| 词条 | Treemonisha |
| 释义 |
The opera was largely unknown before its first complete performance in 1972. Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1977 for Treemonisha. The performance was called a "semimiracle" by music historian Gilbert Chase, who said Treemonisha "bestowed its creative vitality and moral message upon many thousands of delighted listeners and viewers" when it was recreated.[3] The musical style of the opera is the popular romantic one of the early 20th century. It has been described as "charming and piquant and ... deeply moving",[2] with elements of black folk songs and dances, including a kind of pre-blues music, spirituals, and a call-and-response style scene featuring a preacher and congregation.[4] The opera celebrates African-American music and culture while stressing that education is the salvation of the Negro race. The heroine and symbolic educator is Treemonisha, who runs into trouble with a local band of conjurers, who kidnap her.[2] {{TOC limit}}HistoryJoplin completed Treemonisha in 1910, and paid for a piano-vocal score to be published in 1911.[5] At the time of the publication, he sent a copy of the score to the American Musician and Art Journal. Treemonisha received a glowing, full-page review in the June issue.[6] The review said it was an "entirely new phase of musical art and... a thoroughly American opera (style)."[5] this affirmed Joplin's goal of creating a distinctive form of African-American opera.[6] Despite this endorsement, the opera was never fully staged during his lifetime. Its sole performance was a concert read-through in 1915 with Joplin at the piano, at the Lincoln Theater in Harlem, New York, paid for by Joplin.[1] One of Joplin's friends, Sam Patterson, described this performance as "thin and unconvincing, little better than a rehearsal... its special quality (would have been) lost on the typical Harlem audience (that was) sophisticated enough to reject their folk past but not sufficiently so to relish a return to it".[7] Aside from a concert-style performance in 1915 of the ballet Frolic of the Bears from Act II, by the Martin-Smith Music School,[8] the opera was forgotten until 1970, when the score was rediscovered. On October 22, 1971, excerpts from Treemonisha were presented in concert form at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with musical performances by William Bolcom, Joshua Rifkin and Mary Lou Williams supporting a group of singers.[9] The world premiere took place on January 27, 1972, as a joint production of the music department of Morehouse College and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia, using the orchestration by T. J. Anderson. The performance was directed by Katherine Dunham, former head of a noted African-American dance company in her own name, and conducted by Robert Shaw. He is one of the first major American conductors to hire both black and white singers for his chorale. The production was well received by both audiences and critics.[2] The orchestration notes for Treemonisha have been completely lost, as has Joplin's first opera A Guest of Honor (1903). Subsequent performances have been produced using orchestrations created by a variety of composers, including T. J. Anderson, Gunther Schuller, and most recently, Rick Benjamin. Since its premiere, Treemonisha has been performed all over the United States, at venues such as the Houston Grand Opera (twice, once with Schuller's 1982 orchestration), the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and in 1975 at the Uris Theatre on Broadway, to overwhelming critical and public acclaim. Opera historian Elise Kirk noted that "the opera slumbered in oblivion for more than half a century before making a triumphant Broadway debut. It was also recorded commercially in its entirety – the earliest African American opera to achieve that distinction and the earliest to receive widespread modern recognition and performance."[10] InspirationJoplin's ambition was for Treemonisha to be both a serious opera in the European tradition and an entertaining piece of music. He drew on the ragtime idiom only in the dance episodes.[3] Historians have speculated that Joplin's second wife, Freddie Alexander, may have inspired the opera.[11] Like the title character, she was educated, well-read, and known to be a proponent of women's rights and African-American culture.[12] Joplin set the work in September 1884, the month and year of Alexander's birth, which contributes to that theory.[13] Joplin biographer Edward A. Berlin has said that Treemonisha may have expressed other aspects of Joplin's life. Berlin said that the opera was "a tribute to [Freddie, his second wife] the woman he loved, a woman other biographers never even mentioned."[14] He also notes that in the opera, the title character receives her education in a white woman's home. Berlin and other music historians, along with Joplin's widow, have noted similarities between this element of the opera's story and Joplin's own childhood music and other lessons with Julius Weiss. Treemonisha, the protagonist of the opera, is a black teenager who was educated by a white woman, "just as Joplin received his education from a white music teacher".