
Why Is an Entire Age of American Opera Missing at the Met?
Samuel Barber, who was already famous for his Adagio for Strings, composed the score. Gian Carlo Menotti, his partner and an experienced hand at opera, wrote the libretto and directed. Cecil Beaton, mere weeks from winning his first Academy Award, designed the production. Dimitri Mitropoulos, the house's leading maestro, conducted.
On opening night, in January 1958, audience members sounded pleased during the intermission, according to a report. There were 17 curtain calls. The next day, Howard Taubman wrote in The New York Times that 'Vanessa' was 'the best American opera ever presented' at the Met. It would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.
The opera was revived the next season, and again in 1965, when a critic wrote that it 'deserves to be kept in the repertory.' Instead, it disappeared from the Met.
'Vanessa' has survived, to be sure. The aria 'Must the winter come so soon?' is a staple of recitals and competitions. Conservatories and small companies stage productions; a 'reimagined' version by Heartbeat Opera is coming to the Williamstown Theater Festival this summer.
Why, then, is it impossible to see 'Vanessa' at an opera house like the Met? That's a question with deeper implications: If one of the finest, most enduring American works of the mid-20th century can't make it to the grandest stage in the country, what hope is there for others from its time?
'Vanessa' represents a period in American opera history in which Barber and his peers, most of them gay, were creating a style that would become known in the popular imagination as 'American' sound: a plain-spokenness that folded well-known songs and folk melodies into a middlebrow classical idiom.
The absence of 'Vanessa' on the Met's stage, and on others in New York, is more upsetting when you hear a persuasive argument for its vitality, like the one made recently at the Kennedy Center, with the National Symphony Orchestra presenting 'Vanessa' in concert. (Not long after, the center was in upheaval.)
There, the opera received the kind of top-shelf treatment it had at its premiere: Its hit aria was sung with plush sincerity by the mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges; smaller roles like the Baroness and the Doctor were taken on by the veteran stars Susan Graham and Thomas Hampson; the players were led by Gianandrea Noseda, a conductor with a gift for shaping dramatic scores with a broad view that pays off by the opera's climactic quintet, 'To leave, to break.'
That moment comes near the end of the opera, a brisk two of hours of plot in which Vanessa and Erika, involved in a love triangle with the uncanny Anatol, hold on to idealism and delusion to the point of regret and self-sabotage. The quintet builds to a declaration of Barber's respect for the art form's traditions; its woven melodies are like loose strands from 'Fidelio' and 'Der Rosenkavalier.' Which is fitting for a composer who, even when developing a homegrown idiom of his own, was criticized for sounding too European.
If 'Vanessa' has a continental accent, Barber's style is only part of the reason. His collaborator, after all, was Menotti, an Italian-born composer and librettist brought up on operas at La Scala in Milan. (In the 1950s, it wasn't unusual for newspapers to refer to them as 'close friends.') Together they decided to set the story in a Scandinavian country house rather than, say, an old upstate New York mansion like the one they lived in.
There was even a moment when the title role could have gone to a star with one foot in America and the other in Europe: Maria Callas. As Howard Pollack recounts in 'Samuel Barber: His Life and Legacy,' Callas visited Barber and Menotti's home, with her husband and her miniature poodle, to hear Barber play and sing through the score. She complained that 'Vanessa' had no melodies, and that, in any case, 'I could never fall in love with a man who had already made love with my mezzo-soprano!' (She was also unsure about the prospect of singing in English, despite having been born in New York. Barber quipped: 'A graduate of Public School No. 102 decided she did not know English well enough to attempt singing in that language.')
Without Callas's celebrity, there was still much anticipation for the opera's debut. The Met hadn't premiered an American opera in more than two decades; the only contemporary work it had presented in the five years before 'Vanessa' was Stravinsky's 'The Rake's Progress.' Over a month before opening night, Esquire magazine published the entire libretto.
That 'Vanessa' had such a high-profile premiere, on no less than the Met stage, was all the more remarkable because it wasn't even a given for new operas to premiere in opera houses. It was just as common, in the 1940s and '50s, for them to open on Broadway.
In the 1930s, the Gershwins' 'Porgy and Bess' started at what is now the Neil Simon Theater, today home of the Michael Jackson jukebox musical 'MJ'; Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's 'Four Saints in Three Acts' opened on 44th Street. Other works followed suit: Broadway theaters housed Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes's 'Street Scene,' Marc Blitzstein's 'Regina,' even Menotti's Pulitzer Prize-winning 'The Consul.'
Some operas were first presented outside New York or at universities, like Bernstein's 'Trouble in Tahiti,' Carlisle Floyd's 'Susannah,' and Douglas Moore and John La Touche's 'The Ballad of Baby Doe.' Often, those would end up onstage at New York City Opera, a haven of American opera in its best years and the company that premiered Aaron Copland and Horace Everett's 'The Tender Land.'
