ROLE OF ABIGAIL WILLIAMS IN ROBERT WARD'S THE CRUCIBLE by MELANIE ERIN KRUEGER B.Mus., Wilfrid Laurier University, 1998 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF MUSIC in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (School of Music) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April 2001 © Melanie. Erin Krueger 2 001 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada DE-6 (2/88) UBCMUSIC The Crucible An opera in four acts based on the play by Arthur Miller Music by Robert Ward Libretto by Bernard Stambler Willi The UIK: Opera r.ii.scnible & The UBC Symphony Orchestra Conductor - Jesse Read Stage Director - Nancy Hermiston Musical Director - Richard Epp Set & Costume Design by Alessia Carpoca Light Design by Jeremy Baxter ITicrc will be one twenty-minute intermission Chan Shun Concert Hall March 1, 2, 3,4, 2001 THIS PRESENTATION IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS ASSISTANCE THROUGH THE CHAN ENDOWMENT FUND OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA The Crucible An opera in four acts based on the play by Arthur Miller Music by Robert Ward Libretto by Bernard Stambler with The UBC Opera Ensemble & The UBC Symphony Orchestra Conductor - Jesse Read Stage Director - Nancy Hermiston Musical Director - Richard Epp Set & Costume Design by Alessia Carpoca Light Design by Jeremy Baxter There will be one twenty-minute intermission Chan Shun Concert Hall March 1, 2, 3,4, 2001 THIS PRESENTATION IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS ASSISTANCE THROUGH THE CHAN ENDOWMENT FUND OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA A Message from the Conductor and Director of the UBC School of Music Welcome to a memorable night of opera! I hope you will savor this evening, the ideal kind of theatre experience, an opera based on a great piece of dramatic art-Arthur Miller's striking play, a score from a legendary composer who has graced us with his pres• ence, a sharply-defined visual and theatrical setting which com• pliments and supports the story, all performed by the singers and musicians from what is emerging as the most exciting opera train• ing program in Canada! We are proud of this production, excited that UBC, the School of Music and the Department of Theatre, film and Creative Writing can collaborate again to bring you into its midst. As the Director of the School and conductor ol tonight's performance, I share your excitement, enthusiasm and sense of appreciation for the talent and dedication necessary to give birth to such a mov• ing and dramatic production. Thank you tor joining us. Warm wishes, Jesse Read - Conductor, Director UBC School of Music A Message from the Head of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing The Performing Arts are too often assumed to be just enter• tainment. Theatre in all its forms, has been a crucial part of our societal development, with an importance far beyond the merely diversionary. The Crucible is a case in point. In 1950, the play was Arthur Miller's response to a social injus• tice, and it gave us a picture of how we behave in the throes of political hysteria. Robert Ward's operatic work makes this picture even more poignant and more accessible to an even broader audience. The De• partment ol Theatre, film and Creative Writing is proud to join with the Opera Program to present this classic, relevant and important story. Ron Fedoruk - Head of Theatre, Hi!m and Creative Writing, UBC About theComposer Robert Ward was born in 1917 in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied with Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers at the Eastman School of Music; with Frederick Jacobi, Bernard Wagenaar, Albert Stoessel and Edgar Schenkman at the Juilliard Graduate School, and with Aaron Copland at the Berkshire Music Center. He has served on the faculties of Queens College, Columbia University, and the Juilliard School of Music where he was also Assistant to the President from 1952 to 1956. He was the Director of the Third Street Music School Settlement from 1952 to 1955. He was Executive Vice-Presi• dent and Managing Editor of Galaxy Music Corporation and Highgate Press until 1967 when he became President of the North Carolina School of the Arts. Until his retire• ment in 1987, he was the Mary Duke Biddle Professor of Music at Duke University. Mr. Ward's large and distinguished musical creation has, in large measure, been com• missioned by the New York City Opera, Broadcast Music. Inc., the New York Philhar• monic, the Friends of Dumbarton Oaks, the Juilliard Musical foundation, and