{"id":15523,"date":"2022-10-24T11:36:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T15:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/?p=15523"},"modified":"2024-10-01T10:47:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T14:47:31","slug":"oct24-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/2022\/10\/oct24-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct 24th-30th: Reconstruction of ballad opera The Disappointment (1767)<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1727794048465{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”]Published on Oct 24th, 2022<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to This Week at Eastman<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1658327150379{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1727791600101{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”1976: Reconstruction of ballad opera The Disappointment (1767)<\/i>” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1666888210965{border-top-width: 0px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;border-left-color: #dddddd !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #dddddd !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dddddd !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 1px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1727791660713{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\"Vox<\/a>Throughout the year 1976, the USA observed its Bicentennial with a great deal of pomp, pride, and patriotic fervor.\u00a0 Those who are old enough to remember that time will no doubt still recall such iconic spectacles as the stunning armada of tall ships sailing into Boston Harbor.\u00a0 From the mother country, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip journeyed across the Atlantic to pay a state visit to the former colonies.\u00a0 On July 4th, the synchronized ringing of bells everywhere across the land resounded in a jubilant national chorus.\u00a0 In the performing arts, 1976 was a year of events and performances, both musical and dramatic, that evoked and celebrated Americana of the past while looking ahead expectantly to a bright future.\u00a0 As one reviewer so eloquently put it that fall, \u201cWe are nearing the end of a year specially marked by acts of archaeological piety in the arts.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0<\/sup> Here at the Eastman School of Music, there were numerous performances in recognition of the nation\u2019s 200th birthday. These included a series of Bicentennial programs of chamber music at the Memorial Art Gallery; a concert of American choral music by the Eastman Chorale and the Chapel Choir; a patriotic-themed PRISM U.S.A. concert in the Eastman Theater; and the Eastman Wind Ensemble\u2019s recording Homespun America,<\/em> a collection of music for the Manchester (New Hampshire) Brass Band (ca. 1854-1858) that was commercially released by Vox Turnabout.[2]<\/a>\u00a0<\/sup> Elsewhere in Rochester, the \u201cOpera under the Stars\u201d series at Highland Park included one self-consciously American opera, none other than Howard Hanson\u2019s Merry Mount.<\/em>[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Towards the end of the year, one of the Eastman School\u2019s final Bicentennial gestures was the production of a 1767 ballad opera, The Disappointment: or, The Force of Credulity <\/em>by Andrew Barton[4]<\/sup><\/a>, regarded by music historians as having been the first native ballad opera in the American colonies.<\/p>\n

And so forty-six years ago this week, on October 29th and 30th, 1976, performing forces and an artistic team from the Eastman School mounted two performances of the newly reconstructed The Disappointment <\/em>at the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress (printed program displayed here). Accompanying the performances was a display of two copies of the 1767 libretto in the auditorium\u2019s foyer.\u00a0 The performances at the Library of Congress were followed by a performance in Kilbourn Hall on November 1st, which was a special benefit for the Rochester-Monroe County Bicentennial Committee. The cast was comprised of not quite two dozen Eastman School students and alumni, together with faculty members Milford Fargo[5]<\/a><\/sup> and John Maloy[6]<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 The cast also included internationally renowned mezzo soprano Elaine Bonazzi, BM \u201951, for whom the production marked a return engagement at her alma mater.[7]<\/a>\u00a0<\/sup> The orchestra was comprised of 14 Eastman students, conducted from the harpsichord by Robert Spillman.[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top” gap=”20″][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1664294037966{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”15532″ img_size=”500×700″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” css=”.vc_custom_1727791773000{margin-top: 20px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1665592758991{padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”15527,15528,15529,15530,15531″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1666879855998{margin-top: 20px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1658327150379{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1666885229281{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

The history of the ballad opera genre has been thoroughly researched and documented. \u00a0For purposes of this sketch, suffice it to say that a ballad opera resembled a musical theater piece, having musical numbers alternating with dialogue; its dramatic content was usually comic in tone, and the musical numbers had been sourced from traditional (or otherwise familiar and in vogue) melodies.\u00a0 In the English ballad opera tradition, The Beggar\u2019s Opera <\/em>(1728) by John Gay represented the earliest successful ballad opera, and one that has remained in the repertory.[8]<\/a><\/sup> In colonial North America, the first documented production of a ballad opera took place in 1735, and several English ballad operas were performed in the North American colonies in subsequent years.\u00a0 However, notwithstanding its lack of a premiere performance, The Disappointment: or, The Force of Credulity \u00a0<\/em>is today regarded as having been North America\u2019s first native ballad opera.\u00a0 In early 1767 the Philadelphia Gazette\u00a0 <\/em>announced that The Disappointment\u00a0 <\/em>was set to open at Philadelphia\u2019s newly built Southwark Theater on April 20, 1767, but four days before the opening was to have taken place, the performance was abruptly cancelled as being \u201cunfit for the stage.\u201d[9]<\/a> <\/sup>On scrutiny, the work was seen to contain some unflattering \u201creflections\u201d of some real-life Philadelphians, who in the story become the unwitting and embarrassed objects of a prank.<\/p>\n

