The Letter (opera)
Encyclopedia
The Letter is an opera
by composer Paul Moravec
and librettist Terry Teachout
. It was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera
and was premiered there on July 25, 2009.
The opera is based on The Letter
, a 1927 play adapted by W. Somerset Maugham
from one of his short stories. The play has been filmed twice. The first version, called The Letter
, was made in 1929 and starred Jeanne Eagels
. The better-known 1940 version, also called The Letter
, starred Bette Davis
and Herbert Marshall
and was directed by William Wyler
.
The inspiration for Maugham's story and his subsequent play came from a real-life event which took place in Kuala Lumpur in Malaya in April 1911.
opera like Tosca
and a film noir
like Double Indemnity or Out of the Past
. We don't want The Letter to sound old-fashioned—Paul's musical language is in no way derivative of Verdi
or Puccini
—but we do want it to move fast and hit hard."
Later Teachout described the challenges to adapting a literary work into a new medium, in this case an opera: "Every great opera based on a literary source involves an imaginative transformation of the original, one that typically goes far beyond the setting of the old words to new music."
In May 2008 Moravec and Teachout discussed the opera at a press conference held in Santa Fe. Moravec called it “an opera noir, a music drama about ordinary people who make a few mistakes and suddenly find themselves swept into very deep emotional water. It combines the aesthetic of American verismo with dream-like qualities often characteristic of a psychological drama. We intend it to be as fast-moving and hard-hitting as a film noir from the ’40s.”
Teachout added that their goal was “to write a work that’s firmly rooted in traditional operatic practice—one that will make dramatic sense to mainstream audiences.” By January 2009, as reported in the January 5th blog, both the opera's libretto and the orchestral score had been finalized and it was ready to go to the publisher.
On July 14, Teachout began "livetweeting" from rehearsals for The Letter on his Twitter page. He posted about The Letter there and on his blog between then and the opera's premiere.
and baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore
(who appeared in Santa Fe's 2008 Falstaff
). The two appeared together in the Metropolitan Opera
's new 2008 production of Peter Grimes
. The production was directed by British theatre and opera director, Jonathan Kent
, whose work has been seen in Santa Fe several times (notably in the 2008 The Marriage of Figaro
) and conducted by Patrick Summers of Houston Grand Opera
. Hildegard Bechtler designed the sets. The costumes were designed by the well-known fashion designer Tom Ford
, who made his debut as a stage designer with this production. Lighting design was by Duane Schuler, who regularly works at the Santa Fe Opera.
The opera is in eight scenes. It runs for approximately ninety-five minutes and plays without an intermission.
Scene 1: The Murder
The Crosbies' bungalow
Leslie Crosbie, a British expatriate who lives with her husband Robert on a rubber plantation in the jungles of Malaya, shoots and kills Geoff Hammond on the verandah of her bungalow.
Scene 2: The Confession
The same, two hours later
Following the arrival of Joyce, Withers, and her husband, Leslie claims that Hammond, a neighbor, had tried to rape her. They all leave for Singapore.
Scene 3: The Letter
Howard Joyce's law office in Singapore, two weeks later
Howard Joyce learns from Ong of the existence of a letter sent by Leslie to Hammond on the day of the murder, which suggests that she and Hammond had pre-arranged the meeting. The letter is in the possession of Hammond’s mistress, a Chinese woman who offers to sell Leslie the incriminating letter for ten thousand dollars on the eve of her murder trial.
Scene 4: The Interview
Leslie's jail cell, an hour later
Joyce visits Leslie in jail and confronts her with the existence of the letter. Eventually, she admits to having written it. Via a flashback, the events of the murder are played out between Leslie and Geoff. Jealous of his relationship with his Chinese mistress and angry that he intends to break off their relationship, she shoots him. Returning to the jail cell, she convinces Joyce to obtain the letter.
Scene 5: The Club
The Singapore club, late afternoon
The club members seem to be fully supportive of the distraught Robert. Without telling him of the amount demanded for the letter, Joyce explains to Robert that the letter exists and, if produced in court, it would implicate and convict Leslie. Robert agrees that it should be acquired, but is full of doubt about Leslie's innocence.
Scene 6: The Woman
Joyce's office, later that night
The Chinese woman arrives with the letter and, although initially reluctant to sell it, she relents and Joyce buys it.
Scene 7: The Verdict
A Singapore courtroom, the next day
Geoff appears to Leslie as the jury foreman; he declares her to be guilty. However, Leslie is acquitted.
