OPERA IN ENGLISH: CLASS AND CULTURE IN AMERICA, 1878–1910 Kristen M. Turner A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the College of Arts and Sciences. Chapel Hill 2015 Approved by: Annegret Fauser Mark Evan Bonds John Nádas Katherine K. Preston Philip Vandermeer ©2015 Kristen M. Turner ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Kristen M. Turner: Opera in English: Class and Culture in America, 1878–1910 (Under the direction of Annegret Fauser) European grand opera performed in English translation was a potent cultural force in the United States at the end of the long nineteenth century. Analysis of business correspondence, theater records, advertisements, reviews, and social commentaries, reveals that rhetoric about opera engaged with issues of class, race, gender, and nationalism. Critics identified foreign-language grand opera as a high art, suitable primarily for the upper class and educated listeners. In contrast, writers viewed the same operas sung in English as entertainment for a middle-class audience who wished to enjoy opera in the vernacular performed by American singers. Southern small towns, such as Raleigh, North Carolina, used English-language opera and art music to reinforce racial boundaries and to project a civic identity as a refined, middle-class city. The African American community, as a result of segregation and oppression, had different conceptions about art, class, and culture than the white majority. African American writers framed English-language performances by the all-black Theodore Drury Grand Opera Company as a way to resist racial tyranny by emphasizing the skill of the troupe’s singers and the sophistication of its educated black audience. The operatic marketplace was shaped by the same issues that influenced the discourses about opera. Advertisements and other types of marketing referred to class, race, and nationalism, while performers and impresarios created public personae that transgressed and reified nineteenth-century conceptions of gender. The critical reception and American performance traditions of Georges Bizet’s Carmen were also influenced by the ideas that affected the reception, production, and marketing of opera as a whole. iii Pantomimes and crucial cuts recorded in scores used by English-language troupes at the time served to manipulate the audience’s perceptions of Carmen’s main characters to support the critics’ reactions to the work, which were colored by contemporary political and social conditions. By 1910, when it had become clear that grand opera sung in English could not move into the high-art sphere occupied by foreign-language grand opera, the cultural niche for English-language opera closed, and its performers and impresarios transferred their energy and business savvy to middle-class entertainments such as vaudeville, Broadway musicals, and silent film. iv To Greg, Adam, Hannah, and Jacob The reason for being v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Similar to a child, it takes a village to raise a research project. My village stretched across the country. My research would not have been possible without the help of the librarians and staff at the Mills Music Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (especially Tom Caw), the Houghton Library at Harvard University, the Performing Arts Division of the New York Public Library (in particular Jonathan Hiam), the Kiplinger Library in the Historical Society of Washington, DC, the Library at the Maryland Historical Society, and the Music Library at the University of Toronto. Too many people to count, and many whose names I do not even know, helped me locate materials, patiently answered all my questions, and replied to many emails asking for help. I am especially grateful to the wonderful staff at the UNC library: Diane Steinhaus, Carrie Monette, Shaw Lentz, and Philip Vandermeer (who also served on my dissertation committee) for helping me find sources, examine microfilm without permanent physical damage, and understand the resources available to students of American music. Many friends and fellow graduate students have helped me through this long process by reading my work, listening to my conference presentations, and providing much-needed friendship and support. I especially thank my colleagues in dissertation colloquium who read and commented on many chapters of this dissertation. Ryan Ebright, Brian Jones, and Josh Busman entered the program with me and helped me see it through to the end. Chris Reali was my constant friend and listened to my worries during many lunches. Fellow Fauserites Erin Maher, Gina Bombola, Catherine Hughes, and especially Alicia Levin helped lift me up when I was down. The members of Eat, Sleep, Musicology and Jennifer Wilson cheered me on during the last months of writing and revising. vi Other scholars have contributed their time to my projects by reading my work or agreeing to meet with me at conferences. Not only is this dissertation richer for their input, but my intellectual growth was aided by their generosity and patience. Thank you to Judith Tick, Hilary Poriss, John Koegel, Gillian Rodger, Jean Snyder, Louise Toppin, Doug Shadle, and Kira Thurman. My research was supported by the Kenan Graduate Student Activities Fund and a UNC Summer Research fellowship. My final year at Chapel Hill was funded by a Dissertation Completion Fellowship which gave me the great gift of being able to concentrate on my work without teaching for the only time in my graduate career. My dissertation committee was all that I could have hoped for and more. Phil Vandermeer helped me think about the way forward in this dissertation at the very beginning of the process. John Nádas’s expertise in interpreting messy manuscripts and opera performance was invaluable. Evan Bonds contributed his clear-headed slightly skeptical eye to all my work. Kitty Preston introduced me to the joys of American music history and was extremely generous not only with her time, but also with her work and the fruits of her many years of research. Annegret Fauser, my advisor, calmed me down when I was stressed, advised me when I needed it, read everything very carefully but never tried to stifle my independence, encouraged me to send my work to many different people, and put up with my compulsive revising which resulted in many emails that read, “I know I sent this to you a few days ago, but here’s a newer version if you haven’t read it already.” I went back for my doctorate after many years devoted to being a mother and wife. I have gained many new friends while I have been in school, but many others have stood by me even when my life changed drastically. My early-morning walking companion, Julie Guilbaud, kept me grounded and reminded me that there was life beyond graduate school. Connie Fowler, Barbara Styers, and Donna Thome understood when I couldn’t see them for lunch for months, vii but were always there when I wanted to talk. My colleagues at North Carolina State University were very supportive and encouraged me to go back to school even when the idea seemed preposterous, especially Tom Koch, Mark Scearce, and Jonathan Kramer. I could not have done this, however, without the love and support of my family. My mother drove 140 miles once a week for three semesters to take care of my kids, drive them all over town, feed them their best meal of the week, and do my laundry. I would not have made it through my coursework without her help. My father warmed my heart when he was as excited about my research as I was. More times than I can count, I told my children that I was writing or studying and they should ask their father what was for dinner. I missed too many concerts, parades, competitions, and soccer games, and became chronically forgetful about forms and school deadlines. But, through it all, Adam, Hannah, and Jacob were understanding and resilient (even when I wasn’t). They have grown into intelligent, lovely, and very independent people in the last six years, and I’m not sure they will ever understand how proud I am of them. In the spring of 2009, after seventeen years of marriage and three children, my husband Greg told me that he always knew it would be my turn and without hesitation supported my decision to upend our family’s life and go back to school. He scaled back his own work hours at a very demanding job, took on many more chores at home, and has never complained at the tuition and travel bills I have racked up in the last six years. Being supportive does not come close to describing what he has done for me. Thank you and I love you. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................. xiii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ xiv INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1 Opera and Class in America ........................................................................................................ 5 Opera and the Historiography of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era ............................. 12 Operatic Geography .................................................................................................................... 15 Opera and Identity