Carlisle Floyd

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1926, American opera composer Carlisle Floyd was born in Latta, South Carolina. Floyd’s ancestors were among the first to settle in the Carolinas, and many of operas are based on colonial, southern, or rural themes. For decades he taught piano and composition at Florida State University in Tallahassee, and it was there that his most famous opera, Susannah, was initially staged in 1955.

Susannah was a retelling of the Biblical tale of Susannah and the elders, set in rural America. It was a tremendous success and since its premiere, has received over 300 productions and more than 800 performances in the United States and Europe. Opera America magazine included it among the top ten “most performed” American operas of all time.

When pressed what it is about his music that strikes many listeners as quintessentially American, Floyd once answered, “I’m probably the worst person to ask! I’ve never really set out consciously to write ‘American’ music. I can tell you, however, that when I’ve seen my operas in Europe they have always struck me as more ‘American’ than when I hear them here.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Carlisle Floyd (1926-2021): Susannah; Soloists and Lyon Opera Orchestra; Kent Nagano, conductor; Virgin 45039

On This Day

Births

• 1864 - German composer and conductor Richard Strauss, in Munich

• 1899 - American composer George Frederick McKay, in Harrington, Washington

• 1926 - American opera composer Carlisle Floyd, in Latta, South Carolina

Premieres

• 1913 - Pizetti: incidental music for La Pisanella, in Paris

• 1921 - Honegger: cantata Le Roi David (King David), in Mézières

• 1925 - Honegger: opera Judith (first version), at the Théatre du Jorat in Mézières im Waadt

• 1960 - Britten: opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in Aldeburgh at the Jubilee Hall

• 1960 - Stockhausen: Kontakte for electronic instruments, piano and percussion, in Cologne

• 1970 - Hovhaness: And God Created Great Whales for taped song of humpback whales and orchestra, at a New York Philharmonic Promenade concert conducted by André Kostelanetz

• 1987 - Michael Torke: ballet Purple, at the New York State Theater, by the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Lukas Foss conducting

Others

• 1931 - Nicholas Slonimsky conducts in Paris the second of two concerts (both financed by Charles Ives) devoted to new music. The June 11 program includes works for chamber orchestra by the Spanish-Cuban composer Pedro Sanjuan (Sones de Castilla), Mexican Carlos Chaves (Energia), Franco-American Carlos Salzedo (Preamble et Jeux). Cuban Alejandro Caturla (Bembe), American Wallingford Riegger (Three Canons), and Franco-American Edgard Varese (Integrales). See also June 6, 1931.