Opera at Columbia University, 1941-1958 By Jack Beeson Introduction The following essay was written, and the accompanying material com­ piled, in 1961. With the exception of the addition of some singers' names, the essay has been only slightly revised; at this late date it would be diffi­ cult to find and to correct any errors in the production data. My purpose forty years ago was simply to record a short but vibrant pe­ riod in the history of American opera through my experience as coach and conductor in the Columbia Opera Workshop and the closely related series of American opera premieres. For some years thereafter, I offered copies to anyone who showed an interest and to those on campus who-naively, I thought-were eager to revive the Workshop and/or produce new operas at Columbia with some regularity. Over the years, as opera workshops, small companies, and the writing and producing of chamber operas burgeoned, copies of the essay were requested more frequently-even by such organiza­ tions as Opera America. In celebration of the Music Department's cente­ nary in 1996, both a Low Library exhibition and a publication highlighted the Workshop and its related productions. It was at the same time that the Glimmerglass Opera and the New York City Opera revived Paul Bunyan, drawing attention to the premiere of Britten and Auden's opera at Columbia in 1941. Shortly thereafter, the same two companies revived Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's The Mother of Us All and invited me to speak to their audiences about her birth, largely from Workshop singers, in 1947. Long before this period of interest in events of the past, I had given a copy of the material to a former graduate composition student, Jim Stepleton-by coincidence the son of my Junior High School music teacher in Muncie, Indiana. His interest led to his producing, in collabo­ ration with the Friends and Enemies of Modern Music, a concert of ex­ cerpts from operas first performed at Columbia from 1941-1958. This ret­ rospective in Miller Theatre in 1997 received extensive press comment. Finally, an inquiry from a graduate student at another university, ad­ dressed to Elizabeth Davis, Columbia's Music and Arts Librarian, re­ quested a copy of a specified "unpublished document." Ms. Davis then in­ sisted to me that this long drawn-out nonsense should cease, and that the material should be published. I complied, insisting only, in light of my many years at Columbia, that the publisher be Current Musicology. Current Musicology, no. 70 (Fall 2000) © 2001 by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York 193 194 CURRENT MUSICOLOGY I add, more as a coda than a preamble to what follows, that through the energy of Jim Stepleton there has recently been incorporated the Douglas Moore Fund for Opera, which will become active some months hence. Its purpose is to provide young composers of opera-Moore Fellows-with residence in opera companies that produce new works; to learn the ways of singers, conductors, and stage directors; to experience the pleasures and perils of collaboration; and perhaps to play rehearsals, coach singers, and conduct a bit. In short, to serve apprenticeships similar to those some of us enjoyed during our years with the Workshop and its productions half a century ago. * * * In 1940, four years after its organization, the Columbia Theatre Associ­ ates (CTA), a small repertory company specializing in new and neglected old plays, moved into the newly-built Brander Mathews Hall on the Columbia University campus. The facilities of the new theater were most inadequate for the production of even modest operas, but there was an or­ chestra pit-or the semblance of one-and a production of two one-act chamber operas was undertaken immediately, in collaboration with the Juilliard School. Collaboration with musical forces more readily at hand seemed preferable, however, and during the next two seasons Columbia's Music Department augmented the musical forces from both inside and outside the Columbia community that were assembled by Milton Smith, who ran the school's Theatre Department, and by the CTA. In order to better serve the musical needs of the Brander Mathews productions and to provide an outlet for the department's interest in lyric theater, the Opera Workshop was organized in the 1943-44 season. In addition, Otto Luening was brought to the University in the spring of that season to re­ hearse and conduct the first performances of Pieces of Eight by Bernard Waganaar. Pieces of Eight was the first opera commissioned by the Alice M. Ditson Fund, a grantor committed to advancing the cause of American music, and which after 1942 was administered by an advisory board with Music Department representation. In the autumn of 1944, Professor Willard Rhodes was selected as execu­ tive and musical director of the Workshop, and Otto Luening was ap­ pointed to the Barnard