Trouble in Tahiti
Encyclopedia
Trouble in Tahiti is a one-act opera in seven scenes composed by Leonard Bernstein
with an English
libretto
by the composer. The opera received its first performance on 12 June 1952 at Berstein's Festival of the Creative Arts on the campus of Brandeis University
in Waltham, Massachusetts
to an audience of nearly 3,000 people. The work is about 40 minutes long. The NBC Opera Theatre
subsequently presented the opera on television in November 1952; a production which marked mezzo-soprano Beverly Wolff
's professional debut in the role of Dinah. Wolff later reprised the role in the New York City Opera
's first staging of the work in 1958. Bernstein's later opera, A Quiet Place
(1983), incorporates Trouble in Tahiti in the form of an extended flashback, and both versions are regularly performed worldwide.
's earlier vernacular
works and of Bernstein's later writing in West Side Story, while the jazzy interludes harken back to the score Bernstein wrote for On the Town.
Bernstein tried to make his opera as real as possible. He wanted everything about it to be believable. He even went to great lengths to write in language that would be heard in everyday speech during that time. “All the music [in Trouble in Tahiti] derives from American vernacular roots, as do the words. And the words are very carefully set so that they will sound in the American cadence and with the American kind of syncopated, almost slurred quality”
While it was rumored that the troubled young couple was based on Leonard Bernstein himself and his new bride, Felicia Monteleagre, there is another, perhaps more plausible, theory that the story is based on the relationship of Bernstein’s own mother and father.
Little occurs in terms of plot. Trouble in Tahiti is the story of one day in the life of two desperately unhappy people, lonely, longing for love, and unable to communicate. At the end of the opera, Sam and Dinah are left in essentially the same position as they were when the opera began, with only a bleak hope of reconciliation.
The opera also features a chorus consisting of three people; Bernstein refers to them as "A Greek chorus born of the radio commercial". They sing in quasi-gibberish, sounding like an advertising jingle, about an idyllic suburban middle class-life of the American 1950s. They pop up throughout the opera to sing of the perfect suburban family life born of the American dream, only to be cut off by a fight between the two or a miserable lament.
The opera opens with a happy tune, as the chorus sings of 1950s suburban life and names several suburban communities that this story might be taking place in. The action begins in the middle of the couple's breakfast, with a quarrel in progress. Dinah accuses Sam of indiscretions with his secretary: Sam angrily dismisses this as Dinah's jealous imagination. Dinah reminds Sam that their son Junior has a school play that day, but Sam says he can't go because of his handball tournament. Dinah pleads that "a woman needs so little--a little feeling of hope." Sam inwardly begs Dinah for some kindness. The scene ends with Sam storming out of the house and off to work.
In the next scene, a charming Sam is shown in his office dealing with clients on the telephone. After each client Sam speaks to, the chorus sings to him of his genius and business skills.
The action moves to a psychiatrist’s office. Distraught, Dinah tells her (unseen) doctor of the dream she had the previous night, in which she is standing in a garden where all the plants have “gone to seed”. She then hears her father's voice calling to her to leave the garden immediately. She wants to leave but seems to be lost. There is no sign or any path to tell her how to get away. Then she hears a second voice. It is very hard to hear but the words are now burned into her memory. The lovely sound of this voice intrigues her and she runs towards it. Everything around her becomes more frightening with every step. The ground starts to give way but she continues on.
The action moves back to Sam in his office, who first asks his (unseen) secretary if he has ever made a pass at her, and, surprised to be answered in the affirmative, then tells hers her that it was "an accident," and suggests she should forget that it ever happened.
Dinah continues the story of her dream. Desire has now taken over her. All she wants is to touch the face and hand of this mysterious voice. She finally sees his face and once again goes running to him. When she finally approaches him he vanishes leaving her in the garden and she awakes.
Dinah leaves her doctor’s office and bumps into Sam on the street. Each lies to the other about a lunch date with someone else as an excuse to not eat together. They part, but are stopped abruptly by the realization of what just took place. Each alone, they reminisce about the days when they were happy and ask, "Why did I have to lie?". Both then leave the stage with regret to go have lunch in solitude.
The chorus
sings of the joys of married life. We see Sam at his gym where he sings an aria, having just won his handball tournament.
Dinah is next seen in a hat shop. She come in and sings of a "terrible" movie she just saw entitled “Trouble in Tahiti”. She goes into great detail, mocking the ridiculous plot of the movie, but as she does she is caught up in the romantic storyline. At the climax of the aria, she remembers that Sam’s dinner needs to be on the table and rushes off.
The final scene of the opera is back at the couple’s home. Dinah has just put dinner on the table and Sam is standing outside the front door, dreading the evening ahead. He has won his handball tournament, but realizes that every victory comes with a price. He finally enters as the chorus sings of bringing the “loved ones” together with “evening pleasures”. Dinah is knitting and Sam is reading the paper. It is a perfect picture of what a happy suburban couple's life should be, but there is no happiness in the room, only tension.
