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This year, the one to watch is San Francisco Opera’s much anticipated “Appomattox.” Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox in 1865, ending of the Civil War, has the dramatic appeal and gravitas to lure audiences and David Goclkley, SFO’s general director is pulling out all stops in hope of making this one a success. Indeed, he liked the idea so much, he said, that taking it with him when he left Houston Grand Opera was high on his list of priorities. When Patrick Summers, HGO’s music director gave the nod, Gockley began formulating his plans for the new season, and “Appomattox” was high on the list of “must produce” shows -- and composer Philip Glass was the one he wanted to write the score.

Gockley said he had talked with Glass earlier about doing a project he had in mind, dealing with the Civil War. Glass, 70, a prolific composer whose previous operas had earned him critical attention, said he was intrigued by the idea of writing an opera around the surrender at Appomattox. “I began thinking about it,” he said and “began to focus on Lee and Grant. They were men of tremendous moral character and stamina, something we don’t see much in political life now.”

The “character” issue interested him so much he wanted to explore it more fully through his music, a blend of folk Civil War music, new age Glass panache, and rich orchestral flourishes. As for the libretto, he wanted it to be realistic and reflective of the strong character of the two men who are the focus of the piece. Lee and Grant, he noted, “were able to end the war by the force of their characters.” It’s that same force he hopes to bring to his score.

To create the libretto for this dramatic background, Glass approached British playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton, with whom he worked with earlier in writing, “Waiting for the Barbarians,” with the idea. Hampton’s first response was cautious. “It was a bit daunting,” Hampton said; “I knew absolutely nothing about American History.” But Glass persisted and the deal was cemented.

While the Civil War, itself, occupies the opening Act, much of the opera is concerned with its aftermath and its failure to win independence for former slaves and their progeny, up to the turmoil of the 1960s civil rights struggles. Hampton accepted the offer and began researching the history. What struck him most, he said, was the absolute carnage and destruction of cities and lives. Hampton, like Glass, came to understand how important it was to these two generals to end this terribly costly war. “Lee and Grant wanted to end the war,” he said, echoing Glass’ views about the character of the men who signed the surrender document. After studying the history, Hampton said, he wanted to add something else, something that would expend on the original idea. He said he wanted to expand the story’s original theme, and wanted to write about the war, “but also about the consequences as well. We wanted to talk about that.”

The aftermath of the Civil War interested Glass, too. Speaking of the effect of slavery on the country after the war, he said, “It never really ended; we never resolved it; we never understood it.” To help understand the aftermath, Hampton wanted to tell the bulk of the story through the eyes of a real-life character, Jimmy Lee Jackson, a civil rights worker and rioter shot dead by Alabama police in 1965. But Glass didn’t want this to be an opera just about men and their struggle. And so he included the wives as well, most notably Mary Todd Lincoln, Julia Grant and Mary Lee. Each, we learn, not only supported their husbands throughout the ordeal, but their influences helped shape the directions and sides their husbands eventually took as well.

To bring this historical and dramatic event to stage, SFO looked to the talents of set designer Riccardo Hernandez. It would be Hernandez’s job to bring Hampton’s bleak vision of the war to stage, to capture the carnage and death “to create the destruction of Richmond on stage,” he said, “to create a mural, a sculpture of burned railroad beams, and the graffiti and destruction,” that was the city of Richmond. Hernandez’ vision melded with Glass’s and Hampton’s ideas: “to give a sense of the brutality of war.” Set models suggest the result has been achieved with striking and disturbing clarity, including dead animals, which Hernandez says he saw in every picture he reviewed of the era.

Paul Joseph Walkowski
OperaOnline.us

Ask any opera enthusiast to name their biggest beef about the genre and they will most likely say it’s the repetitive nature of the standard opera repertoire. It’s not that it’s not enjoyable; rather, the complaint is that it’s so limited.

A quick check of the ten most popular and often-performed operas will confirm that the ten most popular and often-performed operas this year were, well, the ten most popular and often-performed operas last year, and the year before that and . . .

Major companies, the ones that can most afford it, do try to expand the base. Richard Danielpour’s 2005 opera “Margaret Garner,” enjoyed some success, although it’s too soon to know whether “Garner” has the power to make it to anyone’s permanent “must see again” list. Its premier was a critical success, but its glow dimmed somewhat afterward and audiences aren’t exactly clamoring that it be added to the standard repertoire, even though it premiered with NYC Opera last month. Other new entries this year, hoping to make the list are: Manitoba Opera’s World Premiere of “Transit of Venus,” and “Elmer Gantry’s” premiere at Nashville and “A view from the Bridge” heading for Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Time will tell whether any one or more of these new operas will appeal to large audiences. New operas don’t always click with the people they need to click with most, the audience, even though many seem to satisfy critics.

That’s why those who follow opera wait anxiously when a new opera is commissioned. Unfortunately, expectations often exceed satisfaction. Last year the Met brought forward “The First Emperor.” The Met is featuring it again this year, without any changes, eager, no doubt, to see whether critics were right and audiences agree with them about the non-melodious and grating score. Without Domingo in the lead, there is some question and concern whetner opera audiences will be standing in line to see more of this production any time soon.

New operatic works are tricky, especially when composers write for themselves or others whose haute acclaim is sought more than the audiences. In opera, especially, both the libretto and music need to attract and hold an audience for the opera to be a success with the public. As a general rule, uing the libretto as a club or the music as a challenge, rarely works, particularly when they are combined in one production.

Indeed, when Los Angeles Opera premiered Eliot Goldenthal’s much anticipated “Grendel” in 2006 expectations and hopes for its success were dashed somewhat by a score that was lackluster. As our own reviewer, Carie Delmar, wrote when she saw it in 2006: “Although 'Grendel' is an ambitious endeavor, Goldenthal’s opera, when compared to the works of other great composers, simply doesn’t make the grade.” A lot of new operas share the same musically challenged fate. They are produced with great fanfare, play to large opening audiences, then quickly fade into obscurity after their initial appearance and are rarely performed again.