The Dybbuk is an opera

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...

 in three acts by composer David Tamkin

David Tamkin

David Tamkin was an American composer of Jewish descent. He devoted much of his professional career as an arranger, composer [uncredited] and orchestrator of film scores for Hollywood movies. He worked on more than 50 films between 1939 and 1970.-Biography:Tamkin was born in Chernihiv, Ukraine...

. The work uses an English libretto by Alex Tamkin, the composer's brother, which is based on S. Ansky

S. Ansky

Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport , known by his pseudonym S. Ansky , was a Russian Jewish author, playwright, and researcher of Jewish folklore....

’s Yiddish play of the same name. Composed in 1933, the work was not premiered until October 4, 1951 when it was mounted 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...

 through the efforts of Laszlo Halasz

Laszlo Halasz

Laszlo Halasz was an American opera director, conductor, and pianist of Hungarian birth. In 1943 he was appointed the first director of the New York City Opera; a position he held through 1951...

. Prior to the premiere, excerpts from the work had been given in concert; both in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, where Alex Tamkin lived, and in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. The opera was originally supposed to premiere at the New York City Opera in 1950 but was postponed due to financial reasons.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, October 4, 1951 (Conductor: – Joseph Rosenstock Joseph Rosenstock Joseph Rosenstock was a Polish Jewish conductor.-Early years:He worked at the State Opera in Wiesbaden before being brought into the Metropolitan Opera in New York to replace Artur Bodanzky in 1928... )
Channon	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 Rounseville Robert Rounseville Robert Rounseville was an American tenor, who appeared in opera, operetta, and Broadway musicals.-Career:Rounseville was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He made his Broadway debut in a small role in the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms, then appeared in other musicals in...
Leah	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...	Patricia Neway Patricia Neway Patricia Neway is an American operatic soprano and musical theatre actress who had an active international career during the mid-1940s through the 1970s. She is particularly remembered for creating roles in the world premieres of several contemporary American operas, most notably Magda Sorel in...
The Messenger	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...	Lawrence Winters Lawrence Winters Lawrence Winters , bass-baritone, was an African American opera singer who had an active international career from the mid 1940s through the mid 1960s. He was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success and is viewed as part of an instrumental group of performers who...
Rabbi Azrael	baritone	Mack Harrell Mack Harrell Mack Harrell was an American baritone who was regarded as one of the greatest concert singers of his generation....
Meyer	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...	Emile Renan Emile Renan Emile Renan was an American operatic bass-baritone and stage director who had a long association with the New York City Opera. He also performed as a guest artist with the other opera companies in North America throughout his career...
Sender	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...	Carlton Gauld Carlton Gauld Carlton Gauld was an American operatic bass who had a prolific career during the 1930s through the 1960s. Raised in Bedford, Indiana, Gustos first rose to prominence at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, making his debut with the company in the 1931–1932 season as the King of Egypt in...
Chennoch	baritone	Arthur Newman Arthur Newman Arthur Newman was an American operatic baritone and actor. He began his career as a stage actor in St. Louis in the early 1930s and in 1939 began an opera career...
Frade	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...	Frances Bible Frances Bible Frances Lillian Bible was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had a thirty long year career at the New York City Opera between 1948 and 1978. She also made a fair number of opera appearances with other companies throughout the United States, but only made a limited number of appearances abroad...
Elderly Woman	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...	Eunice Alberts Eunice Alberts Eunice Alberts is an American contralto who had an active career as a concert soloist and opera singer during the 1950s through the 1980s. She began her career as a concert soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the young age of 19 and quickly became a lauded oratorio singer during the late...
Gittel	soprano	Shirley Russell
Bassia	mezzo-soprano	Edith Evans
1st Batlon	tenor	Nathaniel Sprinzena
2nd Batlon	bass	Richard Wentworth Richard Wentworth (bass-baritone) Richard Wentworth was an American operatic bass-baritone and musical theatre actor. In 1939 he joined Fortune Gallo's San Carlo Opera Company with which he portrayed some 89 roles through 1945. He made his Broadway debut in 1942 at the Alvin Theatre as Dr. Bartolo in Once Over Lightly, an...
3rd Batlon	tenor	Michael Pollock Michael Pollock (tenor) Michael Pollock was an American operatic tenor, opera director, and voice teacher. He notably worked as both a performer and director at the New York City Opera during the 1940s and 1950s.-Biography:...
Menashe	tenor	Armond Harkless
Rabbi Mendel	tenor	Luigi Vellucci