Griffelkin
Encyclopedia
Griffelkin is an opera
by Lukas Foss
with a libretto
by Alastair Reid
. The opera was first performed on November 6, 1955, in a nationwide telecast by the NBC Opera Theatre
.
's Amahl and the Night Visitors
, NBC
decided to present new operas by other American composers and gave Foss a commission for the work. (Other composers involved in the project included Norman Dello Joio
, Stanley Hollingsworth
, and Leonard Kastle
.)
Griffelkins plot is based on a story that Foss's mother told him when he was a child. Foss composed an early version of the opera shortly afterward.
's nursery. On his tenth birthday, he is allowed to spend a day on earth to do as many bad deeds as he can. To aid him in the task, he is given a magic potion that will bring objects to life.
Griffelkin arrives in a city and causes havoc by bringing a statue, a mailbox, and a pair of stone lions to life. He is soon drawn to a human girl about his age. To impress her, he transforms a storeful of toys into a ballet troupe. However, the girl runs home to check on her sick mother, leaving Griffelkin to search for her while being chased by the townspeople and the lions.
Later that evening, Griffelkin finds the girl and her brother mourning their mother's death. Moved by their plight, he secretly uses the last of his potion to bring the mother back to life. As the family is reunited, Griffelkin dissolves in tears.
His day on earth at an end, Griffelkin is summoned back to hell, where his outraged fellow devils place him on trial for his compassionate conduct. Griffelkin is found guilty; as punishment, he is transformed into a human boy and banished from hell.
Griffelkin then returns to the city and again finds the girl and her family, who remember the events only as a bad dream. When the family invites Griffelkin to live with them, he happily accepts.
as Griffelkin and featured sets and costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
and choreography by Robert Joffrey
. The opera's stage premiere took place the next year at the Tanglewood Music Festival
with Mildred Allen
in the title role. The opera has received several revivals, most notably by the New York City Opera
in 1993 and the Manhattan School of Music
in 2007.
In 2002, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
presented Griffelkin at Tanglewood in a concert performance honoring Lukas Foss's 80th birthday. The group recorded the opera shortly thereafter.
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...
by Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...
with 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 Alastair Reid
Alastair Reid
Alastair Reid is a poet and a scholar of South American literature from Galloway in Scotland. He is known for his lighthearted style of poems and for his translations of South American poets Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda. Although he is famous for translations, his own poems are gaining note...
. The opera was first performed on November 6, 1955, in a nationwide telecast by 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...
.
Background
Following the success of Gian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
decided to present new operas by other American composers and gave Foss a commission for the work. (Other composers involved in the project included Norman Dello Joio
Norman Dello Joio
- Life :He was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to Italian immigrants. He began his musical career as organist and choir director at the Star of the Sea Church on City Island in New York at age 14. His father was an organist, pianist, and vocal coach and coached many opera stars from the...
, Stanley Hollingsworth
Stanley Hollingsworth
Stanley Walker Hollingsworth was an American composer and teacher. He was a student of composer Darius Milhaud from 1944–46, and of Gian Carlo Menotti from 1948–50...
, and Leonard Kastle
Leonard Kastle
Leonard Gregory Kastle was an opera composer, librettist, and director, though he is best known as the writer/director of The Honeymoon Killers, his only venture into the cinema, for which he did all his own research. He was educated at the Curtis Institute of Music studying under opera composer...
.)
Griffelkins plot is based on a story that Foss's mother told him when he was a child. Foss composed an early version of the opera shortly afterward.
Synopsis
Griffelkin is a young devil residing in hellHell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
's nursery. On his tenth birthday, he is allowed to spend a day on earth to do as many bad deeds as he can. To aid him in the task, he is given a magic potion that will bring objects to life.
Griffelkin arrives in a city and causes havoc by bringing a statue, a mailbox, and a pair of stone lions to life. He is soon drawn to a human girl about his age. To impress her, he transforms a storeful of toys into a ballet troupe. However, the girl runs home to check on her sick mother, leaving Griffelkin to search for her while being chased by the townspeople and the lions.
Later that evening, Griffelkin finds the girl and her brother mourning their mother's death. Moved by their plight, he secretly uses the last of his potion to bring the mother back to life. As the family is reunited, Griffelkin dissolves in tears.
His day on earth at an end, Griffelkin is summoned back to hell, where his outraged fellow devils place him on trial for his compassionate conduct. Griffelkin is found guilty; as punishment, he is transformed into a human boy and banished from hell.
Griffelkin then returns to the city and again finds the girl and her family, who remember the events only as a bad dream. When the family invites Griffelkin to live with them, he happily accepts.
Productions
The original 1955 NBC production starred Adelaide BishopAdelaide Bishop
Adelaide Bishop was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, stage director, and voice teacher. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals as a teenager during the early 1940s...
as Griffelkin and featured sets and costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
Rouben Ter-Arutunian
Rouben Ter-Arutunian was a costume and scenic designer for dance, opera, theater and television.Born in Tiflis, Georgia, he attended the Reimann Art School from 1939 to 1941, studied film music at the Hochschule fur Musik and took courses at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University , 1941–43, and at the...
and choreography by Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey was an American dancer, teacher, producer and choreographer, known for his highly imaginative modern ballets...
. The opera's stage premiere took place the next year at the Tanglewood Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....
with Mildred Allen
Mildred Allen
Mildred Allen was an American physicist.-Early life and education:Mildred Allen was born in Sharon, Massachusetts to MIT professor C. Frank Allen and Caroline Hadley Allen. She had one younger sister, Margaret Allen Anderson.Allen graduated from Vassar College in 1916 with Phi Beta Kappa honors...
in the title role. The opera has received several revivals, most notably by 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...
in 1993 and the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
in 2007.
In 2002, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project is a full professional orchestra in Boston, Massachusetts, and is widely recognized as the premiere orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new music of the 20th and 21st centuries...
presented Griffelkin at Tanglewood in a concert performance honoring Lukas Foss's 80th birthday. The group recorded the opera shortly thereafter.
Recordings
- CD: Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Gil Rose, conductor. Chandos Records: CHAN 10067.
- A video recording of the 1955 premiere is available at the Paley Center for Media.