AARON COPLAND’S INSPIRING AMERICAN OPERA THE TENDER LAND FRIDAY OCTOBER 13TH 7:00 PM SUNDAY OCTOBER 15TH 3:00 PM WILLSON AUDITORIUM Celebrating 4 Seasons Tickets available at Intermountainopera.org or 406-587-2889 TABLE OF CONTENTS Intermountain Opera Bozeman ……………………………………………...3 The Tender Land Characters and Synopsis…….………………….….…5 The Composer and Librettist…………………………………………….6 The Tender Land Background and Inspiration……………..…………..9 Historical Context and Timeline…………………………………….….13 Further Exploration……………………………………………….…..…20 !2 Intermountain Opera Bozeman In 1978, Verity Bostick, a young singer and assistant professor of music at Montana State University at Bozeman, sparked the interest of a well-known New York opera producer, Anthony Stivanello, with her desire to form the first Montana-based opera company. For the inaugural performance of Verdi’s La Traviata in the Spring of 1979, Mr. Stivanello agreed to donate sets, costumes and his services to the production. Gallatin Valley had its own resident opera star, Pablo Elvira, who was persuaded to share his talents. A leading baritone with the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera, he sang Germont in La Traviata. A full-fledged professional opera company in Bozeman, MT was born! With names like Elvira and Stivanello appearing, Montana suddenly caught the interest of Eastern opera circles. The prestigious opera magazine, Opera News, assigned a reporter to cover the advent of the Intermountain Opera Association’s first year. During the second season, the Association produced The Barber of Seville, starring Pablo Elvira, and brought three stars from New York to sing leading roles. Anthony Stivanello again furnished sets and costumes and directed the production. At this time, Mrs. Robert W. Martin, Jr. became a member of the Board and subsequently President of the Association. Under her guidance, fundraising and ticket organization systems were successfully initiated. A benefactor and patron of the arts with contacts throughout the country, “Ginny” solicited funds through organizations and individuals and gave her own generous support to meet the Association’s annual budgets. Her financial and organizing contributions and her total commitment to opera in Montana have been invaluable to the basic structure and success of the Association. Mrs. Martin is now Honorary Chairman of the Board. !3 In 1996, Linda Curtis took over the role of Artistic Director from Pablo Elvira. As her schedule permits, Ms. Curtis attends auditions and performances around the country, listening for singers appropriate for roles in upcoming IOA productions. Since 1979 IOA has produced one opera each spring. In 2005, IOA began presenting a second opera in the fall. The Association has continued to grow and to attract operagoers, not only from Bozeman, but from other parts of Montana and neighboring states as well. An increasing number of volunteers and supporters aid the Association each year. All committee workers and board members are volunteers. Staff includes an artistic director, production coordinator, office manager and an executive director (all part-time positions). The staff assists the Board of Directors in choosing the operas to be performed, hiring the director and conductor, casting and contracting with the performers, renting sets and costumes and renting the auditorium as well as with fundraising and publicizing productions and the company. Many other functions, such as transportation and housing of artists, costume fitting and coordination, makeup and hair-styling, ticket-selling, ushering and most fundraising remain volunteer functions. The orchestra and chorus are chosen from among the region’s most accomplished musicians including some students majoring in music at Montana State University. Our venue is the Willson Auditorium, part of the Bozeman school system. [email protected] http://intermountainopera.org The historic home of Intermountain Opera Bozeman productions, the Willson Auditorium, had a major face lift from spring of 2014 to spring of 2015! The Willson Auditorium is located at 404 W. Main Street in Downtown Bozeman. Yep, the same place where Gary Cooper went to high school. With seating for only 1100 people, there isn’t a bad seat in the house and no binoculars are needed to feel 'up close and personal' with the stars of the show. When the maestro lifts his baton and the overture begins, the audience is quickly transported to the magical world of opera. Our fully staged productions typically feature hand-painted drops from Italy (rented from Stivanello Costume Co. in NYC). Willson auditorium is equipped with a number of handicap seat selections along with companion seating. It is best to reserve these seats in advance through the opera ticket office 406-587-2889. Handicap parking is located off W. Babcock Street, on the south side of the building. Hearing enhancement equipment is also available. Please contact the opera office at 406-587-2889 so they can have it ready in the