and Columbia teaching staff and named musical director of the CTA. Through these changes in leadership, and with the Ditson Fund made available to commission and underwrite the produc­ tion of a new opera each spring, a modus operandi was established which was to continue for about thirteen years, though with several changes of stage director. JACK BEESON 195 The Opera Workshop existed as a General Studies course offered for four points, meeting twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) for a total of eight hours. Membership in the Workshop was open to aspiring conductors, stage directors, composers, and librettists, as well as to singers. Singers were admitted to the course only after an audition, and an attempt was made to achieve a distribution of voices in accordance with the repertory under study. Ditson tuition scholarships were available to the most promis­ ing singers. A program of study combining courses from the Music Department and the School of Dramatic Arts was available to those preparing for careers in the lyric theater. During its most flourishing years, the Workshop resembled a small opera repertory company in the amount and scope of its activity. Friday classes were given over to staging arias and ensemble scenes that had been rehearsed musically in the Tuesday class sessions. In addition, numerous solo and ensemble coaching sessions were held, usually in the Music Department, under the guidance of the music director, his musical assis­ tants, or the student-coaches. Occasionally student stage directors were en­ trusted with special rehearsals; for a period, sessions in Italian and English diction were provided. Limited space in the Department and the busy schedule of instruction and play production in Brander Mathews drove us frequently to Earl Hall, McMillin (now Miller) Theatre, and Casa Italiana; it was not rare for classes and rehearsals to be occurring in two or three places simultaneously. Several times a season the arias, scenes, and acts from the standard repertory studied in class were presented to invited audiences. Piano accompaniment sufficed. Of greater importance to the opera project as a whole were the full pro­ ductions, usually mounted twice a season and typically produced in collab­ oration with the Theatre Associates. The productions were about equally divided between neglected eighteenth-century comic operas, always trans­ lated into English (performed in mid-winter), and new works by American composers, commissioned by the Ditson Fund. Usually both productions were included in the regular subscription series of the CTA. In addition, the new works were given prominent place in the annual spring festivals of American music presented by the Music Department and the Ditson Fund for six successive years to distinguished invited audiences. These large scale productions of premieres-usually of chamber op­ eras, it should be added-were well attended and given full attention by the metropolitan and national weekly press. As often as not they were di­ rected (both musically and dramatically) and sung by persons not neces­ sarily regularly connected with the Workshop. Several of the premieres, for instance, were conducted by Otto Luening and staged by directors or 196 CURRENT MUSICOLOGY choreographers from off-campus. But even those productions not given under the aegis of the Workshop were made possible by the existence of that organization, for the Workshop provided continuity-that is, it could be depended on to supply the singers for small parts, a chorus, and, fre­ quently, talented singing-actors for the important roles. Other roles were cast from "downtown," from the ranks of those who were delighted to per­ form without pay for free coaching, stage experience, and critical notice in the press. Orchestras for the productions were made up partly by Columbia students and partly by outsiders. An arrangement with the Musicians' Union made possible the payment of instrumentalists' out-of­ pocket expenses, a very much smaller amount than union scale. The size of the orchestra varied, from thirteen instrumentalists required by several of the chamber operas to about thirty. The inadequate pit, the small size of the house, the orchestral budget, and (by no means the least important factor) the interest of everybody concerned in a production of musical and dramatic intimacy-all these elements determined the size of the orchestra as well as the style of the production. Particularly during the forties and the early fifties, the Opera Workshop and the opera productions were a vital part of the city's musical and dra­ matic life. Of more widespread importance was the commissioning and performing of new works. The astonishing interest in the lyric theater shown by American composers since the Second World War and the new directions their works have frequently taken have certainly not been alto­ gether the result