Sam asks Dinah to talk. Pretending to be unaware of any problems she replies, “About what dear?” They continue on carefully and it seems like slight progress is being made. Unfortunately they begin bickering again. Sam asks about Junior's school play; Dinah replies that she didn't go. Sam now gives it one last chance and asks her to go with him to see the new movie that opened today: “Something about . . . Tahiti?” Dinah agrees (not mentioning that she saw the movie at the matinee that afternoon), and both inwardly express a wish that they might reconcile. In the interim, they will settle for the images of happiness—the "bought-and-paid-for happiness"--displayed on "a super silver screen." They depart as the chorus ironically echoes a phrase from the film's love song: "Island Magic."
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
with an English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
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 the composer. The opera received its first performance on 12 June 1952 at Berstein's Festival of the Creative Arts on the campus of Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
in Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
to an audience of nearly 3,000 people. The work is about 40 minutes long. The NBC Opera Theatre
NBC Opera Theatre
The NBC Opera Theatre was an American opera company operated by the National Broadcasting Company from 1949 to 1964. The company was established specifically for the purpose of filming both established and new operas for television...
subsequently presented the opera on television in November 1952; a production which marked mezzo-soprano Beverly Wolff
Beverly Wolff
Beverly Wolff was an American mezzo-soprano who had an active career in concerts and operas from the early 1950s to the early 1980s. She performed a broad repertoire which encompassed operatic and concert works in many languages and from a variety of musical periods...
's professional debut in the role of Dinah. Wolff later reprised the role in 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...
's first staging of the work in 1958. Bernstein's later opera, A Quiet Place
A Quiet Place
A Quiet Place is an American opera in three acts, with music by Leonard Bernstein to a libretto by Stephen Wadsworth. The work is a sequel to Bernstein's 1951 short opera Trouble in Tahiti. In its initial form A Quiet Place was in one act; the premiere, on June 17, 1983, was a double bill: Trouble...
(1983), incorporates Trouble in Tahiti in the form of an extended flashback, and both versions are regularly performed worldwide.
Background
Musically, Bernstein indulges in many of the styles he is most recognized for. The heroine's first aria has a wistful melancholy reminiscent of Aaron CoplandAaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
's earlier vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
works and of Bernstein's later writing in West Side Story, while the jazzy interludes harken back to the score Bernstein wrote for On the Town.
Bernstein tried to make his opera as real as possible. He wanted everything about it to be believable. He even went to great lengths to write in language that would be heard in everyday speech during that time. “All the music [in Trouble in Tahiti] derives from American vernacular roots, as do the words. And the words are very carefully set so that they will sound in the American cadence and with the American kind of syncopated, almost slurred quality”
While it was rumored that the troubled young couple was based on Leonard Bernstein himself and his new bride, Felicia Monteleagre, there is another, perhaps more plausible, theory that the story is based on the relationship of Bernstein’s own mother and father.
Plot analysis
There are only two main characters, a married couple named Sam and Dinah. Their son, Junior, is often referred to throughout but is never seen or heard. Other characters, including Sam's secretary Miss Brown, Dinah's therapist, and a listener in the hat shop—likely one of Dinah's female friends—are spoken to in certain scenes but never seen or heard. The opera is frequently performed with minimal scenery and very simple costumes.Little occurs in terms of plot. Trouble in Tahiti is the story of one day in the life of two desperately unhappy people, lonely, longing for love, and unable to communicate. At the end of the opera, Sam and Dinah are left in essentially the same position as they were when the opera began, with only a bleak hope of reconciliation.
The opera also features a chorus consisting of three people; Bernstein refers to them as "A Greek chorus born of the radio commercial". They sing in quasi-gibberish, sounding like an advertising jingle, about an idyllic suburban middle class-life of the American 1950s. They pop up throughout the opera to sing of the perfect suburban family life born of the American dream, only to be cut off by a fight between the two or a miserable lament.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 12 June 1952 (Conductor: Leonard Bernstein) |
|---|---|---|
| Sam, a businessman | 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... |
David Atkinson David Atkinson (baritone) David Atkinson is a retired Canadian baritone and actor. Most of his career was spent performing in musicals and operettas in New York City from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, although he did appear in some operas and made a few television appearances. In 1952 he created the role of Sam... |
| Dinah, his wife | 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... |
Nell Tangeman Nell Tangeman Nell Tangeman was an American mezzo-soprano. After earning a degree in violin performance from Ohio State University, she pursued vocal studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She studied with Friedrich Schorr, Margaret Matzenaur, and Nadia Boulanger... |
| 1st trio member | 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... |
Constance Brigham |
| 2nd trio member | 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... |
Robert Kole |
| 3rd trio member | baritone | Claude Heater Claude Heater Claude Heater , is an American opera singer and writer on religion. He began his career as a concert baritone in the United States in 1954. He then sang as a baritone with opera houses in Europe from 1956 to 1961. He retrained his voice as a tenor, and from 1964 on had great success in the dramatic... |
Synopsis
Set in an affluent, unnamed American suburb, the story depicts the disenchantment of Dinah with her husband Sam, who is more interested in his career and hobbies than in his family.The opera opens with a happy tune, as the chorus sings of 1950s suburban life and names several suburban communities that this story might be taking place in. The action begins in the middle of the couple's breakfast, with a quarrel in progress. Dinah accuses Sam of indiscretions with his secretary: Sam angrily dismisses this as Dinah's jealous imagination. Dinah reminds Sam that their son Junior has a school play that day, but Sam says he can't go because of his handball tournament. Dinah pleads that "a woman needs so little--a little feeling of hope." Sam inwardly begs Dinah for some kindness. The scene ends with Sam storming out of the house and off to work.
