As Sept. 6 is getting improbably close, the year-old news is still not
sinking in well: San Francisco Opera will *open* the season with Virgil
Thomson's "The Mother of Us All."
It would be unusual and brave for a large company to put on this work,
invariably described as "quirky," running a mere 100 minutes although
padded with an intermission to a little over two hours. But to present
this "simple, spare music, evoking Puritan hymnody," with Gertrude Stein's
libretto of "nonlinear, but deadly earnest meditation" on Susan B.
Anthony *six* times in the 3,000-seat War Memorial, and as the *opening
night* production is a real head-scratcher. Brave or foolish (or both)
- we'll see.
What is certain is that nothing like this happened at the Opera's previous
80 season-openers, a string of grand grand-opera war horses with triumphant
elephants, consumption and nobody sleeping in Beijing, varied infrequently
with such exceptions as Henri Rabaud's "Marouf, savetier du Caire" and
Aribert Reimann's "Lear." (For those interested in arcane lists, there
is one at the end of file; those interested in quizzes, guess the most
frequent ones *before* looking at the list.)
There is no question about the commitment of SFO to the production,
which originated with Glimmerglass Opera and the New York City Opera.
It will be conducted by Donald Runnicles, directed by Christopher Alden,
and the cast features Luana DeVol in the title role (returning "home"
after a 20-year absence, spent mostly in Europe), more than a dozen fine
singers in the small supporting roles.
Besides the Opera's own lectures and pre-performance presentations,
there will be other events locally, dealing with Thomson and the work.
If you're close enough to the University of San Francisco, check 90.3 on
the FM dial and KUSF's Thomson tribute on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 10:30
a.m. Singer Margaret Tede, a long-time collaborator of the composer,
and composer/musicologist Charles Shere will participate in the program,
hosted by Al Covaia, programmer for the late, lamented KKHI.
SFO opening-night programs - '23, Boheme; '24, Andrea Chenier; '25,
Manon; '26, Martha; '27, Manon Lescaut; '28, Aida; '29, Rigoletto; '30,
Manon; '31, Marouf; '32, Tosca; '33, Samson & Delila; '34, The Bartered
Bride; '35, Das Rheingold; '36, La Juive; '37, Aida; '38, Andrea Chenier;
'39, Manon; '40, Le Nozze di Figaro; '41, Manon (the season was over
before December); '42, Aida; '43, Samson & Delila; '44, Aida; '45, Carmen;
'46, Lohengrin; '47, Aida; '48, Falstaff; '49, Tosca; '50, Aida; '51,
Otello; '52, Tosca; '53, Mefistofele; '54, Rigoletto; '55, Aida; '56,
Manon Lescaut; '57, Turandot; '58, Medea; '59, L'Amore dei Tre Re: '60,
Tosca; '61, Lucia di Lammermoor; '62, Boheme; '63, Aida; '64, Otello;
'65, Andrea Chenier; '66, I Puritani; '67, La Gioconda; '68, Ernani;
'69, La Traviata [Turandot opened the season in Los Angeles]; '70, Tosca;
'71, Manon; '72, Norma; '73, La Favorita; '74, Manon Lescaut; '75, Il
Trovatore; '76, Thais; '77, Adriana Lecouvreur; '78, Otello; '79, La
Gioconda; '80, Samson & Delila; '81 [summer], Lear; '81 [fall], Semiramide;
'82 [summer], Julius Caesar; '82 [fall] Un Ballo in Maschera; '83, Otello;
'84, Ernani; '85 [summer], Das Rheingold; '85 [fall], Adriana Lecouvreur;
'86, Don Carlos; '87, Il Barbiere di Siviglia; '88, L'Africaine; '89,
Falstaff; '90 [summer], Das Rheingold; '90 [fall], Sour Angelica/Pagliacci;
'91 [summer], The Magic Flute; '91 [fall], La Traviata; '92 [summer],
William Tell; '92 [fall], Tosca; '93, I Vespri Siciliani; '94, Macbeth;
'95 [summer], Orphee et Eurydice; '95 [fall], Anna Bolena; '96 [summer],
Boheme; '96 [fall], Prince Igor; '97, Tosca; '98, Turandot; '99, Un Ballo
in Maschera; '00, Luisa Miller; '01, Rigoletto; '02, Turandot.
Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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