildo" is the only opera by the American composer Amy Beach, her opus 149. This chamber opera is in one act and has a libretto by Nan Bagby Stephens. Beach composed the music in 1932 and made use of folksong and Creole tunes. [Dickinson, Peter, "Reviews of Music" (February 1998). "Music & Letters", 79 (1): pp. 156-157.] [Pollack, Howard, "Review of "Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer, 1867-1944" by Adrienne Fried Block (Summer 2001). "Journal of the American Musicological Society", 54 (2): pp. 389-395.] However, the work was not performed in her lifetime and received its first performance in 1947. Subsequent performances were in 1981, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and in 1982, at the American Musicological Society meeting and the Sonneck Society. [Dickinson, Peter, "Reviews of Books by Jeanell Wise Brown and by Walter S. Jenkins on Amy Beach" (November 1996). "Music & Letters", 77 (4): pp. 633-635.] The first fully professional production was on May 13, 1995, as part of the "Great Performers at Lincoln Center" series, led by Ransom Wilson and directed by Hans Nieuwenhuis. [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDB1F3CF936A25756C0A963958260 | title=A Composer Who Made Her Timely Choice | publisher="New York Times" | author=Bernard Holland | date=1995-05-15 | accessdate=2007-10-20]

Roles

* Barker (spoken role)
* Tom (tenor)
* Mary (mezzo-soprano)
* Pierre Lafitte (baritone)
* Dominique You (tenor)
* Gaoler (bass)
* The Lady Valerie (soprano)

Recording

* Delos DE 3170: Stephen Mo Hanan, Anthony Dean Griffey, Charlotte Hellekant, Eugene Perry, Paul Groves, Thomas Paul, Lauren Flanigan; The New York Concert Singers; Instrumental ensemble; Ransom Wilson, conductor

References

External links

* [http://www.usopera.com/composers/beach.html US Opera link]
* [http://www.delosmus.com/de31/de3170.html Delos Records page on recording]