There is no record of any performance of The Disappointment <\/em>having taken place either in 1767 or later, but the libretto was nevertheless published (New York, 1767), with its title page promoting the work as \u201ca new American comic-opera of two acts.\u201d\u00a0 In the preface, the author sketched out his reasons for writing the work; he had been sharing the story informally with his friends, who had encouraged him (characterized by the author as a \u201ctorrent of solicitations from all quarters\u201d) to write it down, and he had eventually capitulated to their requests.\u00a0 (Interestingly, the author cited as two of his several reasons \u201cthe infrequency of dramatic compositions in America\u201d and \u201cthe necessity of contributing to the entertainment of the city (i.e. Philadelphia)\u201d.) \u00a0The action follows the exploits and antics which result when four so-called Humorists\u2014by name, Hum, Parchment, Quadrant, and Rattletrap\u2014devise a scheme to trick four other characters, the so-called Dupes\u2014by name, Washball, Raccoon, Trushoop, and McSnip\u2014 to search for treasure supposedly buried by Blackbeard and his pirates. \u00a0It should go without saying that the scheme is manifestly intended to embarrass and defame the Dupes in their pursuit of the buried treasure. Thus, this comic piece turns out to constitute something of a morality play; indeed, two lines in the Prologue to Act I confirm as much: \u201cTheatric-bus\u2019ness was, and still shou\u2019d be,\/To point out vice in its deformity\u201d.\u00a0 And as the author further expounded in the Preface:<\/p>\n

The moral shews the folly of an over credulity and desire of money, and how apt men are (especially old men) to be unwarily drawn into schemes where there is but the least shadow of gain; and concludes with these observations, that mankind ought to be contented with their respective stations; to follow their vocations with honesty and industry–the only sure way to gain riches.[10]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Fast forward to the 1970s.\u00a0 Fully two centuries after the cancelled premiere, new interest resulted in a reconstruction and a staging of The Disappointment<\/em>.\u00a0 At the Eastman School of Music, Samuel Adler[11]<\/a> <\/sup>made settings of the original melodies and also composed an overture and new incidental music. The reconstruction was supported by research undertaken by musicologists Jerald Graue[12]<\/a> <\/sup>\u00a0and Judith C. Layng[13]<\/a>\u00a0<\/sup> whose work was informed by the dual obligations to preserve the flavor and the intimacy of the work\u2019s 18th-century origins, and to ensure that the reconstructed work would be theatrically effective and viable for modern audiences.\u00a0 Their research included identifying the original tune sources, and the reconstruction\u2019s new settings and newly composed music were all informed by 18th-century idioms. Musically, the work was comprised of an opening song, eighteen vocal numbers (called \u201cairs\u201d in the score), and an epilogue of two vocal numbers.\u00a0 The Adler-Graue-Layng reconstruction and the staging by Eastman forces were subsequently given permanent form by means of publication and recording. The reconstructed manifestation of The Disappointment <\/em>was published\u2014in both full score and vocal score\u2014by A-R Editions (c1976) in that publisher\u2019s series Recent Researches in American Music, <\/em>edited by musicologists Graue and Layng.\u00a0 (The Sibley Music Library holds a copy under call no. M2 .R2947A vols. 3-4.)\u00a0 In the publication, the printed music is accompanied by scholarly discussion of the play and its origins, the problem of authorship, the challenges of the musical reconstruction, matters of performance practice, and still other aspects of the reconstruction.\u00a0 The sources of the 18 musical numbers (called \u201cairs\u201d in the score) are also identified; among them, modern American\u00a0 audiences will readily identify no. 4 as \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d.\u00a0 Further, the work of the Eastman performing forces was captured in an LP recording that was issued by Vox Turnabout.[14]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 (The Sibley Music Library holds copies under call nos. LP 20, 412 and LP 20, 413.)<\/p>\n