When operas opened on Broadway, they were under enormous commercial pressures and typically struggled to find a sustained audience. Routinely, they were appraised by theater rather than music critics. 'Regina,' an adaptation of Lillian Hellman's 'The Little Foxes,' received cool notices from theater critics, then dramatically more positive ones from opera critics who tried to save it.
These works are by no means perfect, but they are too well crafted for their legacies to have either suffered or stagnated as much as they have since the mid-20th century. 'The Tender Land' may be unsalvageable, and 'Antony and Cleopatra,' Barber's 1966 follow-up to 'Vanessa,' wasn't viable until it was heavily revised in the '70s. But works like 'Street Scene' and 'Regina,' which combine masterly, melting-pot scores with quintessentially American themes, dramatize the soul of a nation. You're unlikely to see either at the Met any time soon.
When Opera Theater of St. Louis mounted 'Regina' in 2018, starring Graham, I asked Peter Gelb, the Met's general manager, what was keeping his house from staging it or a more sure hit like 'Vanessa.' He said, 'It makes sense for the Met to produce them only if we can cast them with big singers, with promotional force.' When 'Susannah' finally arrived at the Met in 1999, for example, it was with Renée Fleming in the title role.
The cast of 'Vanessa' at the Kennedy Center was made up of singers who are either established or rising stars of the Met. Schedules allowing, they could be transplanted to Lincoln Center with ease. So what's the holdup?
In recent seasons, the Met has become interested in American operas, but only those written by living composers. It has commissioned new works and revived ones from recent decades, like Jake Heggie's 'Dead Man Walking' and, next month, his adaptation of 'Moby-Dick.' The goal, Gelb wrote last fall, is to program 'operas with rich melodic scores and contemporary story lines.'
You could use the same words to sell virtually any opera from the age of 'Vanessa.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ben Shelton credits 1 amazing tennis skill to his football career as a quarterback
Ben Shelton is one of the most exciting young tennis players on the planet. And the 22-year old lefty American credits one of his best skills on the court to his childhood years as a quarterback. Shelton has one of the biggest serves on tour, and when asked about his football experience after his Wimbledon Round of 16 win on Monday, he tied the two together. Advertisement He was asked how playing "quarterbacker" has contributed to his tennis career. 'I'm not sure many people in the crowd know what that is,' Shelton said of football. 'They use that brown, oval shaped ball, sometimes they kick it between the uprights. But no, yeah, I grew up playing quarterback or a quarterbacker, either way. And probably the only thing that's a great correlation with tennis is the serve, as you guys can probably see. And so, yeah, that's kind of the one thing that I took from football onto the tennis court. 'Obviously, I've always loved athletics, playing a team sport, something bigger than yourself. Now I'm obviously playing an individual sport, but I still have a team supporting me that I work with every day. So that's the most important thing to me, I don't want to be out here by myself, I want to be doing it with people that I love and I got a lot of people that I love over there.' Shelton seemingly transitioned to a focus on tennis by the time he got to high school. Advertisement He once told the New York Times of football: "Going into the end of middle school, there were a lot of huge kids in football, and I hadn't really hit my growth spurt yet. I was maybe a little tired of getting bashed up all the time.' Seems like Shelton made the right decision. MORE: Read more about Ben Shelton's relationship with soccer star Trinity Rodman


Chicago Tribune
33 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
New ‘NBC Nightly News' anchor Tom Llamas brings national broadcast to Chicago
When former Chicago anchor Lester Holt ended his run as anchor of 'NBC Nightly News' on May 30 after 10 years in that role, he left some pretty big shoes to fill. His successor, Tom Llamas, who last month became just the fourth anchor of the network's signature weeknight newscast in 40 years, has hit the ground running. In addition to the nightly 30-minute TV broadcast, Llamas is also doing double duty as host of a one-hour primetime newscast on the NBC News Now streaming network. The shows, which run back-to-back, bridge the gap between traditional broadcast and streaming TV, and firmly establish Llamas as the new face of NBC News. 'My life has definitely changed,' Llamas, 46, told the Tribune. 'It's a great responsibility, but it's one I have been dreaming about and thinking about for a very long time.' Born and raised in Miami to Cuban parents, Llamas is headed to Chicago this week to participate in the annual National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference, which is taking place Wednesday through Saturday at the Hilton Chicago on South Michigan Avenue. While in town, Llamas is planning to anchor Thursday's 5:30 p.m. national newscast live from outside NBC Tower at Cityfront Plaza in the Streeterville neighborhood. The scheduled remote will mark the second time in his nascent role as the top NBC anchor that Llamas has taken the New York-based newscast on the road, after hosting earlier this week from the flood zone in Texas. Llamas, who reported from Rome following the April death of Pope Francis, is hoping the Chicago newscast will include a segment on his papal successor, Pope Leo XIV, who grew up in south suburban Dolton as Robert Francis Prevost. 