Scene 8: The Truth
The bungalow, that same evening
Joyce and Withers arrive for dinner. Robert appears, somewhat drunk. When he finds out what really happened, he demands to see the letter but tells Leslie that he loves her in spite of what she has done. “With all my heart,” she replies, “I still love the man I killed!” Taking what appears to be the only course of action, she stabs herself.
s generally found the opera entertaining, though some reviews questioned the emotional depth of the production and the technical intricacies of the score. There was general agreement that The Letter was "opera noir", a clear homage to the film noir
of the 1940s and 1950s.
In Opera News
Simon Williams wrote that The Letter "was intended to be an instantly accessible work with wide popular appeal. It may be just that. For a start, the opera is an improvement on the play, which is verbose, faultily structured and moralistic; instead, Teachout's terse libretto recaptures the stringent economy of the much finer story, also by Maugham, upon which the play is based." He praised the score as "richly orchestrated...it amplifies emotions, emphasizes confrontation and crisis and drives the action forward. But it also creates a dramatic world in which singing seems to be the only appropriate medium." Williams concluded by observing that the "warm response of the Santa Fe audience suggests the work may have legs."
In the Denver Post Kyle McMillan commented: "The piece, which runs an economical 100 minutes with no intermission, has virtually all the essential — and expected — ingredients, including style, humor and grit. The only thing missing, unfortunately, is heart." McMillan believed that the score's "unnatural leaps in pitch and non-intuitive phrasing" made it difficult for the audience to empathize with the opera's characters.
A highly positive review in the Santa Fe New Mexican by Craig Smith disagreed with criticism of the score while recognizing its technical challenges, calling the opera "exceptionally well-crafted and beautifully orchestrated, though far too thick for the singers' ease, especially in the brass." Smith praised the performers and production staff but thought the opera might be somewhat too brief: "I think they [composer Moravec and librettist Teachout] have mistaken brevity for intrinsic value and left one of opera's most vital components unrealized: Truly expressive arias for all the main characters, in which introspection welds dramatic truth with music that reaches the heart, not just the mind."
The Washington Post ran a harshly critical review by Anne Midgette, who maintained that the opera lacked real content: "'The Letter' is all form and little content...But in adhering to the rules of opera -- we must have arias and ensembles -- Moravec and librettist Teachout repeatedly show a tin ear for the exigencies of drama. The arias keep obtruding at inopportune moments to spell out things that don't need spelling out ('What have I done? I've killed him. He is gone forever'). They bring the action to a screeching halt." In his blog librettist Teachout linked to this "scorched earth pan" with a wry concession: "I can't say I enjoyed reading it, but I believe I can stand the heat. I ought to be able to: after all, I've been dishing it out for most of my professional life!"
A review in the Financial Times
by George Loomis noted that the opera would be more readily identified with William Wyler
's film
starring Bette Davis
than with Maugham's play, and that while Moravec was generous with his music, it never took over as it should in opera. The music was more akin to a film score, expanded in scope, but not in function.
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 composer Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec is an American composer and a University Professor at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York...
and librettist Terry Teachout
Terry Teachout
Terry Teachout is a critic, biographer and blogger. He is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, the chief culture critic of Commentary, and the author of "Sightings," a column about the arts in America that appears biweekly in the Friday Wall Street Journal...
. It was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
and was premiered there on July 25, 2009.
The opera is based on The Letter
The Letter (play)
The Letter is a play by W. Somerset Maugham dramatised from a short story that first appeared in his 1926 collection The Casuarina Tree. The story is based on a real-life scandal involving the wife of the headmaster of a school in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting...
, a 1927 play adapted by W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
from one of his short stories. The play has been filmed twice. The first version, called The Letter
The Letter (1929 film)
The Letter is an American drama film which was made in both silent and talking versions by Paramount Pictures.-Preservation status:...
, was made in 1929 and starred Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels was an American actress on Broadway and in several motion pictures. She was a former Ziegfeld Follies Girl who went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films....
. The better-known 1940 version, also called The Letter
The Letter (1940 film)
The Letter is a 1940 American film noir directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Howard Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, originally filmed in 1929.-Plot:...
, starred Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and Herbert Marshall
Herbert Marshall
Herbert Marshall , born Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall, was an English actor.His parents were Percy F. Marshall and Ethel May Turner. He graduated from St. Mary's College in Old Harlow, Essex and worked for a time as an accounting clerk...
and was directed by William Wyler
William Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
.
