The Mother of Us All
Encyclopedia
The Mother of Us All is an opera by Virgil Thomson
to a libretto
by Gertrude Stein
. It chronicles the life of Susan B. Anthony
, one of the major figures in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States
. In fanciful style, it brings together characters, fictional and non-fictional, from different periods of American history.
at Columbia University
’s Branders Matthews Hall with soprano Dorothy Dow as Susan B. Anthony. Soprano Shirlee Emmons
was awarded an Obie Award
for her portrayal of Susan B. Anthony in the 1956 Off-Broadway
production. The Santa Fe Opera
mounted the work in 1976 and released a recording of the work the following year on the New World Records label. The European premiere took place in Kensington
Town Hall in London on 26 June 1979. The New York City Opera
staged a production in 2000 with Lauren Flanigan
as Susan B. Anthony. In 2003, San Francisco Opera
opened its 80th anniversary season with a new production of The Mother of Us All, Luana De Vol assuming the role of Susan B. Anthony for the first time.
Scene 2. A political meeting takes place, at which Webster, Johnson, Adams, Grant, Comstock, and Stevens are all present. Jo the Loiterer and Chris the Citizen also appear, mocking the politicians’ solemnity. Susan B. introduces herself to the assembly, and she and Daniel Webster debate.
Scene 3. A public square in front of Susan B. Anthony’s house. Thaddeus Stevens argues with Andrew Johnson; there is a flowery love scene between John Adams and Constance Fletcher. Jenny Reefer begins waltzing with Herman Atlan, and everyone joins in the dance.
Scene 4. Susan B. Anthony meditates on the difficulties of her mission.
Scene 5. Jo the Loiterer and Indiana Elliot are to be married. As the wedding party gathers, various episodes unfold. John Adams courts Constance Fletcher, Daniel Webster (who is to perform the ceremony) addresses Angel More in sentimental language. Indiana’s brother bursts in, wishing to prevent the marriage, and Susan B. explains what marriage means to women. General Grant calls for order, and Jo teases him for his pomposity. It seems that the wedding is all but forgotten, but finally Daniel Webster blesses the couple and Susan B. foretells that all of their children, men and women, will have the vote.
Scene 2. The meeting has taken place and Susan B. returns home triumphantly. She has spoken so convincingly that the politicians, now afraid of the women’s suffrage movement, have written the word “male” into the Constitution in order to make it impossible for women to vote.
Indiana Elliot has decided to take Jo’s last name, and he will take hers; they will become Jo Elliot and Indiana Loiterer. Everyone congratulates Susan B. for her leadership.
Scene 3 (Epilogue). Some years later, a statue of Susan B. Anthony is to be unveiled at the U. S. Capitol. The characters gather for the ceremony, with Anne as guest of honor. Susan B. enters as a ghost, though Anne does not see her. Constance Fletcher appears, now almost blind. Other characters talk about woman suffrage, or burst in tipsily. The ceremony threatens to get out of hand. Suddenly, Virgil T. unveils the statue. The women lay wreaths at the base of the pedestal. All slowly depart. Alone, Susan B. Anthony (as the statue) sings of the struggles and lessons of her long life.
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
to a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
. It chronicles the life of Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
, one of the major figures in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States
History of women's suffrage in the United States
Woman suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, at state and local levels, during the 19th Century and early 20th Century, culminating in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided: "The right of citizens of the United States to...
. In fanciful style, it brings together characters, fictional and non-fictional, from different periods of American history.
Performance history
The opera premiered on 7 May 19471947 in music
-Events:*August 7 – Carlo Bergonzi makes his professional debut as Schaunard in La Bohème at the Arena Argentina in Catania.*October – Enrico De Angelis leaves Quartetto Cetra to join the army...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
’s Branders Matthews Hall with soprano Dorothy Dow as Susan B. Anthony. Soprano Shirlee Emmons
Shirlee Emmons
Shirlee Emmons was an American classical soprano, voice teacher, and author on vocal pedagogy. She began her career in the early 1940s as a concert soprano, eventually becoming one of the original singers in the Robert Shaw Chorale in 1948. She branched out into opera in the 1950s; performing...
was awarded an Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for her portrayal of Susan B. Anthony in the 1956 Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
production. The Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
mounted the work in 1976 and released a recording of the work the following year on the New World Records label. The European premiere took place in Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
Town Hall in London on 26 June 1979. The New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
staged a production in 2000 with Lauren Flanigan
Lauren Flanigan
Lauren Flanigan is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the 1980s. She has enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership with the New York City Opera, appearing with the company almost every year since 1990...
