Composer's bond with U.S. audience endures

By Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 2, 2008 at 6 p.m.
Updated July 3, 2008 at 1:04 p.m.

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Photo by Mark Kiryluk

Emily Pulley as Susannah and Vale Rideout as Sam.

When Carlisle Floyd finished his first opera, Susannah, in 1954, the composer had no idea he'd created a work that would receive more than 1,000 performances in the years following.

"I was young and inexperienced," said Floyd, now 82. "I really didn't think of things like that. I just wanted to do what Douglas Moore was doing - bridge the gap between the American people and opera."

Around that time, Moore wrote The Ballad of Baby Doe, which would be premiered at Central City Opera in 1956. Fitting, then, that Floyd's updating of the biblical tale of Susannah and the Elders would return to the Central City stage this weekend, in a revival of the much- praised 1997 production.

"It was a different time back then," Floyd said from his Tallahassee, Fla., home. "There were not too many opera composers. I was so idealistic then, I thought there was an untapped audience here for opera.

"Trouble was, there was just too much singing going on. I felt there needed to be a balance with the theatrical elements. I knew that people in this country were ready for something they could relate to - a story set in this country, sung in English."

Floyd drew inspiration from his mentor, the composer Ernst Bacon. "He was so determined to get away from those European traditions. He told me not to use Italian tempo markings - to put them in English."

To his delight, Floyd has seen an explosion of American operas in recent years, including works by Jake Heggie, Tobias Picker and Mark Adamo. Though Floyd now stands as an elder statesman of American opera, his connection with those younger composers is more as friend than mentor and critic.

"I did help Mark (Adamo) with Little Women, but with Jake (Heggie), he just told me what he was working on and left it at that. In the early days, he really picked my brain."

Floyd wondered about the shelf life of contemporary American operas, which receive high-profile premieres but often are followed by a slow disappearance. He can relate.

"The truth is that after Susannah was premiered (at Florida State in 1955), for the next 10 years it was mostly done in college productions. But that's because there weren't a lot of opera houses back then."

In recent decades, the work has been performed by major companies, with superstar sopranos vying for the challenging title role, including Renee Fleming and Cheryl Studer. Few major singers sought out Floyd's opera in the early days.

"Those people were all fighting for their survival in those days, so they wouldn't touch a new work," he said. "It's always been a struggle, especially in the '60s and '70s - all that atonal music."

Floyd acknowledged that composers such as Philip Glass brought back accessible tonality to opera, with such works as Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha. "I admire Phil," he said, "but it seemed so alien to me. I saw Satyagraha and didn't have any conception of it. But, a good (audience) response is a good response."

He's a fan of Adamo's work and acknowledged John Adams' Nixon in China, presented recently by Opera Colorado, "has more going for it."

But at 82, Floyd remains an old- fashioned guy - all that static stage business isn't for him. "I was brought up with narrative tension that would move the story forward. I've always said, 'I didn't want an audience to blink.' Things up there onstage have to move quickly."

Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296

Susannah

* When and where: opens at 8 p.m. Saturday, Central City Opera House, continues in repertory through Aug. 10

* Cost: $45 to $93

* Information: 303-292-6500

Tribute to Young

* Saturday's opening of Susannah will serve as a tribute to the late Denver critic (and longtime Central City Opera champion) Allen Young. A bus will leave the SuperTarget store in Glendale at 5:30 p.m., arriving in time for a 7 p.m. reception in the Teller House.

* Tickets: $175; call 303-292-6500

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