Tags:
Journalism of Courage
An opera is not supposed to be over until the fat lady sings. Or, in the case of a new work being premiered this week, until an atomic bomb explodes.
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams, who has a reputation for writing works “ripped from the headlines”, has taken on his biggest challenge yet in Doctor Atomic, a tale of the conflicts Manhattan Project head J. Robert Oppenheimer suffered as he oversaw the creation of the atomic bomb.
The title, says Adams, who won the 2003 Pulitzer for music for his On the Transmigration of Souls, a commemoration of those who died on September 11, is both a nod to 1940s sci-fi movies and, “a backdoor reference on my part to Doctor Faustus, the man who does a deal with the devil in order to obtain ultimate knowledge.
Director Peter Sellars wrote the libretto from original sources and even has a choir singing from declassified government secrets as well as poems by Muriel Rukeyser, John Donne, Baudelaire and the Bhagavad Gita.
Premiering on Saturday in San Francisco, the opera and has become one of the most hotly anticipated events. Adams said he was expecting a mixed reception because many opera lovers just want to see famous singers in familiar works.
Doctor Atomic is definitely not Madame Butterfly, Adams said. “This is just not another day at the mall. It’s really asking the biggest questions and demanding very real answers.”
If it’s anything like his previous work, Doctor Atomic is sure to have legs. “Maybe hairy legs,” Adams quipped, “but at least legs”. —Reuters
