Frederick Douglass is a full-length opera written and composed by Dorothy Rudd Moore. It is 180 minutes in duration and consists of three acts.[1] The world premiere took place in 1985 at City College of New York's Aaron Davis Hall.[2] The opera was commissioned by Opera Ebony.[3]

Moore expressed that she chose to write the opera because Frederick Douglass had always interested her.[4] She researched his life, wrote the libretto, the composition and the orchestration for the work, which took eight years to complete.[4] The opera is based on his biography, and is less of a dramatic work than a "series of musical meditations on love, death, religion, political oppression and eventual deliverance."[2]

The plot of the opera revolves around Douglass's second marriage, the Freedman's Savings Bank collapse and his mission to Haiti.[5] Moore's music contains elements of nineteenth-century melodies and Haitian folk music.[5] The opera has a mixed-race cast and includes a ballet.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Frederick Douglass, An Opera in 3 Acts". American Composers Alliance. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  2. ^ a b Page, Tim (30 June 1985). "Opera World Premier of 'Frederick Douglass'". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  3. ^ Smith, Jessie Carney; Bracks, Lean'tin; Wynn, Linda T., eds. (2015). The Complete Encyclopedia of African American History. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9781578595846.
  4. ^ a b c Cheatham, Wallace (1997). Dialogues on Opera and the African-American Experience. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 70–71. ISBN 0810831473.
  5. ^ a b Griffel, Margaret Ross (2013). Operas in English: A Dictionary (Revised ed.). Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 183. ISBN 9780810883253.

External links

Frederick Douglass
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