Misplaced Pages

The Man Without a Country
Opera by Walter Damrosch
Walter Damrosch, composer of The Man Without a Country, who also conducted the first performance
Librettist	Arthur Guiterman
Language	English
Based on	"The Man Without a Country" by Edward Everett Hale (1863)
Premiere	12 May 1937 (1937-05-12) Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Opera House, New York City

The Man Without a Country is an English-language American opera in two acts and five scenes. The composer was Walter Damrosch with a libretto by poet Arthur Guiterman. The opera was based on Edward Everett Hale's 1863 short story of the same name. The work premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on May 12, 1937, in a performance conducted by Damrosch.

Plot

The opera is set in the early nineteenth century and opens on Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio River. The main character is Lt. Philip Nolan, an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Harman Blennerhassett is throwing a party and awaiting the arrival of the guest of honor, former Vice President Aaron Burr. Nolan sings to his love, Mary Rutledge, about how Burr's conspiracy will make him rich, but she tells him she cares only for him. When he arrives, Burr sings of his plot to seize the Southwest Territory from the United States. After Burr leaves, Nolan is arrested for his part in the conspiracy.

The second scene is in a courtroom at the Marine Corps barracks at Charleston, South Carolina, where Nolan is on trial before Colonel Morgan on the charge of treason. Nolan damns the name of the United States and tells the judge he never wishes to hear it spoken again. Upon conviction, Colonel Morgan sentences Nolan to be held prisoner at sea aboard Navy ships, never to set foot on land, and forbids anyone to speak of the United States to him. Mary vows to secure a pardon for Nolan.

The second act opens aboard the warship Guerriere, in port at Gibraltar. Nolan is wistful about the United States and his fate. He has become a patriot during his exile. In the next scene, Mary arrives and tells Nolan she is hopeful he will soon be pardoned. Stephen Decatur comes aboard and tells Nolan and Mary that the ship will be sailing to attack the Barbary pirates on the North African coast. At Mary's urging, Nolan is given command of a deck gun.

In the final scene, the Guerriere has been boarded off the coast of Tripoli. In close combat, Nolan kills the enemy commander but is himself shot. As he lies dying he dreams of being reunited with Mary. Decatur takes off his sword and places it in Nolan's dead hands.

Performances

There were four performances during the 1936–37 season and one during the following season on February 17, 1938. The production was directed by Desire Defrere. A performance conducted by Wilfried Pelletier was broadcast on the radio on May 22, 1937. The soprano Helen Traubel made her Met debut in the role of Mary Rutledge, Nolan's love, a character not in the original story.

The score and the libretto were both published in 1937. Copyright on the opera was registered on January 25, 1937.

Paul Jackson wrote "Damrosch seems unable to solve the problem of fusing melodic outpourings with continuity of orchestral texture–the latter is merely supportive and does little musically to augment the expression of the text."

Roles

References

1. "Music: Man Without a Country", Time, May 24, 1937
2. Howard, John Tasker (1959). The World's Great Operas (Newly revised ed.). New York: Modern Library. p. 230–31. LCCN 59-10911.
3. ^ Howard 1959, p. 231.
4. ^ Howard 1959, p. 232.
5. ^ Howard 1959, p. 233.
6. Griffel, Margaret Ross (2013). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Vol. 1. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 300. ISBN 9780810883253.
7. Dietz, Dan (2018). The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 457. ISBN 9781538102770.
8. Dietz 2018, p. 457.
9. Jackson, Paul (1992). Saturday Afternoons at the Old Met: The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, 1931–1950. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. p. 141. ISBN 9780931340482.
10. McCants, Clyde T. (2004). American Opera Singers and Their Recordings: Critical Commentaries and Discographies. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 316. ISBN 9780786419524.
11. • Damrosch, Walter; Guiterman, Arthur (1937). The Man Without a Country, Composed by Walter Damrosch; Libretto by Arthur Guiterman from a Scenario by Walter Damrosch; Based Upon the Story "The Man Without a Country" by Edward Everett Hale. New York: G. Schirmer. OCLC 10670368.
    • Damrosch, Walter; Guiterman, Arthur (1937). The Man Without a Country: Opera in Two Acts, Music by Walter Damrosch; Libretto by Arthur Guiterman; From a Scenario by Walter Damrosch. New York: Fred Rullman. OCLC 5996091.
12. Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 1, Group 3: Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. New Series, No. 1. Vol. 10. Washington: Library of Congress, Copyright Office, US Government Printing Office. 1937. p. 89.
13. Jackson 1992, pp. 141–142.
14. "The Man Without a Country, World Premiere", Metropolitan Opera Archives

• Opera

• Operas
• 1937 operas
• English-language operas
• Operas by Walter Damrosch
• Opera world premieres at the Metropolitan Opera
• Operas set in the United States
• Operas set in the 19th century
• Operas based on works by American writers
• Operas set in courtrooms
• Political operas
• Works set on ships
• Aaron Burr