The inspiration for Maugham's story and his subsequent play came from a real-life event which took place in Kuala Lumpur in Malaya in April 1911.
The collaboration
Both Moravec and Teachout made their operatic debuts with The Letter. Teachout began writing the libretto in November 2006 and started posting an ongoing account of the opera's genesis and development on his blog, About Last Night, when the commission was announced by the Santa Fe Opera on May 9, 2007. He describes it as "a cross between a verismoVerismo
Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s....
opera like Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
and a film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
like Double Indemnity or Out of the Past
Out of the Past
Out of the Past is a 1947 film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Daniel Mainwaring , with uncredited revisions by Frank Fenton and James M...
. We don't want The Letter to sound old-fashioned—Paul's musical language is in no way derivative of 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...
or Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
—but we do want it to move fast and hit hard."
Later Teachout described the challenges to adapting a literary work into a new medium, in this case an opera: "Every great opera based on a literary source involves an imaginative transformation of the original, one that typically goes far beyond the setting of the old words to new music."
In May 2008 Moravec and Teachout discussed the opera at a press conference held in Santa Fe. Moravec called it “an opera noir, a music drama about ordinary people who make a few mistakes and suddenly find themselves swept into very deep emotional water. It combines the aesthetic of American verismo with dream-like qualities often characteristic of a psychological drama. We intend it to be as fast-moving and hard-hitting as a film noir from the ’40s.”
Teachout added that their goal was “to write a work that’s firmly rooted in traditional operatic practice—one that will make dramatic sense to mainstream audiences.” By January 2009, as reported in the January 5th blog, both the opera's libretto and the orchestral score had been finalized and it was ready to go to the publisher.
On July 14, Teachout began "livetweeting" from rehearsals for The Letter on his Twitter page. He posted about The Letter there and on his blog between then and the opera's premiere.
The premiere production
The premiere featured soprano Patricia RacettePatricia Racette
Patricia Lynn Racette is an American operatic soprano. A winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 1998, she has been a regular presence at major opera houses internationally. Racette has enjoyed long-term partnerships with the San Francisco Opera, where she has been a regular performer since 1989,...
and baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore
Anthony Michaels-Moore
Anthony Michaels-Moore is an English operatic baritone. After beginning studies in singing in 1981 and attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1984-85, his career has focused on the Italian repertoire throughout Europe where, in addition to the standard repertoire, he has sung...
(who appeared in Santa Fe's 2008 Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
). The two appeared together in 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...
's new 2008 production of Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
. The production was directed by British theatre and opera director, Jonathan Kent
Jonathan Kent (director)
Jonathan Kent is an English theatre director and opera director. He is best known as a director/producer partner of Ian McDiarmid at the Almeida Theatre from 1990 to 2002.-Early life:...
, whose work has been seen in Santa Fe several times (notably in the 2008 The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
) and conducted by Patrick Summers of Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
. Hildegard Bechtler designed the sets. The costumes were designed by the well-known fashion designer Tom Ford
Tom Ford
Thomas Carlyle "Tom" Ford is an American fashion designer and film director. He gained international fame for his turnaround of the Gucci fashion house and the creation of the Tom Ford label before directing the Oscar-nominated film A Single Man.-Early life :Tom Ford was born August 27, 1961 in...
, who made his debut as a stage designer with this production. Lighting design was by Duane Schuler, who regularly works at the Santa Fe Opera.
Roles
| Role | Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types... |
Cast of the premiere production 25 July 2009 (Conductor: Patrick Summers) |
|---|---|---|
| Leslie Crosbie, An Englishwoman living in Malaya | 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 Racette Patricia Racette Patricia Lynn Racette is an American operatic soprano. A winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 1998, she has been a regular presence at major opera houses internationally. Racette has enjoyed long-term partnerships with the San Francisco Opera, where she has been a regular performer since 1989,... |
| Robert Crosbie, Leslie's husband, the manager of a rubber plantation | 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... |
Anthony Michaels-Moore Anthony Michaels-Moore Anthony Michaels-Moore is an English operatic baritone. After beginning studies in singing in 1981 and attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1984-85, his career has focused on the Italian repertoire throughout Europe where, in addition to the standard repertoire, he has sung... |
| Howard Joyce, a Singapore lawyer | 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... |
James Maddalena James Maddalena James Maddalena is an American baritone who is chiefly associated with contemporary American opera. He gained international recognition in 1987 when he created the role of Richard Nixon at the premiere of Adams's opera Nixon in China at Houston. He has since reprised the role on many occasions,... |
| Geoff Hammond, the Crosbies' neighbor | 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... |
Roger Honeywell |
| A Chinese Woman | 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... |
Mika Shigematsu |
| Ong Chi Seng, Joyce's confidential clerk | 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... |
Rodell Rosel |
| John Withers, a colonial official | tenor | Keith Jameson |
| Head Man, of the plantation workers | tenor | Sung Eun Lee |
| First Clubman | tenor | Jason Slayden |
| Second Clubman | baritone | Kevin Ray |
| A Judge | bass | Lucas Harbour |
| A Guard | tenor | Andrew Stenson |
Synopsis
- Place: MalayaBritish MalayaBritish Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
- Time: Between the world wars
The opera is in eight scenes. It runs for approximately ninety-five minutes and plays without an intermission.