as Susan B. Anthony. In 2003, San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
opened its 80th anniversary season with a new production of The Mother of Us All, Luana De Vol assuming the role of Susan B. Anthony for the first time.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast 7 May 1947 (Conductor: Otto Luening Otto Luening Otto Clarence Luening was a German-American composer and conductor, and an early pioneer of tape music and electronic music.... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Susan B. Anthony | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... or dramatic soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Dorothy Dow Dorothy Dow Dorothy Dow was an American classical soprano who had an active international career in concerts, operas, and recitals during the 1940s through the 1960s. A dramatic soprano with an imposing stage presence, she had an opulent voice that she used with great expressiveness... |
| Anne | contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
Belva Kibler |
| Gertrude S. | soprano | Hazel Gravell |
| Virgil T. | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Robert Grooters |
| Daniel Webster | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Bertram Rowe |
| Andrew Johnson | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
|
| Thaddeus Stevens | tenor | Alfred Kunz |
| Jo the Loiterer | tenor | William Horne |
| Chris the Citizen | baritone | |
| Indiana Elliot | contralto | Ruth Krug |
| Angel More | soprano | Carolyn Blakeslee |
| Henrietta M. | soprano | Teresa Stich-Randall Teresa Stich-Randall Teresa Stich-Randall was a European-based American soprano opera singer.-Biography:Teresa Stich-Randall was born in New Hartford, Connecticut in 1927 and studied at The Hartt School in West Hartford.... |
| Henry B. | bass-baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende... |
|
| Anthony Comstock | bass | |
| John Adams, presumably John Quincy Adams | tenor | Robert Sprecher |
| Constance Fletcher | mezzo-soprano | Alice Howland |
| Gloster Heming | baritone | |
| Isabel Wentworth | mezzo-soprano | |
| Anna Hope | contralto | Carlton Sunday |
| Lillian Russell | soprano | Nancy Reid |
| Jenny Reefer | mezzo-soprano | Dianna Herman |
| Ulysses S. Grant | bass-baritone | Everett Anderson |
| Herman Atlan | high baritone | |
| Donald Gallup | baritone | |
| A.A. and T.T., page boys or postillions | ||
| Negro Man and Negro Woman | ||
| Indiana Elliot’s Brother | bass-baritone |
Synopsis
Stein’s text for The Mother of Us All does not describe details of staging. Therefore, Thomson’s friend Maurice Grosser devised a scenario to facilitate staging the opera. Though Grosser stated that other scenarios were equally possible, his scenario is published in the printed score; this synopsis is based on it.Act 1
Scene 1. Susan B. Anthony and her devoted companion Anne are shown at home. Anne is knitting; Susan B. is pasting clippings into a scrapbook. Gertrude S. and Virgil T. also appear as narrators.Scene 2. A political meeting takes place, at which Webster, Johnson, Adams, Grant, Comstock, and Stevens are all present. Jo the Loiterer and Chris the Citizen also appear, mocking the politicians’ solemnity. Susan B. introduces herself to the assembly, and she and Daniel Webster debate.
Scene 3. A public square in front of Susan B. Anthony’s house. Thaddeus Stevens argues with Andrew Johnson; there is a flowery love scene between John Adams and Constance Fletcher. Jenny Reefer begins waltzing with Herman Atlan, and everyone joins in the dance.
Scene 4. Susan B. Anthony meditates on the difficulties of her mission.
Scene 5. Jo the Loiterer and Indiana Elliot are to be married. As the wedding party gathers, various episodes unfold. John Adams courts Constance Fletcher, Daniel Webster (who is to perform the ceremony) addresses Angel More in sentimental language. Indiana’s brother bursts in, wishing to prevent the marriage, and Susan B. explains what marriage means to women. General Grant calls for order, and Jo teases him for his pomposity. It seems that the wedding is all but forgotten, but finally Daniel Webster blesses the couple and Susan B. foretells that all of their children, men and women, will have the vote.
Act 2
Scene 1. Susan B.’s home. Susan B. is doing housework when she learns that she will be asked to address a political meeting. Jo the Loiterer complains that Indiana Elliot refuses to take his last name. When Susan B. is invited to speak, she declines, then agrees, hesitates again, but finally goes off to the meeting.Scene 2. The meeting has taken place and Susan B. returns home triumphantly. She has spoken so convincingly that the politicians, now afraid of the women’s suffrage movement, have written the word “male” into the Constitution in order to make it impossible for women to vote.
Indiana Elliot has decided to take Jo’s last name, and he will take hers; they will become Jo Elliot and Indiana Loiterer. Everyone congratulates Susan B. for her leadership.
Scene 3 (Epilogue). Some years later, a statue of Susan B. Anthony is to be unveiled at the U. S. Capitol. The characters gather for the ceremony, with Anne as guest of honor. Susan B. enters as a ghost, though Anne does not see her. Constance Fletcher appears, now almost blind. Other characters talk about woman suffrage, or burst in tipsily. The ceremony threatens to get out of hand. Suddenly, Virgil T. unveils the statue. The women lay wreaths at the base of the pedestal. All slowly depart. Alone, Susan B. Anthony (as the statue) sings of the struggles and lessons of her long life.
Recordings
- Virgil ThomsonVirgil ThomsonVirgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
: The Mother of Us All (Karen Beck, Sondra Stowe, Jimmie Lu Null, William LewisWilliam Lewis (tenor)William L. Lewis is an American operatic tenor and academic.-Biography:William Lewis was educated at the University of Colorado, Texas Christian University and New York University. He began his career as a writer and an athlete before deciding to pursue a career in opera...
, Steven Loewengart, Thomas Parker, Marla McDaniels, D'Artagnan Petty, Stephen Bryant, Ashley Putnam, et al.; Conductor: Raymond LeppardRaymond LeppardRaymond "Def" Leppard, CBE is a British conductor and harpsichordist.He was born in London and grew up in Bath, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School...
; Santa Fe OperaSanta Fe OperaThe Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
Orchestra and Chorus. Recorded in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1977. Label: New World Records