The Tender Land is an opera with music by Aaron Copland and libretto by Horace Everett, a pseudonym for Erik Johns.
Copland was inspired to write this opera after viewing the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and reading James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
[citation needed] Eventually, the work had its premiere on April 1, 1954 at the New York City Opera, with Thomas Schippers as the conductor, Jerome Robbins as the director, and a cast including the young Norman Treigle.
[citation needed] Patton has also commented on the role of Erik Johns' interest in the Vedanta branch of Hinduism in the libretto.
[3] Copland and Johns made revisions to the opera,[4] expanding Act 2 for performances at Tanglewood in August 1954, and making further adjustments for Oberlin College in 1955.
[5] With the composer's agreement, Murry Sidlin re-scored the work with reduced forces - the same scoring as the original 13 instrument version of Appalachian Spring - for a production in New Haven in 1987, a staging that ran for more than 50 performances.
The opera ends as Laurie leaves, with Beth dancing by herself as she did at the beginning, now the sole hope for future generations of the family and for the farm.
[3] In 1996, Murry Sidlin created a new suite, which, like his version of the opera, uses reduced scoring (for soprano, tenor and chamber ensemble).
[9] The first UK production in just under twenty years was staged at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in August 2009, directed by Katherine Hare, conducted by Leigh Thompson and produced by Racky Plews for MadCow Theatre Company.
In Spring 2000, The City of London Sinfonia led by Richard Hickox presented a concert version of The Tender Land at the Barbican.