Scene 1: The Murder
The Crosbies' bungalow
Leslie Crosbie, a British expatriate who lives with her husband Robert on a rubber plantation in the jungles of Malaya, shoots and kills Geoff Hammond on the verandah of her bungalow.
Scene 2: The Confession
The same, two hours later
Following the arrival of Joyce, Withers, and her husband, Leslie claims that Hammond, a neighbor, had tried to rape her. They all leave for Singapore.
Scene 3: The Letter
Howard Joyce's law office in Singapore, two weeks later
Howard Joyce learns from Ong of the existence of a letter sent by Leslie to Hammond on the day of the murder, which suggests that she and Hammond had pre-arranged the meeting. The letter is in the possession of Hammond’s mistress, a Chinese woman who offers to sell Leslie the incriminating letter for ten thousand dollars on the eve of her murder trial.
Scene 4: The Interview
Leslie's jail cell, an hour later
Joyce visits Leslie in jail and confronts her with the existence of the letter. Eventually, she admits to having written it. Via a flashback, the events of the murder are played out between Leslie and Geoff. Jealous of his relationship with his Chinese mistress and angry that he intends to break off their relationship, she shoots him. Returning to the jail cell, she convinces Joyce to obtain the letter.
Scene 5: The Club
The Singapore club, late afternoon
The club members seem to be fully supportive of the distraught Robert. Without telling him of the amount demanded for the letter, Joyce explains to Robert that the letter exists and, if produced in court, it would implicate and convict Leslie. Robert agrees that it should be acquired, but is full of doubt about Leslie's innocence.
Scene 6: The Woman
Joyce's office, later that night
The Chinese woman arrives with the letter and, although initially reluctant to sell it, she relents and Joyce buys it.
Scene 7: The Verdict
A Singapore courtroom, the next day
Geoff appears to Leslie as the jury foreman; he declares her to be guilty. However, Leslie is acquitted.
Scene 8: The Truth
The bungalow, that same evening
Joyce and Withers arrive for dinner. Robert appears, somewhat drunk. When he finds out what really happened, he demands to see the letter but tells Leslie that he loves her in spite of what she has done. “With all my heart,” she replies, “I still love the man I killed!” Taking what appears to be the only course of action, she stabs herself.
Critical reception
CriticCritic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s generally found the opera entertaining, though some reviews questioned the emotional depth of the production and the technical intricacies of the score. There was general agreement that The Letter was "opera noir", a clear homage to the film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
of the 1940s and 1950s.
In Opera News
Opera News
Opera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
Simon Williams wrote that The Letter "was intended to be an instantly accessible work with wide popular appeal. It may be just that. For a start, the opera is an improvement on the play, which is verbose, faultily structured and moralistic; instead, Teachout's terse libretto recaptures the stringent economy of the much finer story, also by Maugham, upon which the play is based." He praised the score as "richly orchestrated...it amplifies emotions, emphasizes confrontation and crisis and drives the action forward. But it also creates a dramatic world in which singing seems to be the only appropriate medium." Williams concluded by observing that the "warm response of the Santa Fe audience suggests the work may have legs."
In the Denver Post Kyle McMillan commented: "The piece, which runs an economical 100 minutes with no intermission, has virtually all the essential — and expected — ingredients, including style, humor and grit. The only thing missing, unfortunately, is heart." McMillan believed that the score's "unnatural leaps in pitch and non-intuitive phrasing" made it difficult for the audience to empathize with the opera's characters.