many others. His opera, The Crucible, based on the play by Arthur Miller, won both the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Music Critics Circle Citation for the same year. A Message from the Director Robert Ward's opera The Crucible gives us pause to think of our own human strengths and weaknesses. We have chosen to give the piece no fixed period as the issues addressed by this very moving work arc ones which have remained with us long before and long after those Puritan days of Salem. One needs only to look into our history books, listen to the 6:00 o'clock news, enter some schools, universities, colleges or even some courts and churches to sec that mass hysteria, mob mentality, persecution, jealousy, hatred, sexual repression, and the darker sides of power and love are as present now as they were in Salem or in Miller's 1950 U.S society. Through this most disturbing and inspiring work both Millet and Ward provide us with the opportunity to find, as does John Proctor, "that shred of goodness" in ourselves. When asked what the opera has to say to modern audiences, Robert Ward re• plied: "We think events like the Salem witch trials or the McCarthy hearings can't happen again, but as we look around us in the world, we see the same conditions recur again and again." It is a great honour and privilege to have the composer with us for this produc• tion. Nancy Hermiston Director UBC Opera Ensemble UBC OPERA ENSEMBLE The Opera Ensemble and 1 would like to thank you for your continued sup• port and interest. The 2000/2001 season has been a most exciting and active one. Our collaboration with the Opera blouse in Usti nad Labcm, Czech Republic, was a most successful and rewarding venture. A highlight of our European sched• ule was our performances of Giirtnerin aus Liebe in the Stovosky Theatre, Prague, where Mozart premiered his Don Giovanni. A further consequence of this venture was the collaboration between the Usti Opera House and the Opera Ensemble in this production of The Crucible. On Sept. 21, 2001 the Opera House in Usti will present the Czech premiere ol The Crucible with this production featuring a Czcch/UBC Opera Ensemble cast. We return to Usti in May and June to perform three operas, Gounod's, Faust in French, Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen in Czech, and Mozart's Gdrtnerin aus Liebe in German, internationally renowned conductor David Aglcr will con• duct the Faust performances while Usti's General Music Director; Norbert Baxa will lead the Vixen and Gdrtnerin. The Ensemble will complete its tour at the International Festival for Young Opera Singers in the University town of Erlangen, Germany with a performance of Gdrtnerin aus Liebe on July 1, Canada Day. Along with their colleagues from Usti the Ensemble will share this Festival with singers from Italy and Germany. Our season has also included the annual David Spencer Memorial concert, our Christmas production of Hansel and Gretel, many community concerts and a tour ro Cranbrook, B.C. with our shortened school version of Hansel and Gretel, where approximately 1500 children attended our performances. In addition, we participated with Italy's Ruggiero Ensemble in a production of Monteverdi's // Ritorno d'Ulisse di Patria. After The Crucible we will join the Choral Union and Wind Symphony for Operatic excerpts Mar. 23 & 24 and present three evenings of Operatic Bon Bons on Apr. 20, 21, & 22 in the Old Auditorium, featuring excerpts from Faust, Olcllo, Romeo and Juliette, Hamlet and Sir John ln Love, with guest directors, Irving Guttman and Mari Hahn. - Nancy Hermiston THE OPERA ENSEMBLE EXECUTIVE RHONWEN ADAMS ALEXIS BARTHELEMY MELISSA BENCIC KATY BOWEN-ROBERTS NEEMA BICKERSTETH JEANINE FYNN RHOSLYN JONES RILEY MCMITCHELL JANET VANDERTOL JUSTIN WELSH The Crucible by Robert Ward Cast March 1 & 3 March 2 & 4 Betty Parris Katy Bowen-Roberts Dory Haylcy Reverend Parris Russell Robson Phillip Grant Tituba Beverly McArthur Katherine Landry Abigail Williams Melanie Krucger Mari Flalin Ann Putnam Shauna Martin Cindy Koistincn Thomas Putnam Elio Catana Krzysztof Biernacki Rebecca Nurse Jeanine Fynn Suzanne Abbott Francis Nurse Joel Klein Pierre Hungr Giles Corey Craig Johnson Neil Wright John Proctor *Gil Anderson *Andrew Greenwood Reverend Hale David'Jefferies Shae Apland Elizabeth Proctor Alexis Barthelemy Sandra Stringer Mary Warren Maaike deBruyn[March lst| Neema Bickersteth Sheila Christie [March 3rd] Ezekiel Cheever Ian Paul Alex Good Judge Danforth Neil Wright Philippe Castagner Sarah Good Elaine Lee _ Elizabeth Cushnie Ruth