of the Columbia project. But its influence can be imag­ ined, if not measured, when one realizes that during its existence Brander Mathews was prominent among all theaters in the United States in the number of new operas it brought into being and that the recent interest in dramatically viable operatic productions was from the beginning the aim of the Brander Mathews productions. The current practice of casting chore­ ographers as stage directors was anticipated at Columbia in a number of productions: Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium, Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All, Otto Luening's Evangeline, and Albert Rivett's Poor Eddy, among others. The emergence of Menotti as a successful and well-known composer and his debut as a stage director occurred on campus in 1946- and one might in passing draw attention to the fact (glossed over by their biographers) that the first operatic efforts of those two stalwarts, Benjamin Britten and W. H. Auden, took place in May 1941 on West 117th street. But, though the quality of individual productions during the late fifties did not decline, there was a notable diminishing in the number of produc­ tions and in Workshop activity. The reasons were various: other workshops sprouted inside and outside parent institutions; the G.1. Bill came to an JACK BEESON 197 end and men and women who might previously have been able to nurture their talents in the Workshop were forced to rely on Lady Luck; professional and semi-professional opera companies and even Broadway producers began to show an interest in new works and in the revival of eighteenth-century repertory. More significant, however, was the fact that the academic and administrative community at large had not exhibited sufficient interest and support to organize this branch of theater at Columbia on a secure academic, artistic, and financial basis. An Arts Center with three theaters had long been planned, but was not built; it was said that a large gift was proffered by William Paley and rejected. Those who had led the opera project were not interested in continuing what was now being done elsewhere-frequently in imitation of Columbia's efforts-and development along new lines seemed impossible under the conditions that prevailed. Their patience exhausted, their energies no longer buoyant, and their efforts recognized in the main outside the University, they turned their attention to other matters. The assistants, having served their apprenticeships, were not tempted to continue the struggle with the old unsolved problems and the new unsolvable problems posed by the scarcity of rehearsal space in the Music Department, the disappearance of Milton Smith and the School of Dramatic Arts, and the disappearance altogether of Brander Mathews Hall. In spite of difficulties, much was accomplished during Columbia's oper­ atic years. It is not necessary to emphasize further the encouragement given to new works and ideas and to the revival of neglected operas of interest to the University community and the New York public at large. (One notes with some smugness that Paisiello's charming Barber of Seville was first rediscovered, not in Berlin in 1960, but in New York in 1946.) Equally important ends were served in training conductors, stage­ directors, and singing-actors. One may single out from the names on the following pages four coaches and assistant conductors who have turned their apprentice years to professional use: Jacob Avshalamov, composer­ conductor of the Portland Junior Symphony; John Crosby, founder and artistic director of the Sante Fe Opera; John Kander, composer and conductor on and off Broadway; and the present author, a composer. * * * In 1961, it seemed to me invidious to list any singers who had once been members of both the Opera Workshop and the casts of related pro­ ductions. Now that forty years have passed, there are but few still perform­ ing and some have died. Of those singers whose names or recorded voices may be familiar today a partial listing may suggest the quality and variety of the young artists who enlivened opera at Columbia from 1941-1958. 198 CURRENT MUSICOLOGY Everett Anderson Ellen Faull Alice Howland Gladys Kuchta James McCracken Leopold Simoneau Teresa Stitch-Randall David Thaw Josh Wheeler As indicated earlier, the new American operas were cast in part from "downtown." By prior arrangement, the title role of Menotti's Medium served Claramae Turner, successfully, as her audition for the Metropolitan Opera. The first The Mother of Us AllIed Dorothy Dow to Zurich, La Scala, and the New York Philharmonic. Two sopranos who appeared in the se­ ries of new American operas were also involved in two Douglas Moore pre­ mieres at the time: Shirlee Emmons and Leyna Gabriele. Appendix A: Direction of the Columbia Opera Workshop 1943-44 Musical Director: Nicholas Goldschmidt Stage Director: Herbert Graf 