Once again the Eastman School had distinguished in the promotion of American music, this time in the operatic realm. \u00a0Whereas Eastman Opera had previously staged numerous American operas (including student operas), the 1976 production of The Disappointment <\/em>\u00a0went further in that it engaged scholarly inquiry and research, as well as musical reconstruction informed by that research.\u00a0 It should further be noted that production of The Disappointment <\/em>did not supplant the usual fall semester operatic production, for later in November, Eastman Opera student performers mounted a production of Richard Strauss\u2019 Capriccio, <\/em>directed by Frederic O\u2019Brady.<\/p>\n

\u25ba photos (Louis Ouzer Archive).\u00a0 Master negative nos. R2248 : R2252
\n<\/span>Note that Mr. Ouzer photographed the proceedings on October 24th, 1976.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top”][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1666884904753{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”15536,15537″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1727791888280{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]\u25ba In the tavern in act I. The eight men on-stage are Parchment (standing), Raccoon (second from right), Washball (far right), and the rest, in no particular order, are Jack Rattletrap, Quadrant, Hum, Trushoop, and McSnip. Parchment, Hum, Quadrant, and Rattletrap are the four so-called Humorists who devise a cunning trap b which to exploit others for gain. Photo by Louis Ouzer. <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”15539″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” css=”.vc_custom_1727791899182{margin-top: 10px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”15533,15535″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1727791909865{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]\u25ba Moll Placket with Topinlift, a sailor who is her boyfriend on the side, and for whom she intends to abandon Raccoon. Photos by Louis Ouzer.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”15541″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” css=”.vc_custom_1727791922854{margin-top: 10px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1664294037966{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”15538″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” css=”.vc_custom_1727791827465{margin-top: 20px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”15540″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” css=”.vc_custom_1666883468975{margin-top: -10px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”15542″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” css=”.vc_custom_1666883684121{margin-top: -10px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1667834611437{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cBarton\u2019s opera opens after a 209-year wait\u201d by Joseph McLellan.\u00a0 Originally printed in The Washington Post <\/em>and reprinted in The Rochester Times-Union, <\/em>October 30, 1976.\u00a0 Preserved in Rochester Scrapbook October-November 1976, page 105.\u00a0 Sibley Music Library.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Further, the Eastman School\u2019s annual Arrangers Laboratory-Institute in 1976 included a patriotic-themed item in the annual Arrangers\u2019 Holiday concert, which was a dramatic piece \u201dU.S.A. All the Way — a Musical Guide to American History\u201d scored by seven individuals, and with Donald Hunsberger as narrator.\u00a0 This following in the tradition in earlier Arrangers\u2019 Holidays of featuring a comic-dramatic sketch.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Further to Merry Mount, <\/em>Eastman Opera\u2019s 1955 production of this opera was featured in \u201cThis Week at Eastman\u201d in the entry for week of May 16th-22nd, 2022<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Andrew Barton was most likely a pseudonym.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Professor of Music Education; served from 1957 until his death in 1986.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Professor of Voice; served from 1966 until his retirement in 2005.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0 Elaine Bonazzi (1929-2019) enjoyed a successful career on the operatic stage from the 1950s until the 1990s.<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Indeed, The Beggar\u2019s Opera <\/em>has been the basis for later works, including Kurt Weill\u2019s Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera) <\/em>(1928).<\/span><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0 Article \u201cBallad opera in the United States\u201d by Susan L. Porter, accessible at Oxford Music Online<\/em><\/a>, accessed on October 18, 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0 The quotations in this paragraph all from The Author\u2019s Preface, which is reprinted in the A-R Editions score of The Disappointment.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Professor of Composition; served 1966-94; Emeritus thereafter.<\/span><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a>\u00a0 Professor of Musicology; served 1971-82.<\/span><\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Ms. Layng would later serve as director of the Oberlin College Conservatory Opera Department (served in that capacity 1979-1996).<\/span><\/p>\n

[14]<\/a>\u00a0 It seems pertinent to mention that the Vox label had numerous Eastman School associations, manifest in recordings by faculty artists and ensembles.<\/span><\/p>\n

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On October 29th and 30th, 1976, performing forces and an artistic team from the Eastman School mounted two performances of the newly reconstructed The Disappointment<\/i> at the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":276,"featured_media":15543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[20],"coauthors":[3],"class_list":["post-15523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-this-week-at-eastman","tag-october"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15523"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}