lobby before the performance. All performances at the Willson Auditorium have supertitles. This is a translation or summary of text projected above the stage !4 The Tender Land: Characters and Synopsis Characters LAURIE MOSS, the older sister, 17-19 years old (Soprano) Lindsay Russell MARTIN, a drifter (Tenor) Joshua Kohl TOP, a drifter (Baritone) Joseph Beutel MA MOSS (Contralto) Sarah Larsen GRANDPA MOSS (Bass) Jan Opalach BETH MOSS, the younger sister, 8-12 years old (Speaking role) MR. SPLINTERS, the postman (Tenor) MRS. SPLINTERS (Mezzo-Soprano) MR. JENKS (Baritone) MRS. JENKS (Soprano) PARTY GUESTS Setting Spring, just before harvest, in the 1930s, a lower-middle class farm in the Midwest. Synopsis In the American heartland during the Great Depression, teenager Laurie Moss is about to become the first in her family to graduate from high school. On the eve of graduation, her mother, Ma Moss, and her protective Grandpa, are hosting a party to celebrate, while Laurie finds herself questioning her place in the world and wondering what kind of life she could lead if she were to leave the farm. Two drifters come by looking for work, and despite his suspicions, Grandpa Moss hires them. Laurie, who is both tied to her homeland and aching to leave it, is intrigued by tales of their travels. The dashing smooth-talking Top, full of bluster, immediately eyes Laurie. But it’s the younger, bashful Martin for whom she falls. While Ma and Grandpa Moss are suspicious of the strangers, Laurie is captivated by their vivid tales of travel, and she and Martin quickly fall in love, culminating in a tender kiss at Laurie’s graduation party. Grandpa Moss, furious, banishes the two men, leading Martin and Laurie to make plans to elope, but Martin quickly realizes that this would cause trouble for all involved, and reluctantly sneaks away before daybreak. Heartbroken, Laurie realizes that, though now alone, it is still time for her to go. She bids farewell to the farm, and sets off into the unknown. A weeping Ma Moss turns to her younger daughter, Beth, and the cycle of life continues. A vivid portrait of the rural Midwest, The Tender Land is painted richly with Copland’s quintessentially American harmonies and tells a beautiful and simple story of a young woman’s coming of age. !5 The Composer: Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (1900—1990) was one of the most respected American classical composers of the twentieth century. By incorporating popular forms of American music such as jazz and folk into his compositions, he created pieces both exceptional and innovative. More than two decades after his death, Copland’s life and work continue to inspire many of America’s young composers. Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1900. At the age of sixteen he went to Manhattan to study with Rubin Goldmark, a Aaron Copland respected private music instructor who taught Copland the fundamentals of counterpoint and composition. At the age of twenty, he left New York for the Summer School of Music for American Students at Fountainebleau, France. In France, Copland found a musical community unlike any he had known. He studied under the legendary pedagogue, Nadia Boulanger, from 1921-24, and she became one of the most important influences on his compositional career. It was through Boulanger that Copland's first composition was published: a work for piano solo, The Cat and the Mouse ("Scherzo Humoristique"), it was completed in March 1920, and published by Durand and Sons in 1921. While in Europe, Copeland met many of the important artists of the time, including the famous composer Serge Koussevitsky, who requested that Copland write a piece for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The piece, “Symphony for Organ and Orchestra” (1925), was Copland’s entry into the life of professional American music. He followed this with “Music for the Theater” (1925) and “Piano Concerto” (1926), both of which relied heavily on the jazz idioms of the time. For Copland, jazz was the first genuinely American musical movement. From jazz he hoped to draw the inspiration for a new type of symphonic music, one that could distinguish itself from the music of Europe. !6 In the late 1920s, with his friend Roger Sessions, he began the Copland-Sessions concerts, dedicated to presenting the works of young composers. By the mid-1930s Copland had become not only one of the most popular composers in the country, but a leader of the community of American classical musicians. In his search for the widest audience, Copland began composing for the movies and ballet. Among his most popular compositions for film are those for “Of Mice and Men” (1939), “Our Town” (1940), and “The Heiress” (1949), which won him an Academy Award for best score. He composed scores for a number of ballets, including two of the most popular of the time: Agnes DeMille’s Rodeo (1942) and Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring (1944), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.