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732042
Black River, A Wisconsin Idyll
732042
732042
732042
Details
Grand opera in 3 Acts and a Prologue for mixed voices (2 2 2 2 - 4 2 2 0 - T+P(2) - Kybd(2) - H - Str)
SKU: EC.4206
Composed by Conrad Susa. Full Length Opera. Piano/vocal score. E.C. Schirmer Publishing #4206. Published by E.C. Schirmer Publishing (EC.4206).UPC: 600313442063. Text: Richard Street, Conrad Susa.
Libretto:
Written by Richard Street and Conrad Susa
Synopsis:
Grand Opera in 3 Acts with a Prologue. The opera presents vignettes relating the stories of three women, their lives, and their losses at the foot of the Black River. Clara, preoccupied with the memory of her infant son's death by drowning in the Black River 12 years earlier, sews a quilt and dulls her despair with the aid of a cocaine-based medicine. Lucy, her step-daughter, is engaged to marry a man she does not love. Pauline, living in the state mental hospital, mourns the passing of her career as an opera singer and the estranged relationship between herself and her son. Soon after Lucy and Ben are married, Ben dies, leaving Lucy, who has just begun to truly love her husband, alone and pregnant. Their wedding is transformed into a funeral. Pauline reconciles with her son and leaves the hospital and Black River Falls forever. Lucy also departs, in hopes of finding a better life elsewhere. Clara, having finished her quilt, takes it to the banks of the river, saturates it with kerosene, and sets it and her body on fire.
| Roles: | |
| CLARA GRAY, a housewife turning 40 | Mezzo-Soprano |
| LUCY GRAY HOLLAND, Clara's 18-year old stepdaughter | Soprano |
| PAULINE L'ALLEMAND, an opera singer past her prime | Soprano |
| REVERAND WOODS, a Lutheran pastor | Tenor |
| HORACE GRAY, Clara's husband, Lucy's father/JACOB SPAULDING, founding settler of Black River Falls | Bass-Baritone |
| BEN HOLLAND, Lucy's late husband, 18 years old | Baritone |
| COLONEL C.C. POPE, Civil War veteran/Square Dance Caller | Tenor |
| P.H. HOWELL, old codger, friend of Pope's | Tenor |
| HANNAH COLE, Temperance League leader | Mezzo-Soprano |
| HERR 6 3/4, character in Pauline's operetta/HENRI L'ALLEMAND, Pauline's husband/EDGAR L'ALLEMAND, Pauline's teen-age son | Baritone |
| HERR DREI, character in Pauline's operetta/LEO DELIBES, Parisien composer | Tenor |
| DOCTOR KROHN, physician at Mendota State Hospital/DUDLEY GRAY, Horace's father | Baritone |
| MISS DOROTHY SNITE, spinster teacher/MRS. DUDLEY GRAY, Horace's mother | Mezzo-Soprano |
| HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL | Tenor |
| FRANK HOLAND, Ben's merchant father | Tenor |
| MRS. FRANK HOLLAND, Ben's mother | Mute |
| BARTENDER | Baritone |
| THOMAS WOOD, a logger | Tenor |
| ANDREW WOOD, his brother | Baritone |
| ONSTAGE CHORUS (supplemented off-stage) | SSAATTBB |
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