A highly positive review in the Santa Fe New Mexican by Craig Smith disagreed with criticism of the score while recognizing its technical challenges, calling the opera "exceptionally well-crafted and beautifully orchestrated, though far too thick for the singers' ease, especially in the brass." Smith praised the performers and production staff but thought the opera might be somewhat too brief: "I think they [composer Moravec and librettist Teachout] have mistaken brevity for intrinsic value and left one of opera's most vital components unrealized: Truly expressive arias for all the main characters, in which introspection welds dramatic truth with music that reaches the heart, not just the mind."
The Washington Post ran a harshly critical review by Anne Midgette, who maintained that the opera lacked real content: "'The Letter' is all form and little content...But in adhering to the rules of opera -- we must have arias and ensembles -- Moravec and librettist Teachout repeatedly show a tin ear for the exigencies of drama. The arias keep obtruding at inopportune moments to spell out things that don't need spelling out ('What have I done? I've killed him. He is gone forever'). They bring the action to a screeching halt." In his blog librettist Teachout linked to this "scorched earth pan" with a wry concession: "I can't say I enjoyed reading it, but I believe I can stand the heat. I ought to be able to: after all, I've been dishing it out for most of my professional life!"
A review in the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
by George Loomis noted that the opera would be more readily identified with William Wyler
William Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
's film
The Letter (1940 film)
The Letter is a 1940 American film noir directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Howard Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, originally filmed in 1929.-Plot:...
starring Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
than with Maugham's play, and that while Moravec was generous with his music, it never took over as it should in opera. The music was more akin to a film score, expanded in scope, but not in function.
Chronological links to Terry Teachout's blog
- "Lend me your ears (and eyes)", 9 May 2007
- "Men at work", 11 July 2007
- "Men at work (II)", 13 August 2007
- "Men at work (III)", 17 September 2007
- "Men at work (IV)", 17 December 2007
- "For better and worse", 15 January 2008
- "Men (and women) at work (VI)", 10 March 2008
- "Entries from an unkept diary", 1 April 2008
- "The case for lower-case opera", 2 April 2008
- "The envelope please", 30 April 2008
- "Right turn at Albuquerque", 12 May 2008
- "Moment's notice", 20 May 2008
- "Men at work (VII)", 7 July 2008
- "Scene stealing (I)", 3 August 2008
- "Scene stealing (II)", 4 August 2008
- "Becoming an artist", 9 September 2008
- "In one piece", 20 October 2008
- "Among the brethren", 3 November 2008
- "By the clock", 4 November 2008
- "Size matters", 17 November 2008
- "No, but I heard the movie", 24 November 2008
- "The Doctor is in", 1 December 2008
- "A doll's house", 9 December 2008
- "Free at last", 5 January 2009
- "Looking for trouble", 26 January 2009
- "Cover story", 29 January 2009
- "Step away from the car, sir", 10 March 2009
- "A ripping good show", 6 April 2009
- "All blessings are mixed", 11 May 2009
- "Almanac (apropos of The Letter, I)", 19 May 2009
- "Almanac (apropos of The Letter, II)", 20 May 2009
- "Almanac (apropos of The Letter, III)", 21 May 2009
- "Tied to the tracks", 1 June 2009
- "A very small world", 10 June 2009
- "A little taste", 24 June 2009
- "Now's the time", 25 June 2009
- "Another little taste", 29 June 2009
- "And...they're off!", 30 June 2009
- "Who'd have thought it?", 6 July 2009
- "Tweeting an opera", 7 July 2009
- "Head first", 13 July 2009
- "At the starting gate", 14 July 2009
- "Minute by minute", 15 July 2009
- "Modern opera in a nutshell", 15 July 2009
- "Pit stop", 16 July 2009
- "All there is", 20 July 2009
- "The news in brief", 21 July 2009
- "In a mist", 22 July 2009
- "Did Maugham know best?", 23 July 2009
- "We know every part by heart", 24 July 2009
- "How it felt", 26 July 2009
- "Unrest cure", 28 July 2009
- "Blowin' in the wind", 30 July 2009
Other links
- Video clips from the Santa Fe Opera production of The Letter
- "Biographer Called upon for Opera Libretto": interview with Terry Teachout, The Biographer's Craft, June 2008, Vol. 2, No. 4
- Chloe Veltman, "Pushing Opera's Envelope": interview with Terry Teachout, American Theatre, July/August 2009
- Terry Teachout, "First Person: A Drama Critic's Turn to Face the Music", Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2009
- Deborah Baker, "'Opera noir' latest new offering at Santa Fe Opera", Associated Press wire story, 24 July 2009
- Simon Williams, "In Review: Santa Fe", Opera News, November 2009
- The Santa Fe Opera's website
- Terry Teachout's Twitter page