Little Women (opera)
| Little Women | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Mark Adamo | |
Louisa May Alcott on whose work the opera is based
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| Librettist | Mark Adamo |
| Language | English |
| Based on |
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott |
| Premiere | 10:22, March 13, 1998 Houston Grand Opera |
Little Women (1998) is the first opera written by American composer Mark Adamo to his own libretto after Louisa May Alcott's tale of growing up in New England after the American Civil War, Little Women. The opera also includes text by John Bunyan (Beth's setting of The Pilgrim's Progress), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Dr. Bhaer sings "Kennst du das Land"), and Alcott herself (an excerpt of one of her thrillers at the beginning of Act II, which is spoken and mostly omitted on the audio recording).
Commissioned by the Opera Studio of Houston Grand Opera (HGO), then under the guidance of General Director David Gockley, Little Women was first performed on March 13, 1998 in a smaller scale production. The success of this first production prompted Gockley to pronounce it "destined to be an American classic" and scheduled the opera for a mainstage premiere of ten performances in March 2000 — making it the first of HGO's twenty-some commissions to be so revived.
G. Schirmer published the opera in May 1998; National Public Radio broadcast the recording of the premiere the following September; and there have been more than 35 distinct productions, professional and academic, domestic and international, since the world premiere, ranging from established American stages (Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Pacific), to newer, more progressive companies (Fort Worth Opera, Opera Columbus) from American summer festivals (Glimmerglass Opera, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera), to international venues (Teatro de la Ciudad in Mexico City, World Expo in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan), and to conservatories (Indiana University at Bloomington, Anderson University (Indiana) (two of this cast died in a small plane crash in Bloomington a few years later), Westminster Choir College, New England Conservatory of Music, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of the Philippines College of Music, Depauw University.)
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