My primary task was to find ways to translate Strindberg’s psychological monodrama, with its rapid, constantly changing moods and its almost total lack of sustained moments, into musical terms.
The chief problem was that the music had to function alternately as background and foreground—at times pure atmosphere, then shifting between characterizing the protagonist, Estelle, and picturing the physical movements of the wordless Lisa.
Rather than conform to the traditional theatrical interpretation in which “the star” plays the silent role and comes out on top, I tried to leave open the question as to which of the two women is really “the stronger.
[6] The Baltimore Opera Company staged the work in 1985 in a triple bill titled "American Portraits" that also included Thomas Pasatieri's La Divina (1952) and the world premiere of Lee Hoiby's Italian Lesson.
[5] The Stronger and Weisgall's The Golden Peacock were performed at the occasion of the latter work's premiere by the Opera Ensemble of New York with Cecelia Wasson as Estelle.