American Opera Society
Encyclopedia
The American Opera Society (AOS) was a New York City based musical organization that presented concert and semi-staged performances of opera
s between 1951 and 1970. The company was highly influential in sparking and perpetuating the post World War II bel canto
revival, particularly through a number of highly lauded productions of rarely heard works by Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti
, and Vincenzo Bellini
. The AOS also presented many operas to the American public for the first time, including the United States premieres of Benjamin Britten
's Billy Budd
, Giuseppe Verdi
's Giovanna d'Arco
, George Frideric Handel
's Hercules and Hector Berlioz
's Les troyens
to name just a few.
: Allen Sven Oxenburg and Arnold Gamson
. Oxenburg served as the AOS's Artistic Director throughout the company's entire history. Gamson served as the AOS's Music Director and principal conductor between 1951–1960 and later returned to conduct several performances with the AOS in the late 1960s; including a lauded production of Handel's Giulio Cesare
with Montserrat Caballé
as Cleopatra in 1967. Composer Samuel Barlow
notably served as the President of the board during much of the 1950s.
The AOS was initially envisioned as an organization to perform Renaissance music and baroque operas in the space for which those works for written, in the homes of the rich. The company's first production was Claudio Monteverdi
's L'incoronazione di Poppea
for an audience of 50 in the drawing room of a mansion on 5th Avenue in New York City in 1951. These smaller concerts quickly became so popular that the AOS had to move to increasingly larger venues, ultimately using Carnegie Hall
as the company's home. Gamson conducted almost all of the company's performances during the 1950s; concerts which mostly featured rarely heard operas from a variety of musical eras. Many of these operas, such as Christoph Willibald Gluck
's Le cadi dupé, had never been heard in the United States before.
Oxenburg was a shrewd judge of talent and he provided many notable singers with their first opportunity to perform on the New York stage. Singers who make their New York debut with AOS included Teresa Berganza
, Montserrat Caballé, Eileen Farrell
, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
, Maureen Forrester
, Marilyn Horne
, Leontyne Price
, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
, Joan Sutherland
, and Jon Vickers
among others. Oxenburg also presented a lauded production of Bellini's Il pirata
with Maria Callas
as Imogene in 1959. He had had the presence of mind to approach Callas with a contract after her contract with the Metropolitan Opera
had been canceled earlier that year.
In 1970 Oxenburg was forced to disband the AOS due to financial reasons.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s between 1951 and 1970. The company was highly influential in sparking and perpetuating the post World War II bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
revival, particularly through a number of highly lauded productions of rarely heard works by Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
, and Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
. The AOS also presented many operas to the American public for the first time, including the United States premieres of Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's Billy Budd
Billy Budd
Billy Budd is a short novel by Herman Melville.Billy Budd can also refer to:*Billy Budd , a 1962 film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov, based on Melville's novel...
, Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Giovanna d'Arco
Giovanna d'Arco
Giovanna d'Arco is an operatic dramma lirico with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera....
, George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Hercules and Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Les troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
to name just a few.
History
The American Opera Society was founded in 1950 by two young musicians at the Juilliard SchoolJuilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
: Allen Sven Oxenburg and Arnold Gamson
Arnold Gamson
Arnold U. Gamson is an American conductor who is particularly known for his work within the field of opera. He notably co-founded and served as the Music Director and principal conductor of the American Opera Society from 1950-1960...
. Oxenburg served as the AOS's Artistic Director throughout the company's entire history. Gamson served as the AOS's Music Director and principal conductor between 1951–1960 and later returned to conduct several performances with the AOS in the late 1960s; including a lauded production of Handel's Giulio Cesare
Giulio Cesare
Giulio Cesare in Egitto , commonly known simply as Giulio Cesare, is an Italian opera in three acts written for the Royal Academy of Music by George Frideric Handel in 1724...
with Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....
as Cleopatra in 1967. Composer Samuel Barlow
Samuel Barlow
Samuel L. M. Barlow was a Harvard-educated American composer, pianist and art critic.-Early life:Born in New York City, Samuel Latham Mitchell Barlow was the son of Peter Townsend Barlow, a noted N.Y. City Magistrate and the former Virginia Louise Matthews, a sister of author, Brander Matthews...
notably served as the President of the board during much of the 1950s.
The AOS was initially envisioned as an organization to perform Renaissance music and baroque operas in the space for which those works for written, in the homes of the rich. The company's first production was Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
's L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello...
for an audience of 50 in the drawing room of a mansion on 5th Avenue in New York City in 1951. These smaller concerts quickly became so popular that the AOS had to move to increasingly larger venues, ultimately using Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
as the company's home. Gamson conducted almost all of the company's performances during the 1950s; concerts which mostly featured rarely heard operas from a variety of musical eras. Many of these operas, such as Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
's Le cadi dupé, had never been heard in the United States before.
Oxenburg was a shrewd judge of talent and he provided many notable singers with their first opportunity to perform on the New York stage. Singers who make their New York debut with AOS included Teresa Berganza
Teresa Berganza
Teresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.- Biography :...
, Montserrat Caballé, Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell was an American soprano who had a nearly 60 year long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances...
, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
, Maureen Forrester
Maureen Forrester
Maureen Kathleen Stewart Forrester, was a Canadian operatic contralto.-Life and career:Maureen Forrester was born and grew up in a poor section of Montreal, Quebec. She was one of four children to Thomas Forrester, a Scottish cabinetmaker, and his Irish-born wife, the former May Arnold. She...
, Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
, Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, DBE was a German-born Austrian/British soprano opera singer and recitalist. She was among the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century, much admired for her performances of Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, and Wolf.-Early life:Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike...
, Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, and Jon Vickers
Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...
among others. Oxenburg also presented a lauded production of Bellini's Il pirata
Il pirata
Il pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin...
with Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
as Imogene in 1959. He had had the presence of mind to approach Callas with a contract after her contract with the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
had been canceled earlier that year.
In 1970 Oxenburg was forced to disband the AOS due to financial reasons.