Subject: | |
From: | |
Date: | Sun, 17 Oct 1999 14:19:30 -0500 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Frank Kulesza:
>I give opera lectures to support opera in the bay area 'the bay aria' I
>always say men write all the operas and the heroine is usually the only
>character aware of what is going on! What I can't understand is why women
>do not seem to write operas and what their spin would be?
Women do write operas. These operas simply seldom, if ever, get performed.
Writing opera is pretty much a thankless job for a composer. Opera
companies are generally too frightened to risk commissioning new work. In
the US, at any rate, there are too few opera companies to create a decent
market. It's hard enough for an established composer. Barber's Antony and
Cleopatra waited at least 15 years for a revival. It's still nothing like
a staple. Copland's Tender Land waited at least 30 years for a complete
recording. Vaughan Williams's Poisoned Kiss has never, as far as I know,
had a professional production. Have you ever seen a Prokofiev opera live?
I haven't. Add to this the fact that most women composers aren't as
visible as most men, and you get a fairly sad situation about the health
of American opera life.
Steve Schwartz
|
|
|