Treemonisha
[1] The music of Treemonisha includes an overture and prelude, along with various recitatives, choruses, small ensemble pieces, a ballet, and a few arias.
[3] The performance was called a "semimiracle" by music historian Gilbert Chase, who said Treemonisha "bestowed its creative vitality and moral message upon many thousands of delighted listeners and viewers" when it was recreated.
It has been described as "charming and piquant and ... deeply moving",[2] with elements of black folk songs and dances, including a kind of pre-blues music, spirituals, and a call-and-response style scene featuring a preacher and congregation.
[1] One of Joplin's friends, Sam Patterson, described this performance as "thin and unconvincing, little better than a rehearsal ... its special quality (would have been) lost on the typical Harlem audience (that was) sophisticated enough to reject their folk past but not sufficiently so to relish a return to it".
[8] Aside from a concert-style performance in 1915 of the ballet Frolic of the Bears from act 2, by the Martin-Smith Music School,[9] the opera was forgotten until 1970, when the score was rediscovered.
[10] The concert commemorated the recent publication of Joplin's collected works, which had been compiled and edited by Vera Brodsky Lawrence.
The performance was directed by Katherine Dunham, former head of a noted African-American dance company in her own name, and conducted by Robert Shaw.
Subsequent performances have been produced using orchestrations created by a variety of composers, including T. J. Anderson, Gunther Schuller, and most recently, Rick Benjamin.
Since its premiere, Treemonisha has been performed all over the United States, at venues such as the Houston Grand Opera (twice, once with Schuller's 1982 orchestration), the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and in 1975 at the Uris Theatre on Broadway, to overwhelming critical and public acclaim.
[16] Historian Larry Wolz agrees, noting that the "influence of mid-nineteenth-century German operatic style" is quite obvious in Treemonisha, which he attributes to Joplin learning from Weiss.
"[19] Curtis's conclusion is similar: "In the end, Treemonisha offered a celebration of literacy, learning, hard work, and community solidarity as the best formula for advancing the race.
[21] Treemonisha takes place in September 1884 on a former slave plantation in an isolated forest, between Texarkana, Texas (Joplin's childhood town) and the Red River in Arkansas.
After being taught to read by a white woman, she leads her community against the influence of conjurers, who are shown as preying on ignorance and superstition.
As Zodzetrick slinks away, Treemonisha and Remus hear the folks singing and excitedly prepare for the day ("The Corn Huskers").
The world premiere of Treemonisha was presented in 1972 by the Atlanta Symphony,[26] under Robert Shaw, and the Morehouse Glee Club, under Wendell Whalum, the production's musical director.
Vera Brodsky Lawrence, who had co-edited the published piano score of the opera and shared its performing rights, serves as artistic consultant.
This used the Schuller orchestration and starred Carmen Balthrop as Treemonisha, Delores Ivory as Monisha, and Obba Babatundé as Zodzetrick.
A fully orchestrated and costumed production of Treemonisha was staged in February 1991 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
[32] In 2000, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presented a production of Treemonisha directed by Rhoda Levine, conducted by Jeffrey Huard, and choreographed by Dianne McIntyre.
The cast included Christina Clark (Treemonisha), Geraldine McMillian (Monisha), Nathan Granner (Remus), and Kevin Short (Ned).
[34] In June 2003 Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra premiered their version of Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco.
The staging featured orchestrations and arrangements by Jessie Montgomery and Jannina Norpoth, with book and libretto adapted by Leah-Simone Bowen.
[citation needed] A new arrangement for singers and brass band (4 trumpets, 4 trombones, French horn, tuba) had been commissioned from German composer Stefan Beyer.
[43] A suite from Treemonisha arranged by Gunther Schuller was performed as part of The Rest Is Noise season at London's Southbank Centre in 2013.