[15] Historian Larry Wolz agrees, noting that the "influence of mid-nineteenth-century German operatic style" is quite obvious in Treemonisha, which he attributes to Joplin learning from Weiss.[16] Berlin notes that Lottie Joplin (the composer's third wife) saw a connection between the character Treemonisha's wish to lead her people out of ignorance, and a similar desire in the composer. Lottie Joplin also describes Treemonisha as a spirit who would speak to him while Scott Joplin played the piano, and she would "shape" the composition. "She'd tell him secrets. She'd tell him the past and the future," said Lottie Joplin.[14] Treemonisha was an entity present while the piece was being created and was part of the process.[14] At the time of the opera's publication in 1911, the American Musician and Art Journal praised it as "an entirely new form of operatic art".[17] Later critics have also praised the opera as occupying a special place in American history, with its heroine "a startlingly early voice for modern civil rights causes, notably the importance of education and knowledge to African American advancement."[18] Curtis's conclusion is similar: "In the end, Treemonisha offered a celebration of literacy, learning, hard work, and community solidarity as the best formula for advancing the race."[19] Berlin describes it as a "fine opera, certainly more interesting than most operas then being written in the United States". By contrast, he says that Joplin's libretto showed the composer "was not a competent dramatist" and that the libretto was not of the same quality as the music.[20] Plot synopsisTreemonisha takes place in September 1884 on a former slave plantation in an isolated forest, between Texarkana, Texas (Joplin's childhood town) and the Red River in Arkansas. Treemonisha is a young freedwoman. After being taught to read by a white woman, she leads her community against the influence of conjurers, who are shown as preying on ignorance and superstition. Treemonisha is abducted and is about to be thrown into a wasps' nest when her friend Remus rescues her. The community realizes the value of education and the liability of their ignorance before choosing her as their teacher and leader.[19][21][22]Characters
Original cast1972 Atlanta World Premiere[1]
Musical numbersAct 1
Critical appraisalJoplin wrote both the score and the libretto for the opera, which largely follows the form of European opera with many conventional arias, ensembles and choruses. In addition the themes of superstition and mysticism, which are evident in Treemonisha, are common in the operatic tradition. Certain aspects of the plot are similar to devices in the work of the German composer Richard Wagner (of which Joplin was aware); a sacred tree under which Treemonisha is found recalls the tree from which Siegmund takes his enchanted sword in Die Walküre. The recounting of the heroine's origins echos aspects of the opera Siegfried. African-American folk tales also influence the story; for instance, the wasp nest incident is similar to the story of Br'er Rabbit and the briar patch.[23] Treemonisha is not a ragtime opera. Joplin used the styles of ragtime and other black music sparingly, to convey "racial character"; but he composed more music that reflected that of his childhood at the end of the 19th century. The opera has been seen as a valuable record of such rural Southern black music from the 1870s–1890s, re-created by a "skilled and sensitive participant".[24]Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1976 for Treemonisha. Staged versionsNorth AmericaAtlanta Symphony and Morehouse Glee ClubThe world premiere of Treemonisha was presented in 1972 by the Atlanta Symphony,[25] under Robert Shaw, and the Morehouse Glee Club, under Wendell Whalum, the production's musical director.[26] Katherine Dunham was stage director.[27] Houston Grand OperaIn 1976 the Houston Grand Opera first staged Treemonisha under music director Chris Nance and stage director Frank Corsaro. In 1982 the company revived that staging and produced a video of the production for television by Sidney Smith. This used the Schuller orchestration and starred Carmen Balthrop as Treemonisha, Delores Ivory as Monisha, and Obba Babatundé as Zodzetrick. Deutsche Grammophon had previously released the audio version of this production on LPs in 1976. The University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignA fully orchestrated and costumed production of Treemonisha was staged in February 1991 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[28] The Paragon Ragtime OrchestraIn June 2003 Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra premiered their version of Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco. An extensively annotated 204-page book and two-CD recording of Benjamin's orchestration was released in 2011.[29][30] EuropeEurope saw staged versions in Venice (Italy), Helsinki (Finland) and Gießen (Germany). After the German premiere at the Stadttheater Gießen in 1984,[31] Germany saw another stage version at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden in April 2015.