In the next scene, a charming Sam is shown in his office dealing with clients on the telephone. After each client Sam speaks to, the chorus sings to him of his genius and business skills.
The action moves to a psychiatrist’s office. Distraught, Dinah tells her (unseen) doctor of the dream she had the previous night, in which she is standing in a garden where all the plants have “gone to seed”. She then hears her father's voice calling to her to leave the garden immediately. She wants to leave but seems to be lost. There is no sign or any path to tell her how to get away. Then she hears a second voice. It is very hard to hear but the words are now burned into her memory. The lovely sound of this voice intrigues her and she runs towards it. Everything around her becomes more frightening with every step. The ground starts to give way but she continues on.
The action moves back to Sam in his office, who first asks his (unseen) secretary if he has ever made a pass at her, and, surprised to be answered in the affirmative, then tells hers her that it was "an accident," and suggests she should forget that it ever happened.
Dinah continues the story of her dream. Desire has now taken over her. All she wants is to touch the face and hand of this mysterious voice. She finally sees his face and once again goes running to him. When she finally approaches him he vanishes leaving her in the garden and she awakes.
Dinah leaves her doctor’s office and bumps into Sam on the street. Each lies to the other about a lunch date with someone else as an excuse to not eat together. They part, but are stopped abruptly by the realization of what just took place. Each alone, they reminisce about the days when they were happy and ask, "Why did I have to lie?". Both then leave the stage with regret to go have lunch in solitude.
The chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
sings of the joys of married life. We see Sam at his gym where he sings an aria, having just won his handball tournament.
Dinah is next seen in a hat shop. She come in and sings of a "terrible" movie she just saw entitled “Trouble in Tahiti”. She goes into great detail, mocking the ridiculous plot of the movie, but as she does she is caught up in the romantic storyline. At the climax of the aria, she remembers that Sam’s dinner needs to be on the table and rushes off.
The final scene of the opera is back at the couple’s home. Dinah has just put dinner on the table and Sam is standing outside the front door, dreading the evening ahead. He has won his handball tournament, but realizes that every victory comes with a price. He finally enters as the chorus sings of bringing the “loved ones” together with “evening pleasures”. Dinah is knitting and Sam is reading the paper. It is a perfect picture of what a happy suburban couple's life should be, but there is no happiness in the room, only tension.
Sam asks Dinah to talk. Pretending to be unaware of any problems she replies, “About what dear?” They continue on carefully and it seems like slight progress is being made. Unfortunately they begin bickering again. Sam asks about Junior's school play; Dinah replies that she didn't go. Sam now gives it one last chance and asks her to go with him to see the new movie that opened today: “Something about . . . Tahiti?” Dinah agrees (not mentioning that she saw the movie at the matinee that afternoon), and both inwardly express a wish that they might reconcile. In the interim, they will settle for the images of happiness—the "bought-and-paid-for happiness"--displayed on "a super silver screen." They depart as the chorus ironically echoes a phrase from the film's love song: "Island Magic."
External links
- Trouble in Tahiti on Floormic.com
- Bernstein on Bernstein - Trouble in Tahiti Quotes from a 1973 interview with Bernstein by Humphrey BurtonHumphrey BurtonHumphrey Burton, CBE is a British classical music presenter, broadcaster, director, producer, and biographer of musicians....
(on Leonard Bernstein's official web site) - Production history and scoring (on Leonard Bernstein's official web site)
- Anthony TommasiniAnthony Tommasini-Early years:Tommasini was born in Brooklyn around 1948 and raised on Long Island. He was admitted to Oberlin College's Conservatory of Music, but chose to matriculate at Yale University in order to obtain a broader liberal arts education...
, "A Short Bernstein Opera on a Troubled Marriage", New York Times, October 10, 2005