Search - Scott Joplin, Gunther Schuller, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra & Chorus :: Scott Joplin's Treemonisha [Original Cast Recording]

An unjustly neglected masterpiece

Charles Richards | Los Angeles, CA | 08/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Forget what everyone says about this work: it is not a musical, a "folk opera" or a "ragtime opera", it is a full-blown romantic opera, pure and simple. Like Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" it has been mis-classified for years; unlike "Porgy", however, it has not met with the former's unmitigated success on stage or in the opera house.
Joplin's score languished for years: due mainly to the fact of his early, tragic death, and the fact that the world (or at least the U.S.) was not ready for a grand opera written by an African-American, particularly an African-American composer of "lowly" rag-time music. Certainly, some other composers of African descent had achieved some status by this time, but mostly in Europe (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor comes to mind, his oratorio "Hiawatha" was a concert favorite for years), and I think it was mostly prejudice that kept Joplin's score from being heard.
Luckily, the amazing Joplin revival in the early 70's (in no small part due to its use in the film "The Sting") enabled us to hear his final masterpiece at last, albeit without his original orchestration, which has been lost. Although it caused a brief stir and engendered a complete recording and a TV telecast (which was available for a time on VHS), we've heard little of it since.
And this is altogether puzzling, as the music is some of the most magnificent and appealing ever to be written for the operatic stage. True, it's not forward-looking (much of it hearkens back to Weber and Bellini) and the libretto is not a literary masterpiece (but few are). However, it shows signs of genius that are hard to ignore: Monisha's opening aria, the duet for Monisha and Ned in the third act; and, in particular, the choral writing -- "We Want You to be Our Leader" is nothing short of breathtaking in its complexity and beauty.
There are also plenty of delightful lighter passages as well, full of the magic of Joplin's piano compositions; in fact, the mixture of light and heavier music in the score is perfectly constructed.
But, despite its successful debut in the 70's, the work has never taken hold in the operatic repertoire. Some see it merely as a curiosity; in an artical in the LA times a number of years ago which dealt with operatic works by African-Americans, it was labeled as nothing more than an "entertainment". This is unjust in the extreme. Anyone listening to this work who can remain unmoved and/or uplifted by it must have a heart of stone or a massive chip on their shoulder.
This recording remains, alas, the only complete one to date, and it is simply wonderful, a fantastic record of a lovingly felt undertaking. The cast is perfect, with Balthrop, Allen and White being the standouts, and Schuller's conducting of his re-constructed orchestrations shows his love for and complete understanding of this score. I only say alas because this is a score that's worthy of new interpretation; this only may happen once the work is (finally) taken seriously as the first great American opera. Hopefully this day will eventually come."

Joplin's Treemonisha

Robin Friedman | Washington, D.C. United States | 02/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Scott Joplin (1867/68 -- 1917) was one of the earliest composers with the ambition of combining African-American and classical musical forms. He is best-known for his ragtime compositions for the piano, but he also worked in more ambitious genres. By 1910, Joplin had composed his second opera, "Treemonisha". (The score of an earlier opera, "Guest of Honor" has been lost.) He spent much of the rest of life in an unsuccessful attempt to have Treemonisha staged and performed. The opera lay dormant until the mid-1970s when with the revival of interest in ragtime, Treemonisha was staged and performed by the Houston Lyric Opera Company and received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1976. Treemonisha was made into a movie and presented on television but, unfortunately, it has again largely faded from public sight. The work receives performances from time to time by music festivals and schools and by small opera companies.



Joplin wrote the libretto as well as the music for Treemonisha. The story is set around 1884 in a rural African American community near Texarkana, Arkansas. (Just before my rehearing of Treemonisha, I passed through Texarkana on the train en route to Dallas.) The story shows Joplin's vision of how rural African Americans could advance after the Civil War by combatting superstition and by hard work, good leadership, and, most of all, a commitment to education. Importantly, Joplin's story teaches the virtue of forgiveness and of not holding grudges.



The heroine of the opera is an 18 year old woman, Treemonisha, who had been found as an infant under a tree and raised as a daughter by Monisha and her husband Ned. Monisha and Ned sent Treemonisha to a white woman for education, as the community had no schools, and Treemonisha returns as the only member of the community who can read and write. As the opera opens, Treemonisha foils the efforts of a conjurer, Zodzetrick, to sell a "bag of luck" to Monisha. In response, the connjurers kidnap Treemonisha and are about to throw her into a wasp nest when she is rescued by a townsman, Remus, disguised as a scarecrow. The conjurers in turn are captured by field workers and taken to the town where at Treemonisha's urging, they are forgiven and released. Treemonisha is acknowledged as the leader of the community and she and Monisha lead the people in a ragtime dance "Marching Onward".



This 2-CD set of "Treemonisha" on Deutsche Gramophon was first released in 1976 with the initial enthusiasm over the opera and reissued in 2005 at a budget price. Gunther Schuller, who orchestrated Joplin's piano score, conducts with Carmen Balthorp singing the role of Treemonisha and Betty Allen singing Monisha.



With its music and storyline, the opera is a mixed success. The most successful numbers are those in which Joplin stays closest to a folk idiom, particularly the finale, "A Real Slow Drag" ("Marching Onward"), the conclusion to Act II, "Aunt Dinah has Blowed de Horn", the Ring Dance "We're Going Around" from Act I, and the number for a well-meaning but shallow itinerant preacher, Parson Alltalk, "Good Advice" from Act I. I thought the Prelude to Act III also worked well as a musical number, while the overture to the entire opera was less successful. Many of the remaining numbers, for Monisha and for male soloists Remus and Ned, seem to be based more closely on European opera. Joplin composed some lovely music in these sections, but they lack the spontaniety and verve of the dances and the more folkish sections of the score.



Treemonisha remains a landmark in American Opera, and Joplin's intended crowning achievement of his career. The opera's vision of uplift and forgiveness remains inspiring, even with the crudeness of the plot. Joplin's life goal of raising African American music to the stature of American classic was realized in part by his opera. An understanding of Treemonisha is essential to understanding Joplin's artistic aims and his achievement. It is fortunate that this recording of Treemonisha is available in this set and on a budget-priced DG set to introduce the listener to Joplin's opera.



Robin Friedman"

All that Joplin wanted was for it to be recognised

Robin Friedman | 08/21/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Throughout Joplin's short 49 year long life, all he wanted to do was put forward the seriousness of ragtime, such an effect was achieved in his great ragtime opera "Treemonisha", but it was never recognised during his lifetime. With the re-emergence of ragtime in the 1970's Joplin's music and its sometimes elusive melancholic power came through, inspiring this great recording. Carmen Balthrop and Betty Allen are superb, and the recording from the orchestra is first class. Joplin's goal on writing this opera was to mix ragtime with opera to show that it could be just as "serious" as others. It is fair to say that Joplin's attempt, as a ragtime writer and not an opera writer is impressive and admirable, just as noone would expect an opera master like Puccini or Verdi to write ragtime."