1944-46 Musical Director: Willard Rhodes Stage Director: Herbert Graf 1946-48 Musical Director: Willard Rhodes Stage Director: John Wolmut 1948-54 Musical Director: Willard Rhodes Stage Director: Felix Brentano 1954-57 Musical Director: Rudolph Thomas Stage Director: Felix Brentano Summer Opera Workshops were under the music direction of both Otto Luening and Willard Rhodes. The stage directors were Ernst Lert and Elemer Nagy. AppendixB: Opera and plays with live music in Brander Mathews Hall from 1941 to 1958, produced, for the most part, by the Columbia Theatre Associates (CTA) in collaboration with the Music Department and its Opera Workshop. Certain operatic productions were undertaken at other venues, sometimes in collaboration with the Columbia Theatre Associates. All works performed are operas except for those indicated with a (t), which are mostly plays with newly-composed incidental music. Date of Season Performances Work(s) Performed 1941 February The Devil Take Her (double bill) May 1941- Fall 1942 Blennerhasset Paul Bunyan The Burglar's Opera Collaborators Alan Collard (librettist) John Gordon (librettist) Arthur Benjamin (composer) Norman Corwin (librettist) Philip Roll (librettist) Vittorio Giannini (composer) W. H. Auden (librettist) Benjamin Britten (composer) Hugh Ross (conductor) Milton Smith (stage director) Edward Eager (librettist) Alfred Drake (librettist) John Mundy (composer) Production Information Produced in collaboration with the Opera Department of the Juilliard School of Music World Premiere. Produced in collaboration with the Opera Department of the Juilliard School. World Premiere. Produced by the CTA and the Columbia Music Department with the chorus of the Schola Cantorum. Six (?) performances. World Premiere. Produced by the CTA. '> ("l ~ Cd to; to; rJJ o Z ...... n ;.:: t:O t"'j t"'j V1 o Z ~ o >-' Appendix B (cont.) Season Date of Performances May2 May 27-28 August 14 1946- n.d. 1947 Work(s) Performed The Medium Collaborators Gian Carlo Menotti (librettist, composer, and stage director) Otto Luening (conductor) Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) Robert Horan (stage assistant) Willard Rhodes (conductor) Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) Jacob Avshalomov (musical assistant) John Wolmut (stage director) Elena Allegro (stage assistant) Willard Rhodes (conductor) Elemer Nagy (stage director) Production Information World Premiere. Commissioned by the Ditson Fund. Produced by the CTA and the Columbia Music Department, aided by the Ditson Fund. Five performances. The Workshop in a program of scenes and acts from the repertory. The Summer School Opera Workshop in a program of scenes and acts from the repertory, including the whole of Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief. A competition for a new one-act opera was sponsored by the Ditson Fund, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera. The winning work, The Warrior by Bernard Rogers, was performed by the Met in January 1947. 2Also in May were several perfonnances of Stravinsky's L 'Histoire du Soldat, produced jointly by the American Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music and the CTA, conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos, and directed by Frederick Cohen. Nl o Nl n c:: ~ z .., s= c:: [fJ n o t-< o C'l ><: Appendix B (cont.) Date of Season Performances Work(s) Performed Collaborators Production Information December 17-19 February (double bill) May Stratonice The Man with the Terrible Temper (L Irato) The Mother of Us All Willard Rhodes (conductor) Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) Jacob Avshalomov (musical assistant) John Wolmut (stage director) Elena Allegro (stage assistant) Winthrop Palmer (translator) Etienne Mehul (composer) Phyllis Mead (translator) Etienne Mehul (composer) Willard Rhodes (conductor) The Workshop performed scenes from operas with texts taken from the works of Shakespeare. Believed to be first American performances of both of these one-act operas. Produced by the CTA and the Opera Workshop of the Columbia Music Department. Eight performances. Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) Jacob Avshalomov (musical assistant) Albert Rivett (musical assistant) John Wolmut (stage director) Gertrude Stein (librettist) Virgil Thomson (composer) Otto Luening (conductor) Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) John Taras (stage director) World Premiere. Commissioned by the Ditson Fund. Produced by the CTA and the Columbia Music Department. aided by the Ditson Fund. Nine performances. '> n ~ CO t"rI t"rI CJl o Z N) o '-'" Appendix B (cont.) Season Date of Performances August 11 August 14 1947- January 26-28 1948 May August 6 August 13 Work(s) Performed Evangeline Collaborators Otto Luening (conductor) Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) Ernst Lert (stage director) Otto Luening (conductor) Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) Ernst Lert (stage director) Production Information Demonstration by the Summer Workshop of opera scenes, mostly Mozart ensembles. Opera scenes by the Summer Workshop, mostly Mozart ensembles. Willard Rhodes (conductor) The Workshop in scenes from the repertory. Jack Beeson (assistant condudctor) John Wolmut (stage director) Lee MacBurney (stage assistant) Otto Luening (librettist, composer, and conductor) Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) Nona Schurman (stage director) World Premiere. Aided by the Ditson Fund. Produced by the CTA and the Columbia Music Department. Eight performances. Demonstration by the Summer Workshop. Willard Rhodes (conductor) The Workshop in scenes from the repertory. Albert Rivett (musical assistant) Everett Lee (musical assistant) Ernst Lert (stage director) Ruth Ives (stage assistant) Lee MacBurney (stage assistant) Nl o ~ (") c:: ~ Z >-3 ~ c:: [/l >-< n o t"" o C"l >< Appendix B (cont.) Date of Season Performances Work(s) Performed Collaborators 1948- December The Belle of New York Hugh Morton (librettist) 19493 Gustave Kerker (composer) Willard Rhodes (conductor) Albert Rivett (musical assistant) Martin Smith (stage director) Louise Grifford (stage assistant) January Sir John in Love February The Little Clay Cant May A Drumlin Legend Ralph Vaughan Williams (composer) Willard Rhodes (conductor) Albert Rivett (musical assistant) Felix Brentano (stage director) Jacob Avshalomov (composer) Helena Carus (librettist) Ernst Bacon (composer) Otto Luening (conductor) Production Information Operetta produced by the CTA and the Opera Workshop of the Columbia Music Department. Based on Vaughan Williams's The Merry Wives of Windsor. First complete performance in the U.S. (for two pianos). Produced by the Opera Workshop with various members of the School of Dramatic Arts. Produced by the CTA. Incidental music for the play by King Shudraka. World Premiere. Commissioned by the Ditson Fund. Produced by the CTA and the Columbia Music Department. Four performances. Albert Rivett (musical assistant) Anley Loran (musical assistant) Martin Smith (stage director) Oreste Sergievsky (choreographer) 30peras by Henry Cowell, Paul Nordoff, and, later, Hugo Weisgall (Six Characters in Search of Author) were commissioned by the Ditson Fund but not produced at Columbia. '> C'l ~ 1:0 t"j t"j [Jl o z N) o (,r! AppendixB (cont.) Nl 0 0> Date of n Season Performances Work(s) Performed Collaborators Production Information C ~ ~ May The Emperor Wants Albert Rivett (composer) Produced by the CTA. A play with t"i Z aSont incidental music. >-3 s:: c August 6 Otto Luening (conductor) The Summer Workshop in scenes from the rJJ n Albert Rivett (musical assistant) repertory. 0 t"' Everett Lee (musical assistant) 0 Ernst Lert (stage director) 0 >< Ruth Ives (stage assistant) Lee MacBurney (stage assistant) August 11 Otto Luening (conductor) The Summer Workshop in scenes from the Albert Rivett (musical assistant) repertory. Everett Lee (musical assistant) Ernst Lert (stage director) Ruth Ives (stage assistant) Lee MacBurney (stage assistant) 1949- December The Way of .Albert Rivett (composer) Produced by the CTA. Incidental music for 1950 the Worldt the play by William Congreve. January The Barrier Langston Hughes (librettist) World Premiere. Produced by the CTA and Jan Meyerowitz (composer) the Opera Workshop of the Columbia Willard Rhodes (conductor) Music Department. Ten performances. Albert Rivett (musical assistant) Felix Brentano (stage director) Appendix B (cont.) Date of Season Perfonnances Work(s) Perfonned Collaborators Production Infonnation 1950- December The Old Maid Gian Carlo Menotti (librettist A double bill of Menotti operas performed 1951 and the Thief and composer) by a Workshop group at Cedar Crest College. Penn. Produced by the Opera The Telephone Gian Carlo Menotti (librettist Workshop. and composer) Albert Rivett (conductor) Ruth Ives (stage director) March- Giants in the Earth Arnold Sundgaard (librettist) World Premiere. After novel by Ole Edvart April Douglas Moore (composer) R0lvaag. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Willard Rhodes (conductor) Music for 1951. Aided by the Ditson Fund. Albert Rivett (musical assistant) Produced by the CTA and the Columbia Felix Brentano (stage director) Music Department. Ten performances. April 2 The Workshop in scenes from Verdi operas (at Casa Italiana). May Come Down Danielt Albert Rivett (composer) Produced by the CTA. A play with '---< incidental music. > n ;>j May The Old Maid Gian Carlo Menotti (librettist A double bill of Menotti operas performed CO to; to; and the Thief and composer) by a Workshop group in White Plains, N.Y. rfJ 0 Produced by the Opera Workshop. Two Z The Telephone Gian Carlo Menotti (librettist performances. Nl and composer) 0 "'-l Albert Rivett (conductor) Ruth Ives (stage director) Appendix