[32] AdaptationsIn 1997, Aaron Robinson conducted Treemonisha: The Concert Version at the Rockport Opera House in Rockport, Maine, with a new libretto by Judith Kurtz Bogdanove.[33] A performance of three songs from Treemonisha (Nos. 4, 27, and 18) took place at the Berlin University of the Arts on June 17, 2009. A new arrangement for singers and brass band (4 trumpets, 4 trombones, French horn, tuba) had been commissioned from German composer Stefan Beyer.[34] In April 2010, a production was mounted in Paris, France, at the Théâtre du Châtelet.[35] In June 2008 Sue Keller produced and arranged an abridged orchestral-choral rendition of Treemonisha. The production was commissioned by the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation,[36] which hosts the week-long ragtime piano extravaganza held annually in Sedalia, Missouri. The original piano-vocal music book published by Scott Joplin in 1911 was used as a starting point for orchestration. The Scott Joplin publication is available from The Library of Congress.[37] A suite from Treemonisha arranged by Gunther Schuller was performed as part of The Rest Is Noise season at London's South Bank in 2013.[38] ReferencesNotes1. ^1 2 {{cite web|title=Treemonisha|website=operaam.org|accessdate=September 13, 2005|url=http://www.operaam.org/encore/tree.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050218222938/http://www.operaam.org/encore/tree.htm|archivedate=February 18, 2005}} 2. ^1 2 3 Southern (1997), p. 537 3. ^1 Chase, p. 545 4. ^Southern (1997), pp. 537–540 5. ^1 Chase, p. 546 6. ^1 {{cite web|title=Scott Joplin|work=Vance's Fantastic Classic Black Music Hall of Fame|url=http://www.theatredance.com/muz23.html|accessdate=September 13, 2005}} 7. ^Southern (1997), p. 324; Southern cites Rudi Blesh, "Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist", The Collected Works of Scott Joplin (New York, 1971), p. xxxix 8. ^Center for Black Music Research Digest 9. ^Nancy R. Ping-Robbins, Scott Joplin: A Guide to Research (New York: Garland, 1998), p. 289. {{ISBN|0-8240-8399-7}}. 10. ^Kirk (2001), p. 189 11. ^Berlin (1996) pp. 207–8. 12. ^Kenny Blacklock, "Scott Joplin", The Unconservatory website. Accessed 11 September 2017. 13. ^Berlin (1996) pp. 207–8. 14. ^1 2 Berlin (1996), pp. 207–208 15. ^Berlin (1996), p. 205. 16. ^Wolz, Larry."Julius Weiss", Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, accessed November 24, 2018 17. ^Berlin (1996) p. 202. 18. ^Kirk (2001) p. 194. 19. ^1 Christensen (1999) p. 444. 20. ^Berlin (1996) pp. 202–203. 21. ^Berlin (1996) p. 203. 22. ^Crawford (2001) p. 545. 23. ^Berlin (1996) pp. 203–4. 24. ^Berlin (1996) pp. 202 & 204. 25. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.atlantasymphony.org/About/RobertShaw.aspx|title=The Legacy of Robert Shaw, Music Director (1967–1988)|first=Nick|last=Jones|publisher=Atlanta Symphony Orchestra|date=1999|accessdate=February 22, 2016}} 26. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/wendell-whalum-choral-music-legend|title=Wendell Whalum, a choral music legend|publisher=African-American Registry|date=2013|accessdate=February 22, 2016}} 27. ^{{cite web|url=http://kdcah.org/katherine-dunham-biography|title=Katherine Dunham biography (1909–2006)|publisher=The Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts & Humanities|date=2011|accessdate=February 22, 2016}} 28. ^"A Musical Miracle. Joplin's Little-known Treemonisha Is A One-of-a-kind Opera.", Chicago Tribune, February 10, 1991] 29. ^"How Joplin heard America singing" by Jesse Hamlin, San Francisco Chronicle, June 21, 2003 30. ^Stern Grove Festival Web Site 31. ^Nancy R. Ping Robbins, Guy Marco: Scott Joplin: A Guide to Research. Routledge, 2014, [https://books.google.de/books?id=z0bXAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA299 p. 299] 32. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.staatsschauspiel-dresden.de/spielplan/premieren_urauffuehrungen/treemonisha/|title=Treemonisha Oper mit getanzten Szenen|publisher=Staatsschauspiel Dresden|accessdate=26 April 2015}} 33. ^{{cite news|last=Martin|first=Lucy|date=November 8, 1997|title=Making a Joyful Noise with Joplin (Entertainment section)|newspaper=Lincoln County News|location=Damariscotta, Maine}} 34. ^"Brass meets Musical" – Treemonisha (Arr. Stefan Beyer) in Berlin June 2009 35. ^"Treemonisha in Paris – Scott Joplin's rarely performed opera gets a rousing ovation in the City of Lights" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100410021737/http://www.theroot.com/views/treemonisha-paris |date=2010-04-10 }} 36. ^Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation 37. ^Library of Congress scan of the entire 246-page Treemonisha piano/vocal sheet music book as published by Scott Joplin (1911) 38. ^{{cite web|title=The Rest is Noise: American mavericks|url=http://www.timeout.com/london/music/the-rest-is-noise-american-mavericks|publisher=Time Out}} Sources
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