'I was there in the Vatican, and then Pope Leo emerges, the first American pope, and it's incredible,' Llamas said. 'It's a huge story. So I think we're going to be covering that as well.' Since Llamas took the helm June 2, 'NBC Nightly News' has gained traction in the ratings, averaging more than 5.6 million total viewers last month, besting the 'CBS Evening News,' which averaged 3.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen data supplied by NBC. 'ABC World News Tonight' remained the top-rated evening newscast in June with nearly 7.2 million viewers, but NBC was the only network to gain ground in the key 25- to 54-year-old demo, closing the gap with ABC, according to Nielsen. In Chicago, 'NBC Nightly News' was up 29% year-over-year in June among adults 25-to-54, according to Nielsen data supplied by NBC 5 Chicago. Llamas has been in broadcast journalism for 25 years, starting as an NBC News overnight production assistant. A former anchor at WNBC-TV in New York, he joined ABC News as a correspondent in 2014, and became weekend anchor for 'World News Tonight' the following year. In 2021, he rejoined NBC as senior national correspondent and anchor of 'Top Story' on NBC News Now. In March, NBC named Llamas to replace Holt, who previously announced he would step down after 10 years as the network's top anchor. Llamas credits Holt and other mentors, as well as fortuitous timing, for his elevation to anchor and managing editor of 'NBC Nightly News.' Unlike his predecessor, whose broadcast résumé included a 14-year run in Chicago as a local TV news anchor, Llamas has spent most of his career in New York, where he lives in the suburbs with his wife and three kids. But Llamas professes an 'obsession' with Chicago cuisine, which he plans to tie into his visit — whether on the air or behind the scenes. 'I don't know if we'll be doing a story, but I know I'm going to be eating,' Llamas said. 'So I'm going to be grabbing some beef sandwiches and some deep dish.'


Vogue
34 minutes ago
- Vogue
ERL Spring 2026 Menswear Collection
Eli Russell Linnetz says he has a 'thick filter' around what he lets reach him, which makes his timely and particular examination—and subsequent dismantling—of the idea of American prep all the more fascinating. Ever the storyteller, Linnetz crafted a particularly relevant narrative for this season, a sort of collage of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Saltburn, plus the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The idea is that a kid named Ivy—a nod to the Ivy League, said Linnetz—becomes infatuated with an upperclassman at his new elite boarding school. Christian is the king of campus, and Ivy would give anything to be around him—or be him, rather. Linnetz's story follows Ivy as he embeds himself into Christian's inner circle, with his admiration turning sour and then poisonous—'poison ivy,' get it?—subsequently culminating in an act of violence. (If you've seen either of the two aforementioned films, you get where this is all going.) Linnetz said that he wanted to explore the hierarchy of taste in the context of 'what it means to be preppy.' An undeniable aspect of this particular American sartorial tradition is that it's tied to race and class. There is a hierarchy to the idea of good taste and who gets to have it, but there's also one connected to preppy style itself. Linnetz's ruminations were focused on power dynamics, and how prep, in a way, has become an exercise in emulating those that are—or seem to be—the most powerful. It's a timely subject. Americanisms were trending at the spring 2026 menswear collections last month, and both Jonathan Anderson and Michael Rider explored preppiness, with various degrees of subversion, at their respective debuts for Dior and Celine. Linnetz's approach was more about relaxing than perverting preppy codes—'meticulously relaxed' is how he described it. Hence the beautiful ombrés on cropped sweater vests, and tailoring that imitated the way the sun ages clothing over time. Linnetz kept his suits unlined and, in some cases, made them in nylon, a nod to the Venice Beach roots of his label. Argyle sweaters, cotton boxers, and grandpa-style knits all got the ERL treatment, with fantastic fabric selections in funky color choices and deliberate proportion updates (tapering at the waist, tight at the biceps, and stretched across the chest, which is to say very flattering for muscular men). Early on, ERL often came across as a narrative-first project, but the clothes and their make—materials, cut, etc.—have taken on importance over time, to Linnetz's credit. 'It was more of an art project when I started, I didn't know a single thing about manufacturing or any aspect of the business; I had an interest in costume and was creating my own bubble and it had an authenticity because I was creating for myself,' Linnetz reflected. Now, there's more 'power and business' behind it, but ultimately what fuels the label is Linnetz's obsessions. That they sometimes align with culture at large, he says, is a matter of people seeing their curiosities reflected in his. Such is the case of prep; either at face value or through a fun-house mirror filter, the American style is top of mind these days.