B (cont.) Season 1951- 1952 Date of Performances May 1952- May 1953 March Work(s) Performed Acres of Sky Sweeney Agonistes Poor Eddyt Collaborators Zoe Lund Schilller (librettist) Arthur Kreutz (composer) Qtto Leuning (conductor) Jack Beeson (assistant conductor) John Kander (musical assistant) Edward Reveaux (stage director) Letitia Evans (choreographer) Production Information First New York performance. Aided by the Ditson Fund. Produced by the CTA and the Music Department. Five performances. T. S. Elliot (librettist) First performance in New York; presented, Richard Winslow (composer) with a small orchestra, on a program that Willard Rhodes (conductor) included scenes from the repertory. John Kander (assistant conductor) Felix Brentano (stage director) Elizabeth Dooley (librettist) Albert Rivett (composer and conductor) Albert Smith (stage director) Doris Humphrey (stage director and choreographer) Charles Weidman (principal performer) A dance drama based on the life of Edgar Allan Poe, with songs. Produced by the CTA. Aided by the Ditson Fund. Five performances. N) o 00 n c:: ~ z "' s:: c:: rn r; o r o o >< Appendix B (cont.) Season 1953- 1954 Date of Performances April May (double bill) 1955- March 1 1956 May Work(s) Performed The Beggar's Opera Malady of Love Hello Out There Pantaloon Collaborators John Gay (librettist) J. C. Pepusch (composer) Willard Rhodes (conductor) John Rander (assistant conductor) Felix Brentano (stage director) Lewis Allen (librettist) Lehman Engel (composer) William Saroyan (librettist) Jack Beeson (composer) Willard Rhodes (conductor) John Kander (assistant conductor) Felix Brentano (stage director) Rudolph Thomas (conductor) John Crosby (musical assistant) Felix Brentano (stage director) Production Information Produced by CTA and the Opera Workshop. Five performances. World Premiere. World Premiere. Both operas produced by the Opera Workshop in cooperation with the School of Dramatic Arts. Aided by a grant from the Ditson Fund. Four performances. The Workshop in scenes from the repertory. In McMillin Theatre. Bernard Stambler (librettist) World Premiere. Based on a melodrama by Robert Ward (composer) Leonid Andreyev. Performed at the Juilliard Rudolph Thomas (conductor) School of Music in a collaborative John Crosby (assistant conductor) production. Produced by the CTA and the Felix Brentano (stage director) Opera Workshop of the Columbia Music Thomas DeGaetani Department. Aided by the Ditson Fund and (stage assistant) the Juilliard School. Three performances. '> n ~ CO t'j t'j en o Z N) o <.0 Appendix B (cont.) Date of Season Performances Work(s) Performed 1956- November The Dreamt 19574 May Panjilo and Lauretta May 24 Love is a Game Collaborators Production Information Louis Huber (conductor) A production combining the major part of John Reich (stage director) Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream Oreste Sergievsky (stage assistant) and the music to Purcell's Fairy Queen. Louise Grifford (stage assistant) Produced by the CTA and the Opera Chester Kallman (librettist) Carlos Chavez (composer) Howard Shanet (conductor) Kurt Saffir (musical assistant) Walter Baker (musical assistant) Bill Butler (stage director) Marivaux (librettist) Milton Feist (translator) Pierre Petit (composer) Rudolph Thomas (conductor and stage director) John Crosby (assistant conductor) Felix Brentano (stage director) Workshop of the Columbia Music Depart­ ment. Five performances. World Premiere. Produced by the CTA and the Columbia Music Department. Aided by the Ditson Fund. Ten performances. First American performance of the one-act opera based on Marivaux's play. Followed by scenes from the repertory, all accompanied by piano. 4The Opera Workshop was discontinued after the season 1956-57. A grant from the Ditson Fund made possible a production of The Sweet Bye and Bye by Kenward Elmslie (librettist) and Jack Beeson (composer) on November 21, 22, and 23, 1957, at the Juilliard Opera Theater. Nl >-' o n ~ ~ ~ s::: ~ CJl ,... II o t< o C"l ><: Appendix B (cont.) Date of Season Performances Work(s) Performed 1957- March The Boor 19585 (double bill) Gallantry Collaborators John Olon (librettist) Dominick Argento (composer) Production Information New York premiere. Arnold Sundgaard (librettist) World Premiere. Produced by the CTA and Douglas Moore (composer) the Columbia Music Department. Aided Emerson Buckley (conductor) by the Ditson Fund and the Recording Kurt Saffir (musical assistant) Industries Trust Fund. Five performances. J. O. Scrymgeour (stage director) Day Tuttle (stage director) .. SOn April 10-11, 1959, Columbia University, in cooperation with the University of Illinois, presented The Bewitched by Harry Partch, "a dance­ satire" with choreography by Joyce Trisler. The work was produced by Tom DeGaetani in the Juilliard Concert Hall and was aided by the Ditson Fund. ~ :» n ~ ~ t"I t"I en o Z N:l ...... ......