Harbison's "Great American Opera?"

Synopsis

The American composer John Harbison grew up listening to the Saturday afternoon broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera, so on today’s date in 1999 it must have been gratifying to celebrate his 61st birthday taking curtain calls there when his opera “The Great Gatsby” premiered at the Met.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, a devastating evocation of America’s “Roaring 20s,” is a regular contender for the title of the “Great American Novel,” but Harbison says when he told his mother he was writing an opera based on it she wasn’t very enthusiastic, arguing that the novel’s characters were an unsympathetic bunch. Gatsby, the novel’s anti-hero is a both a fraud and a crook. Daisy, Gatsby’s lost love and the object of his obsessive desire, is selfish, spoiled and shallow.

But Harbison saw it differently: “Yearning and despair are very big operatic themes,” he said. “As for the character of Gatsby, he takes a lot of risks and is steadfast and loyal to some vision that is not realistically possible. The opera provides many opportunities to look at to what degree he's an impostor, and to what degree his story is real, which is a big American theme in general.”

Music Played in Today's Program

John Harbison (b. 1938) — Remembering Gatsby (Minnesota Orchestra; Edo de Waart, cond.) Vol. 11, from "Minnesota Orchestra at 100" special edition boxed CD set

On This Day

Births

• 1871 - American composer and conductor Henry Hadley, in Somerville, Massachusetts;

• 1909 - Danish composer Vagn Holmboe, in Horsens, eastern Jutland;

• 1938 - American composer and conductor John Harbison, in Orange, New Jersey;

Deaths

• 1738 - French composer Jean Joseph Mouret, age 56, in Charenton;

• 1783 - Spanish composer and organist Padre Antonio Soler, age 54, at the monastery of El Escorial;

• 1974 - French composer André Jolivet, age 69, in Paris;

Premieres

• 1721 - Handel: opera "Floridante" (Julian date: Dec. 9);

• 1823 - Schubert: incidental music to "Rosamunde," in Vienna, at the Theater an der Wien;

• 1879 - Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Suite No. 1, in Moscow (Julian date: Dec. 8);

• 1886 - Brahms: Piano Trio No. 3 in c, Op. 101, in Budapest; The work was also presented in Vienna on February 26, 1887, by members of the Heckmann Quartet with the composer at the piano;

• 1890 - Glazunov: Symphony No. 3, in Sat. Petersbur (Julian date: Dec. 8);

• 1928 - Bloch: "America," in New York City;

• 1959 - Stravinsky: "Double Canon (Raoul Dufy in memoriam)" in New York at Town Hall, during a Stravinsky Festival;

• 1999 - Harbison: opera "The Great Gatsby," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with a cast including Jerry Hadley as Gatsby and Dawn Upshaw as Daisy, with James Levine conducting;

Others

• 1775 - Mozart finishes his Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K. 219, in Salzburg; The work was probably premiered soon after, with the composer as soloist;

• 1915 - Stravinsky's public debut as a conductor, leading a performance of his "Firebird" Ballet Suite at a benefit concert organized by Diaghilev in Geneva, Switzerland;